The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party has elected 32 year-old lesbian Ruth Davidson as their leader. This shouldn't stand out in 21st century politics, but it does. I can’t think of another openly gay leader of any other major political UK grouping.
As our society is becoming, slowly but surely, more tolerant of public LGBT figures, our politics still lags behind. The wink, wink, nudge, nudge, tone of many of the stories around Liam Fox and Adam Werrity provides all too recent proof of that.
Women, and especially young women, also frequently find their way to the top deterred by the incumbent boy's club. The issue has been covered in far greater depth elsewhere, but it is fair to say that our political culture is simply not appealing to women, and I’m not just talking about the issues around motherhood. Our politics is combative, self-aggrandising, and self-indulgent, which is just not a way in which many women wish to work.
Davidson’s election also highlights once again just how few women the Liberal Democrats have in senior positions, and elected roles as a whole.
Yes, it is harder for a Lib Dem candidate of any gender to win a parliamentary seat under our current, unfair, electoral system, but are there enough women being chosen by our selection panels in the most winnable of seats? Furthermore, are enough women encouraged to go for selection in the first place? Ultimately, as a party, do we do enough to make women want to be MPs, AMs and so on?
The stats speak for themselves - the Liberal Democrats only have seven female MPs. Clearly we must work harder to convert today’s female activists into the politicians of tomorrow.
The truth is, the party is in a bit of a conundrum. We rightly continue to reject the use of the anti-meritocratic, illiberal, patronising, quota-based systems so beloved of the other major parties, but we equally correctly suffer embarrassment as we continue to lag behind them in terms of female representation.
At this point I should highlight that our Welsh leader, the very effective Kirsty Williams AM, is female, and that some significant moves are being made within the party to improve things. However, I'm sure even Ms Williams would acknowledge that her success is a happy exception, and not the rule, within the Liberal Democrats.
The answers are clearly not easy to come by, and go far beyond the scope of this post. Culture shifts take time to come about. What is clear though is that the election of Ruth Davidson, the promotions of Chloe Smith and Justine Greening, and an increasing number of high profile female members of the Labour shadow cabinet must be the final wake up call for my male, pale party.
Comments
Ben Whitehouse / November 09 2011 11:43am
Patrick Harvie is co-convenor of the Green Party in Scotland. He's bisexual.
ALS / November 09 2011 12:06pm
This is a thorny issue for Lib Dems - in part due to the selection process, in part due to the culture of the party.
If you look at those 2010 "winnable seats" many had male incumbants, but those without a sitting MP generally went to men. A few seats where the male incumbant was to stand down were taken on by women - but the level of cynicism from many within the party certainly didn't help. Indeed only one, Tessa Munt, actually won.
We lost incumbant female MPs such as Kramer, Gidley, Goldsworthy... though factors in their losses are varied, I've worked on various seats and I've seen far more resource given to male incumbants than female.
Having sat on a LD selection committee, I must say that there is a problem with few too many women putting themselves forward. The party encourages women to "put in their papers" for party approval, but this is pointless when not enough is done to encourage and support women to go further in the process. If you haven't got the support to fight to stand for a seat, it is of course unlikely that you will have the support to win the seat.
I've seen first hand how the party promoted men over women in shadow cabinet reshuffles. We do have some great women, with great expertise and experience. The same cannot be said of some of the men who boast high positions in the party/government at present.
It is time for a change in selection and in how the party promotes the voices of women. But also of how it represents and promotes the voices of other caucuses too.
Rebekah Gronowski / November 10 2011 2:04am
We must not forget the part which Local Parties play in the selection process. If a LP does not encourage women to apply for training and for selection, no women will get anywhere. There has to be much better support from Local Parties. There is way too much "clique-iness" within LPs in my view - too many "courting" the well-off and the socially and academically "acceptable" (in their opinion)! Just take a look at how many women who live in social housing get selected - I don't think you will find many, if any! You have to be a "somebody" - if you are a "nobody" you may as well forget it!
ALS / November 10 2011 12:06pm
totally agree with Rebekah. There is a real problem with internal local party politics and cliques. The same old faces run the show, and its very difficult to effect change, or even get things done.
Not only that, but there is definite resentment and resistance from LPs in cooperating with regional and national party assistance (when it is given!)
Paul Leslie / November 21 2011 8:55pm
What about Jeremy Thorpe, he was leader of the Liberals? Ruth Davidson a journalist pushed herself in front of another Conservative list candidate, was only an MSP for a few weeks before becoming leader of the Scottish Conservatives. She was only elected because the strongest contender Murdo Fraser MSP proposed to abolish the Scottish Conservatives It had little to do with being gay - it was more to do with David Cameron making her passage to the top easy. I think she will prove to be a disaster for the Conservatives in Scotland - time will tell