The facts just don't support the widely held view that women can't stand the heat
The women thing is back. Last week, the MP for Thanet, Laura Sandys, announced she had decided not to stand in 2015, citing the demands of the job and the conflict with responsibilities in her personal life. The news that a talented backbencher for whom promotion was often forecast was giving up was the cue for a familiar narrative, much of it intended to be sympathetic but all of it contributing to one impression. Politics is an unsuitable job for a woman. The rueful commentary suggested, among other things, that women could not handle life in parliament and that David Cameron had been mistaken to put such focus on recruiting them as part of his modernising agenda. So miserable was this handpicked cadre, according to one well-placed observer, that as many as a quarter of them might follow Ms Sandys into quieter pastures at the next general election. On these very pages, a writer suggested it was time for women to man up.
The departure of Louise Mensch, a woman whose whole life is so untypical that it would be unwise to take her as an indicator of anything, to join her family in New York set the tone. The facts underline her exceptionalism. Here they are: so far, 36 MPs are standing down at the next election. Nine of them are women, which reflects almost exactly the percentage of women there are in parliament. Two are Tories, Ms Sandys and another one-termer, Lorraine Fulbrooke, who first fought her South Ribble seat first in 2005. Her reason for going, she said, was that she would have devoted 12 years of her life to parliament and that was enough. Labour's losing five women, who between them will have served 130 years in parliament. Four have been ministers and one, Tessa Jowell, was a cabinet minister who may well run for London mayor. The Lib Dems are losing Annette Brook, who has been an MP since 2001 and Sarah Teather, who's going in protest at coalition immigration policy. The facts just don't support the widely held view that women can't stand the heat.
The Labour women elected in 1997 – the groups so infamously branded as "Blair's Babes"– are no different. The Centre for Women in Democracy's analysis shows only two of the 63 Labour women elected then for the first time stood down after one term; 14 of them are still in parliament, five of them in the shadow cabinet. Many of the '97 intake were in marginals and lost their seats in 2010.
Perhaps there is a lesson for campaigners in the way the facts are so often traduced. Many of those who have worked so tirelessly to get fairer representation of women have emphasised the barriers to success. They were right to do so, and there are still many institutional and human hazards that need shifting. But there are other aspects of parliament that are as tough for men as they are for women. Take the way it works – the long and sometimes unpredictable hours, or the confrontational nature of the chamber of the Commons – which is often blamed for making life for women MPs particularly difficult. But many men would confirm that it's a rough job for anyone. New MPs come in expecting to work 60 hours a week and find it's 90. They imagine glamour, or at least purpose, and find constituents' drainage issues. They are among the most reviled and abused members of society. Although there's no doubt that women MPs report a high level of sexist abuse, social media is unflaggingly poisonous regardless of gender. And as Caroline Criado-Perez discovered so terrifyingly, a woman with any public profile can be exposed to criminal threats.
Of course there is still a lot to do. But it's time to celebrate the success of women in politics. There's plenty of it. Mr Cameron's cabinet is a long way from his promised gender balance but on Ed Miliband's frontbench 11 of 27 shadow ministers are women. Twelve select committees are chaired by women. Scotland's deputy first minister is Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Labour party is led by a woman. It's time to stop considering parliament's failure to represent society as a problem for women, and see it for what it is – a problem for everyone. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.
The women thing is back. Last week, the MP for Thanet, Laura Sandys, announced she had decided not to stand in 2015, citing the demands of the job and the conflict with responsibilities in her personal life. The news that a talented backbencher for whom promotion was often forecast was giving up was the cue for a familiar narrative, much of it intended to be sympathetic but all of it contributing to one impression. Politics is an unsuitable job for a woman. The rueful commentary suggested, among other things, that women could not handle life in parliament and that David Cameron had been mistaken to put such focus on recruiting them as part of his modernising agenda. So miserable was this handpicked cadre, according to one well-placed observer, that as many as a quarter of them might follow Ms Sandys into quieter pastures at the next general election. On these very pages, a writer suggested it was time for women to man up.
The departure of Louise Mensch, a woman whose whole life is so untypical that it would be unwise to take her as an indicator of anything, to join her family in New York set the tone. The facts underline her exceptionalism. Here they are: so far, 36 MPs are standing down at the next election. Nine of them are women, which reflects almost exactly the percentage of women there are in parliament. Two are Tories, Ms Sandys and another one-termer, Lorraine Fulbrooke, who first fought her South Ribble seat first in 2005. Her reason for going, she said, was that she would have devoted 12 years of her life to parliament and that was enough. Labour's losing five women, who between them will have served 130 years in parliament. Four have been ministers and one, Tessa Jowell, was a cabinet minister who may well run for London mayor. The Lib Dems are losing Annette Brook, who has been an MP since 2001 and Sarah Teather, who's going in protest at coalition immigration policy. The facts just don't support the widely held view that women can't stand the heat.
The Labour women elected in 1997 – the groups so infamously branded as "Blair's Babes"– are no different. The Centre for Women in Democracy's analysis shows only two of the 63 Labour women elected then for the first time stood down after one term; 14 of them are still in parliament, five of them in the shadow cabinet. Many of the '97 intake were in marginals and lost their seats in 2010.
Perhaps there is a lesson for campaigners in the way the facts are so often traduced. Many of those who have worked so tirelessly to get fairer representation of women have emphasised the barriers to success. They were right to do so, and there are still many institutional and human hazards that need shifting. But there are other aspects of parliament that are as tough for men as they are for women. Take the way it works – the long and sometimes unpredictable hours, or the confrontational nature of the chamber of the Commons – which is often blamed for making life for women MPs particularly difficult. But many men would confirm that it's a rough job for anyone. New MPs come in expecting to work 60 hours a week and find it's 90. They imagine glamour, or at least purpose, and find constituents' drainage issues. They are among the most reviled and abused members of society. Although there's no doubt that women MPs report a high level of sexist abuse, social media is unflaggingly poisonous regardless of gender. And as Caroline Criado-Perez discovered so terrifyingly, a woman with any public profile can be exposed to criminal threats.
Of course there is still a lot to do. But it's time to celebrate the success of women in politics. There's plenty of it. Mr Cameron's cabinet is a long way from his promised gender balance but on Ed Miliband's frontbench 11 of 27 shadow ministers are women. Twelve select committees are chaired by women. Scotland's deputy first minister is Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Labour party is led by a woman. It's time to stop considering parliament's failure to represent society as a problem for women, and see it for what it is – a problem for everyone. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.