Women's Views on News |
- Conservatives on women: a deafening silence
- Labour party women: seen. But heard?
- Where are the Liberal Democrat women?
| Conservatives on women: a deafening silence Posted: 17 Oct 2014 06:03 AM PDT
Of these, 6 are from women. In an attempt to be consistent I was looking for the leader (clearly available) and the home secretary (prominent) but when it came to the equalities spokesperson I struggled. I searched first for Nicky Morgan who, I believe, is the portfolio holder for Equalities and Women. Her speech lists her as ‘Secretary of State for Education’. I had a listen; she was talking strongly about defending teachers and attacking Labour on education, so I wondered if I'd made a mistake. She went on to talk briefly about homophobic bullying and schools teaching ‘fundamental British values’ and preparing them for life – there was no mention though of whether this would include healthy relationships or sexual consent. Towards the end however she name checks her role as women’s minister (phew!) and talked briefly about a new generation of women scientists/engineers and encouraging girls at schools to choose non-traditional subjects. She also mentioned tax free childcare and making return to work a little easier . Conservatives on the side of families. Blink and you missed it. Who else do I know in the Conservatives who often talks on equalities? I had a little listen to Sajid Javid, he's not equalities either and is listed as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. I thought ‘there’s an area that has been the site of a lot of feminist action this year, I’ll give it another go’. In the year that Cameron announced internet filters and extensions of the legislation on extreme pornography and the year of the massively successful Rewind and Reframe I was surprised that the only significant announcements in his speech were to do with mobile phone signal in rural areas and the need for high speed broadband. Does that mean that there was no one speaking directly and specifically on women and equalities at the Conservative Party Conference in the year before the general election? It would seem so. From what I heard there seemed to be a reluctance to celebrate what they had done for women and extend their achievements into manifesto commitments, into going forward. Let me illustrate: William Hague's (most famous Yorkshire man?!) 25-minute speech in which the flagship sexual violence in conflict conference got only the briefest passing mention. David Cameron's speech was highly patriotic, and full of a commitment to tackle the big questions facing the country. His key messages were traditionally conservative, speaking to their core voters. He wants to deliver fairness for those who try; gone are the days of something for nothing and another Conservative government will reward the deserving; "Not a free for all but a chance for all". His manifesto commitments, for the next five years, are about finishing the job that they have started. This includes job security and tax cuts which will be conditional on deficit reduction, the building of more homes, better education and decent pensions for retiring. All of these came with the message that these would have to be paid for, saved for or earned. Women were referenced in his speech. Ruth Davison was praised for her work in the Scottish referendum campaign. Mothers who worked all hours were used to illustrate a point on hardworking Conservative values. His daughters were name checked for being in Primary school and for being left in the pub once. There was talk about lowering taxes for those on the minimum wage, the majority of whom are women, but again there was no specific mention of policies that benefited women or referenced women. Missed opportunities abound. On to Theresa May, who opened her speech talking about the impact of police “stop and search” on generations of young black men and the reputation of the police. An interesting choice of opener, coming after a speech by a young black man of his own experiences. The message was that under Labour “stop and search” had increased and that the Conservatives have scaled it back, made it more targeted and stopped wasting police time. There was a commitment that if the numbers didn't continue to fall that a new Conservative government would have to legislate to ensure that they did so. She went on to talk extensively about the deadly terrorist threat that the country faces. Women and violence agasint women and girls (VAWG) and abuse cases were only mentioned in reference to the Communication Data Bill which was defeated by the Liberal Democrats. There were pokes at the European Court of Human Rights and how the Conservatives were managing to keep their promises and keep us safe because they were prepared to go against Europe and in spite of European interference which got a good response from the hall – but this was another keynote speech where women were absent as a policy priority. I’m left with the impression that the only violence and abuse that the Home Secretary seems interested in tackling at any level in civil society is that of religious extremists. It made me question what it would take to get the same policy commitments to tackling women's inequality and the actual and fear of violence, harassment and abuse that blights our existence. |
| Labour party women: seen. But heard? Posted: 17 Oct 2014 06:00 AM PDT
