LabourList Guest Editor
According to the UN, the average woman speaks 20,000 words a day whilst the average guy speaks just 7,000. Yet when it comes to political conversations online, women are still massively under-represented.
The political blogosphere is increasingly coming to mirror the gung ho boys club that is the House of Commons. Online and off, proper debate is being drowned out by testosterone, ego stroking and petit point scoring. If women are to advance gender equality, they need to start reclaiming the political web space. Now.
To date, the laddish LabourListers - with their emphasis on donuts, techie banter and zero female employees - haven’t really helped the problem. But to their credit, they have invited me to be Guest Editor to help balance the office’s oestrogen- testosterone ratio for one day of the year, next Monday - to celebrate International Women’s Day.
So on Monday, LabourList will be a man-free zone, and women will be taking over the political space.
If you ask me, they’ve let "woman trouble" in through the virtual front door.
Once inside, I’ll be asking a bunch of sassy intelligent women from all ends of the political spectrum to speak their minds on exactly what Labour should do (and stop doing) to advance gender equality in the UK. We’re going to have a virtual feminist party - hosted by the men at LabourList – and everyone’s invited. When we’re done, we’ll leave them to pick up the pieces.
Heading up the guest list will be Fiona Millar talking about Thatcher’s legacy on women in politics and Harriet Harman on how to stop “old boys networks” from “profiting from discretionary bonus and pension systems”. MEP Mary Honeyball and her assistant Holly Sutton will be arguing (on opposite sides!?) about whether 50:50 representation is a good thing, whilst Jessica Asato has a surprise for us.
Outside of the mainstream Labour oestrogen pool we’ll be hearing from the likes of maverick feminist blogger Penny Red on popular sexism, and feminist and community activist Anne-Marie O’Reilly on how Labour’s new Welfare Bill discriminates against single mothers.
The proliferation of gender inequality in the UK means that these guest bloggers will have a lot to talk about. The traditional pay gap is still going strong at 17%, rising to 40% in the city. Just one in ten directors of FTSE 100 companies are women, and less than 20% of all MPs are female. Meanwhile recent research since the financial crisis suggests that 40% of women - all too often at the bottom of the economic pile - are worrying about how to pay the bills as compared to just 27% of men.
These kinds of figures are unacceptable, and we need to get talking about them. So please – men, women, those who prefer to leave their gender unspecified – spare us some of your 7,000 or 20,000 words a day, and join the debate.
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It's a pity your contributors are mainly privately educated and living in London; lacks a little balance.
I've had more coherent reasoning out of a drunken lemur.
This is blatant sexual discrimination!
I shall register a complain with the Equal Rights Commission (or whatever pointless, bloated and useless quango was set up to address such 'injustices').
I find the whole attitude of this post quite insulting to women like Kerry McCarthy, who put the effort in without resorting to sensationalist flag waving.
Can't wait to see what Ms. Asato has in store to suprise us with, a balanced and well thought out argument perhaps?
Ivor Dunmoanin and Polly Tix
http://wannabepm.blogspot.com/2009/03/democracy-for-poor.html
"and less than 20% of all MPs are female" ...... but its so hard these days to pay the nanny on expenses isn't it.
As for this article, interesting question but a pointless one. The internet is the most freeing medium there is. If women want to blog then go for it, no-one's stopping you. It would be great, more balance, a different perspective and perhaps less sniping and mud slinging. But its up to women, maybe you can get Harriet Harperson and her "ministry for women" (is there anything more sexist?) to sort it out.
in technology - seems to be male-dominated, but unless you are reading different polls than me I would be a bit more
worried about how you are going to attract female voters attracted by David Cameron and his very different approach to Tory
politics. Besides, I've known Derek for 25 years and know he is in touch with his 'eminine side' As to the custarding of
Peter, pity the moron didnt upend it over herself.
Lighten up, all of you. Celebrating International Women's Day on LabourList doesn't mean women can't take on men face-to-face, we watch Harriet Harman do just that every week. It just means that in a culture where men are still overwhelmingly the most visible ones not only 'doing' politics but talking about politics AND blogging about politics, it'd be nice to hear some different voices every once in a while.
And I don't think Hapless Hattie was a good example of women taking on men, especially when she resorts to lying and obfuscation!
This is not scientific, but just say for argument's sake that 50% of men are interested in politics and 25% of women are.
If we ever get to the point where the mix of MPs is 50/50 men and women, does this not mean that women have double the MPs that they should have, based on their interest?
This leads to the further dilemma that, because half the MPs are taken from a pool of just a quarter of the adult female population, there will be a dilution of talent and ability compared to the men, who come from a pool of talent twice the size.
That's why we need meritocracy, not equality as it is defined these days.
Aristotle said: the worst form of inequality is to try and make unequal things equal.
Surely this would be the case if talented and capable men were barred from standing for parliament just because extra women had to make up a quota.
So, if you cannot get 'equality' or whatever you think will make you happy, you'll just take over.
I like ladies - normal ones - real women, not feminist wimmin full of bile for men. I mean, we're all human, after all. Aren't we?
I say - LET'S FORGET ABOUT EQUALITY!!
I reproduce what I wrote on Mrs Honeyball's blog that Trevor Phillips’ department should be replaced with the Commission for Meritocracy....
Imagine the possibilities - maybe one day we could live in a land where a person isn’t judged on the colour of their skin or what gender they are or how old they are - but on their ability to do the job.
Wow! What a novel idea! What a future awaits us all when the Commission for Meritocracy ensures that everyone is treated fairly - not equally - but fairly.
Can everyone see the distinction?
* Or, 'typing in your bedroom' as I like to call it.
See news story about this at http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3348076&page=1
isn't this rather patronising - the poor dears can't take on 'the men' face to face ?
I don't want a parliament that "looks like the people who elected them". I want a parliament that is made up of the people who are most fit for the job.
Figures on salary inequality etc are also pretty meaningless without the context of how many women applied, whether they were prevented from applying somehow. If women don't blog on politics, there are fewer female perspectives. If fewer women aim to be CEOs, there are fewer female CEOs- simple. Let's keep the conversation on the policy and stop implying that it's anything other than circumstance and personal preference that accounts for women's self-selected position in the world
When fathers (i.e. men) get equitable treatment in family courts (7 in 10 divorces are initiated by women).
Equal paternity rights (which might explain the 17% pay gap)
Proper investment and better access to healthcare for male-related illnesses (men die younger)
And something is done to stop the appalling level of male suicides in the 18-25 age range.
You might just be onto something here.
Anybody know when International Men's Day is?
Or International Person's Day?
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904?printable=true¤tPage=all