What is next for women in politics? Politics society host debate

Deputy chair of UKIP Suzanne Evans and Chair of the Green Party Women’s committee Sarah Cope debated the future of women in politics at a debate hosted by Warwick Politics Society on 10 November.

The debate started off with a brief introduction by each party-member about their journey into politics.

The conversation then moved onto the importance of female representation in the field and how we can increase and encourage women’s participation in the political arena.

The debaters disagreed on the proposal of having quotas or all-female-shortlists to ensure fair representation in politics: Sarah Cope being for, and Suzanne Evans against.

Evans noted that these measures would take away from the guarantee of the best person being chosen for the job, and would instead force people into jobs to fill requirements.

Sarah Cope expressed her hope for the Green Party to have an equal number of women as men by 2050 from the current 36% of party members being females

Whilst Evans retained the “playing field is levelled” regarding gender equality in UK politics, Cope made an example of the demeaning outlook towards women in politics by mentioning David Cameron’s controversial comment “calm down dear”, directed at Treasury Angela Eagle during a commons exchange.

More specific issues like the tampon tax and the practice of female genital mutilation were also discussed.

The consensus from both was that the classification of tampons as luxuries and their taxation must be revisited, however that action must be taken by the EU parliament.

Suzanne Evans was the first to bring female genital mutilation to the attention of UKIP, which is now the first party with a policy regarding it.

Sarah Cope instead expressed her concern about whether criminalizing the practice was fair when the women undergoing it as well as the general public are not always sufficiently educated about it yet.

The moderators allowed members of the audience to ask questions throughout the debate as well as dedicating the last half hour of the event to this purpose, which moderator Sarah Groarke felt this “made it so much more interesting and provoked insightful discussion.”

Sarah and Suzanne proceeded to give advice to young women wanting to enter the world of politics.

Suzanne suggested to get involved, but not from within the party at first, and to instead build a career and some life experience – which will be very valuable once in the demanding world of politics.

Sarah Cope urged young women to get involved through any basic political activity they can carry out for their party.

“It was a privilege that they took the time to take part in this debate” commented Sarah Groarke.