Evidence can be found on the party’s “YouTube” channel which lists 29 speeches from the conference – of which 11 were made by women. The conference was opened by a collaboration of refugee women performing a piece inspired by the Set Her Free campaign and by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman. Harman, fresh from Labour’s one-day Women's Conference the day before the 3-day main party one started, promised a commitment to all-women shortlists and free childcare for women ‘because Britian's women want something different’. It was all looking very promising. On came Ed Milliband. What I find strucking was the fact that he appeared to be completely surrounded by diverse women. His speech referenced women, he asked them to stand up, he celebrated a young woman for breaking through in a traditionally male environment… and his speech was laden with familiar political Labour values; internationalism, solidarity, the ordinary workers, Europe, the NHS. It almost feels like a Billy Bragg song waiting to happen. He was, in his own words, applying "historic values to modern situations". He talked a lot about young people and opening up politics and completing unfinished business. This didn't feel like an apologetic leader. It felt open and transparent and I almost believed it. Though he was visibly surrounded by women and he actively mentioned them his first key national goal – to raise the minimum wage by 2020 – is referenced only as benefiting families and individuals. He didn't mention that the majority of people earning the minimum wage are women; a missed opportunity. Nor did women specifically get a mention in his other key policy areas. There was much reference to tackling the cost of living crisis, the need for better housing, green economics. And the need to protect the future for the next generation in all areas, the need for apprentices and home ownership for younger people. And lastly, a call to protect public services. Women are close to the agenda in this keynote speech, they are watching and they are evidencing it but I don't know that they are leading the influence. Over to Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary. She opened her speech with praise for black feminists fighting FGM practices. In her first moments she announced a new law on violence against women and girls (VAWG) to protect girls from violence, and invoked the traditional Labour values of fighting for justice and against abuses of power. She went on to talk a lot about different aspects of the home secretary’s brief, putting up a good argument on immigration, the PREVENT Agenda and counter terrorism and the role of communities. This was a more apologetic Labour minister, contrite for their record on 90 days and promising evidence-backed policies in future. And she didn't stop on VAWG. She drew attention to falling numbers of rape prosecutions and referenced the litany of failures in the protection of children and called for immediate action to make the abuse of children a higher political priority. She redoubled her call for a national enquiry into institutional abuse and pledged stronger laws to put child protection first. Cooper also talked about sex and relationship educatation (SRE) as the cornerstone in protecting young people from teenage relationship abuse, online exploitation and homophobic bullying – she makes a manifesto commitment to making the teaching of SRE compulsory in all schools. Cooper also announced in her speech that Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will be abolished the savngs put into frontline police services. The PCCs have been interesting sites of local power for VAWG services and it will be interesting to see how this commitment is met by local domestic violence (DV) and sexual violence (SV) support services. The lack of protection for frontline services may have been partially addressed by the announcement of a new DV and SV commissioner, not a VAWG commissioner – asubtle but important political difference – and a new national network of refuges to ensure that women fleeing violence are protected. All of this will ensure that women fit into the key Labour message of keeping communities safe and strong. It was powerful stuff. It is a shame then that the speech appears to have been delivered to a half empty room. But in terms of policy commitments it is light years ahead of women's education in prisons. Gloria De Piero, Labour's Minister for Women and Equalities, is an impressive figure at the podium. She pointed to Labour’s record of bringing women in to politics, highlighting that Labour have more women MPs than the other parties combined and that there are more privately educated members of the government’s Cabinet than there are women. Her speech crossed the equalities strands comprehensively and determinedly – possibly showing how far ahead Labour are on equalities issues. In almost contrast to other key speeches from the conference she revoked traditional Labour language, talking negatively of "closed shops" and praising the Spectator magazine for ensuring access to opportunity. Her speech asked for equality of opportunity and the "release of talent" to ensure that access is based on merit. She called for the civil service to lead the way and committed the public services to monitoring social class alongside other equalities characteristics when recruiting. Hers was a call not necessarily for women but to bring the working class back into politics and into British life. It was an interesting perspective and one delivered with aplomb. It was interesting to note that women are in the background of this speech and that other areas in the equalities brief are brought to the fore. I don’t necessarily think this is a failure for women in Labour. It may well be a sign of how much further mainstreamed “women’s issues” are in their central party machine. |
