Women in Westminster

In the centuries of UK Parliamentary Sovereignty, only in the past 92 years have women been allowed representation in the law-making chambers. In those years, an astonishing 4,365 men have been elected onto Parliament, compared to a shameful 291 women. It is logical in social trends and prejudices to expect a slow uptake of such roles in the early years of women winning the rights to vote, equal pay, and working rights and, well, general recognition as an individual with a mind capable of free, independent thought! However, in 2010, with the phase of New Labour over, and a “Progressive Conservative Party” on its way, why are there still so few women in political parties and so little female representation in Parliament? I spoke to Jayne Innes, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Nuneaton about her own experiences and how she feels about the prospect of not only becoming the first female MP for Nuneaton, but also for the whole of Warwickshire.

{{ quote “Do it! The earlier you start the better! We need you.” }}

“I first joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. My dad had had many problems with employment and I lived in [Coventry,] a part of the country where your dad was either unemployed because the factory had closed, or they were on strike”, Jayne said, reminiscing back to her very first experience of politics in the 1980s. “My first meeting was in a working men’s club, with a group of blokes over the age of 50.” she said laughing. “It was ok, because they let me take the minutes. I suppose I should have been put off by this, but I was a great admirer of Neil Kinnock and I hated Margaret Thatcher and what she was doing to the country”.

I asked Jayne when and why she decided to stand for public office, she recalled, “I first thought about standing after finishing my Masters at Warwick University. I had worked, first for Jim Cunningham MP, and then Geoffrey Robinson MP in 1997. I was watching and doing much of the work the MPs were doing, and I thought, I could do this. I actually decided to take some time out working in public relations for an American Tourist Board, but I was drawn back to England with my Husband and family living here, so I decided to go back into politics”.

I was disheartened to hear that despite my optimism that gender discrimination was really a thing of the past, at least before my short life-time, that Jayne, a beacon of hope and ambition for local people, said, “If I’m being honest I was naive on how much discrimination you face as a young woman”. She later also added that, “a woman who stands out is a threat….you have to work a lot harder, be more committed and give up a lot more. When people think of an MP, they stereotypically think of a man in his forty’s, wearing a suit and almost certainly white”. Again, later it came back to more sad realities. “It’s really disappointing,” Jayne told me, “that the main parties have a donutting system where they sit the women immediately behind and around the MPs who speak in parliament to give the impression there are more women than there really are!”

I was interested to hear what Jayne thought about the representation of women in the media. Thankfully she had not personally experienced gender discrimination – but in her mind the “Blair Babes” headline (reported by a female journalist), had clearly left a darkened imprint on what had been, until then, a huge movement for women’s empowerment under New Labour.

As a young woman involved in politics I had to ask why she thought so few women were involved in politics. Perhaps unsurprisingly, money was the first barrier (as elections can cost thousands), followed closely by old stereotypes, self confidence of women and family commitments.

On the other hand though, we discussed whether the political parties were doing enough to encourage and empower women. Decisively Jayne answered a straight, “No”. So what is it that they are not doing? Well I think Jayne summed it up nicely, “Labour’s ahead of the curve, but even they need to do more. If the Labour party do lose the next election, the number of women MPs will plummet as women typically hold marginal seats. If I was David Cameron, I’d be deeply ashamed that they have so very few female candidates in challenging seats…if he’s serious about winning Government, he’s got to be serious about winning marginal and safe seats for women”.

So, whilst we joked over the thought of neither of us being the typical house wife material, Jayne did want to leave on a positive thought for any future female MPs, “Do it! The earlier you start the better! We need you. One of the things I was always been taught is that it’s not enough to get to the top of the ladder yourself, you’ve then got to let it down for the next generation, and I think so many women are determined to do that”.

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