Women have it easier in the Tory party, claims Harman
THE Tories have had two female prime ministers only because women in the party are not seen as a threat by men, Labour grandee Harriet Harman claims.
The former Labour deputy leader claimed it was ‘easier to be a woman at the top of the Conservative Party’.
Feminist campaigner Miss Harman said that, although Labour was the ‘party of women and equality’, its female MPs had not yet led the party because they were seen ‘as a subversive force pushing for change’.
The 66-year-old admitted it was ‘galling’ Labour has not had a woman leader. But she said: ‘The reason they have had two female prime ministers and we have not is because women in the Tory party are not a challenge to power relationships and gender relationships.
‘They are not a subversive force pushing for change and therefore they are not felt as a threat by men in the way that Labour women who are self-consciously trying to change the system are felt to be much more of a threat.’
Speaking at the Women of the World festival in London on Saturday, Miss Harman also accused Theresa May of failing to stand up for women’s rights and insisted ‘she has not been a sister’.
This was, Miss Harman said, because Mrs May had opposed the 2010 Equality Act.
She said: ‘She objectively has not been a sister.
‘That is just a fact. But we are the Labour Party and we believe in redemption so it’s not too late – she ought to be judged on what she does in office to make a difference to women’s lives.’
Although Mrs May was among politicians pictured wearing one of the ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirts produced by women’s rights group the Fawcett Society, Miss Harman added: ‘If you are a woman prime minister and under your period of office women slip back, then you are not a feminist in practice whatever is on the T-shirt.’
Speaking to Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, Miss Harman claimed it was ‘imperative’ Labour’s next leader was a woman, and said the party’s current situation was ‘not too rosy’.
She said: ‘The point about leadership is that the buck stops with you. There is this idea that Jeremy Corbyn’s problems are caused by Labour MPs but it is his responsibility as leader to win the trust of the MPs. If things are not going well it is always the leader’s responsibility, blaming other people is not leadership.’
Miss Harman, married to Labour business spokesman Jack Dromey, also stood by her claims that her university tutor Professor TV Sathyamurthy had offered to bump up her marks in return for sex. The alleged incident, detailed in her memoir A Woman’s Work, happened at York University where Miss Harman studied politics in the 1970s.
She said: ‘The lecturer was basically saying you are borderline 2:1 or 2:2 but it will be a 2:1 if you have sex with me. As it turned out, I was entitled to a 2.1 and that was a complete abuse of power.’
Last month she called for a ban on politicians talking about marriage. In Left-wing magazine Progress, she wrote: ‘I’d ban [politicians] from going on about how important marriage is and how damaging divorce is.’