Women, you must go to Westminster
IT MAY seem that with a female Prime Minister the UK has it cracked, but the corridors of power still lack female voices. In the House of Commons men outnumber women two to one, and in the Lords it’s three to one. Given it has been 100 years since women won the right to vote and stand, these ratios are shocking. To put it into harsher perspective, of the 5,000 MPs we’ve had since 1918, fewer than 500 have been women and at the last election only 12 extra women gained seats. At this rate it will take more than 50 years to get gender balance.
I first noticed a problem with representation while an antenatal teacher. For 25 years I have supported thousands of women and their partners through birth and parenting. With the right care, birth can be an empowering and uplifting experience, but for many that wasn’t the case. I’d meet with post-natal mothers and find they were struggling terribly, and their birthing had been far from a joyous occasion.
Around 80 per cent of women (40 per cent of the population) give birth but evidently public policy surrounding maternal health was severely lacking and something needed to change.
It struck me that those in charge weren’t even aware of the experiences women were having. Of course, there had been recommendations made about improving maternity services, such as the 1993 Changing Childbirth report, but with so few women in Parliament it never felt like a priority for MPs and policy-makers. Without the voices of those who had experienced motherhood and parenting first-hand, how could Parliament even begin to develop informed policies on maternity matters and parenting?
As a mother of four I regarded parenting as a priority, and had my own experiences both good and bad, but I seldom heard an MP or policy-maker discuss the issues that mattered to me. It felt like Westminster had little understanding of my lived experiences.
Then the real “light bulb” moment came for me when I collected my eight-year-old daughter from school. She came bounding out of class very happy and excitedly told me, “I’ve been elected to school council!” “Brilliant” I replied. “Are you representing the whole class?” Somewhat stunned she said: “No, of course not. There is always a boy and a girl from every class on school council, because our experiences are different.”
Of course, I thought, that’s how it should be. If my daughter and her school friends could appreciate the need for both genders to be represented, how was it that Parliament had not, and how much better would our democracy be if it was truly inclusive and representative.
So, I got researching, and realised that in 2013 still only 23 per cent of our MPs were women. It was clear to me Westminster lacked women’s experiences and it was impacting on policy in a very real way. Of course, women can represent men and men can represent women but evidence from more balanced parliaments than ours shows that as membership of women increases so does the sensitivity of male MPs to a range of women’s concerns.
Balance makes for better legislation that benefits everyone and women need to be equally involved in all policy making. Parliament should draw upon the widest possible pool of talent, including that of the 32 million women who live and work in the UK.
Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons, made her maiden speech 99 years ago today. Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, FRANCES SCOTT, founder of the 50:50 Parliament campaign, argues that we would benefit hugely from having a more balanced legislature
I launched 50:50 in 2013. It is a cross-party, non-partisan campaign for better gender balance in Parliament. Since then we have not only been putting pressure on political parties and Parliament to be more inclusive, but we’ve also worked hard to inspire, encourage and support women along the path to Parliament with our #AskHerToStand and #SignUpToStand campaigns.
WE ARE not calling for women-only shortlists or quotas but we have a clear aspiration and want solutions. We are certainly not anti-men and believe in meritocracy and that the best candidate should win regardless of sex. But not enough women have the confidence to put themselves forward. Research shows that women need to be asked around three times before they will consider standing – so let’s start asking.
If you know a woman who would make a good MP go to the 50:50 website and #AskHerToStand. If you might consider it yourself #SignUpToStand via 50:50. Our team are here to help women take the next step along the way to Westminster.
It took the First World War for even a limited number of women to win the right to vote. Maybe out of the current political turmoil there will be the opportunity for women to gain equal seats and equal say. Let’s build a better democracy together.
This year’s International Women’s Day is calling for a more gender-balanced world, and the slogan “Better the balance, better the world!” couldn’t be closer to home for the 50:50 Parliament Campaign.
President Obama captured the importance of equal representation when a young women journalist asked him why there was tax on tampons, (which are classified as “luxury items”). His explanation was: “Because it was men that were making the laws when those taxes were passed.” Although we can’t change the past, in 2019 we can, and should, make every effort to redress the balance and ensure that we build a better, more inclusive democracy, ensuring that women’s voices and experiences are equally included in all policy-making decisions. As female representation has increased, we’ve seen just how much this can impact for the better on the daily lives of women. It was women MPs, along with male supporters, who pioneered the campaign for equal pay and pay transparency; it was women MPs who championed the introduction of legislation on “up-skirting”; and it was a woman MP, Tulip Siddiq, who highlighted that women shouldn’t have to choose between their career and motherhood, when she was forced to delay the birth of her son in order to vote in Commons on the Brexit deal. As a result, proxy voting is now a possibility for MPs who are new or expectant parents. I started the 50:50 campaign with a petition and soon 53,000 had signed. By 2014 Parliament had taken note and the all-party Parliamentary group Women In Parliament commissioned the Improving Parliament report. By 2016 an inquiry into women in the Commons was launched and 50:50 contributed to the final report, highlighting a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring Parliament was more accessible and inclusive.
Then in 2018 50:50 headed to Parliament for the first official #AskHerToStand day and, with hundreds of MPs, we invited women from across the UK to Westminster and encouraged them to stand. Today more than 400 have signed up to stand and we have a growing team of volunteers who guide women through the process and provide a network to inspire, mentor and monitor women looking to enter politics. Candidates we helped included Rosie Duffield, elected MP for Canterbury in 2017, and Gillian Keegan who won in Chichester. At 50:50 we don’t believe one experience is better than the other, simply that women’s opinions and life experiences count as much as men’s. Especially when it comes to running the country and making decisions about our society’s future. We need the best of both, men and women, working together to “Better the balance and better the world!” So, this International Women’s Day we are launching the #5050TeeChallenge. We invite everyone to be a 50:50 change-maker and take part. Simply strike the “balance pose” in our 50:50 T-shirt and take a selfie to share on social media and ask your friends to join 5050Parliament.co.uk using hashtags #5050TeeChallenge #BalanceForBetter.
You never know, that snap might even encourage a female MP of the future to #SignUpToStand.
Information: 5050Parliament.co.uk Campaign t-shirts from etsy.com/uk/shop/5050Parliament