| Where are the Liberal Democrat women? Posted: 17 Oct 2014 05:57 AM PDT
Since we’ve now seen the end of three main parties’ conference season we thought we'd review of their main speakers’ policies and look how those policies impact on women. In order to be consistent we reviewed three speeches from each party: the party leader's, a justice policy spokesperson and the equalities lead from the party. The Liberal Democrat’s slogan for their conference this year was "Stronger Economy Fairer Society". We heard over and over that they were proud of their time in government, their successes and that they wanted to do it again. At points, to the outsider watching, it felt a little too defensive. But when they were on the attack they were attacking Labour for having no plan, and – predictably – for the economic mess, while the Conservatives caught it for being the party of the rich – and for being caught between their own backbenchers and UKIP. Everyone was on message with strong statements on the values of the Lib Dems: fairer, protecting ordinary British people's rights. Nick Clegg's speech in particular attempted to speak to those disaffected with British politics and potentially to wannabe UKIP voters. He spoke strongly of unity and tolerance, but his three priorities weren't particularly speaking to women. He said he wants his manifesto to create opportunity for everyone; opportunity that reflects environmentally-sound politics. Interesting in the face of current polls which show the Green Party and the Lib Dems neck and neck – and that many LibDem Local Councillors are defecting to the Greens. His second big policy commitment was to raise tax thresholds – cutting many individuals’ tax rates and taxing the rich. And thirdly he committed to supporting parity between mental and physical health by introducing waiting times for psychological conditions. A move welcomed by the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. I don't think it would be controversial to say that women's mental health is impacted severely by their experiences of violence, abuse and harassment and that given this, the absence of any reference to women in this speech feels like something of a glaring omission. And he talked about "fathers at the school gates" and young people and families. All in all it seemed that women were largely absent from his keynote Conference speech. On to Simon Hughes, the party’s deputy leader with the Ministry of Justice. He fared a little better. His key messages were around protecting civil liberties and protecting the Human Rights Act. He celebrated new Rape Support Centres and looked to further protection for rape victims under the Victim's Law. As a feminist working in VAWG field this was all sounding very un-gendered to me. He was talking about Rape Support Centres rather than Rape Crisis Centres… And then my alarm bells rang louder when he started talking about "Family Justice" and making decisions in the interest of children. From my experience working with women who have experienced domestic abuse, making decisions ‘in the interest of children’ often means that the state overlooks women's experiences of abuse, and that many women feel that the court system that grants access to children is one further way of allowing their ex partners further control and further opportunities for abuse. And as for protecting those experiencing domestic abuse from the impact of the Legal Aid budget cuts, he was proud of his record on it. But see previous articles… Putting education at the heart of rehabilitation is another key manifesto commitment, and here women did get a direct mention. He wants to keep women with their families, reducing the number of women in custody, and reducing the cycle of offending. His promises were that all women who are in prison will have their English, maths and other educational needs assessed within a week of being in prison, that he would guarantee tailored plans for learning for each woman and that the Ministry of Justice will work with education partners to continue that education after their release. A massive question that I have is whether these education partners would be the women's centres established by the Corston Reforms from 2007 under the last Labour government. There was specific mention of women and that women don't benefit from short sentences and periods in prison … but nothing that feels that original to me. To Lynne Featherstone's speech then. She is the Minister at the Department for International Development (DfID), and credited with being the most influential woman in the Lib Dems. Compared to those who spoke before her, her speech was awash with women. She started with the success of the Bring Back our Girls campaign and the impact of this. She talked strongly about domestic abuse at home and sexual violence overseas – does rape not happen in our communities Lynne? – and she talked informally and passionately about FGM and supporting black women in the campaign to end FGM. As far as her manifesto promises go, she said that the Lib Dems will ensure that FGM and other harmful practices will be eradicated. And she wants to ensure that women globally have a voice. All sounding very promising… But women don't seem very high up their political agenda, and there doesn't seem to be a lot that is new or innovative when they are mentioned. Though I'd give credit to Lynne Featherstone for talking with passion and sounding genuine. The Liberal Democrat’s conference then, from a women's perspective, was a mixed bag. But overall? Could do better. |
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