With palpable power and more than a frisson of feminine energy in the air, women's voices were loud and clear at last month's Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Action to address the challenges and barriers women face in the quest for parity, progress and peace of mind at work - female politicians being no exception - was top of the in-tray at various fringe meetings in and around the M&S Bank Arena venue on the Mersey waterfront.
At “Women and Equalities (Executive Pipeline Limited)” Professor Geeta Nargund chaired speakers Rt Hon Anneliese Dodds MP, Minister for Women and Equalities, Karen Blackett OBE, Chancellor of Portsmouth University, Vivienne Artz OBE, FTSE Women Leaders Review, Lisa Hollins, British Red Cross and Liz Stanley, Executive Pipeline Limited.
Themes being discussed included how there is still not enough women in leadership positions or diverse social mobility in the workplace. Anneliese Dodds said: “We also know about job segregation. We often miss training and promotion opportunities and the wasted talent that results from that - and we cannot ignore the evidence. Our determination is to make work pay with our new Employment Rights Bill and other commitments, for example, ensuring that we have gender pay gap action plans - not just reporting, also ethnicity pay gap reporting, menopause action plans, a childcare system that is fit for the 21st century not, frankly, the 18th century. Free breakfast club provision in our primary schools and, above all, that we have a government which recognises that women are the key to the stronger economy that we need to see.”
“Themes being discussed included how there is still not enough women in leadership positions or diverse social mobility in the workplace”
“Some of you were here when Rachel Reeves, as the first ever female Chancellor, of course, in 800 years in the UK, said that tackling the gender pay gap and putting women at the heart of her economic policy is going to be fundamental for her leadership on the economy. There is more we need to do including in other areas where we need to consider those additional barriers that can impact on women - including within public life.”
As a role model, experienced, high-profile female politician in action, she offered some insights: “Unfortunately, we have seen a situation that's developed where, for many women, it's become harder to participate, including because of misogynistic material online - frankly, appalling abuse that many women have been subjected to. I often address girls and different school groups. They will sometimes say, 'How do you deal with the kind of abuse that women often receive?' I say, 'Well, I had a chance to get used to it. When I was at University - can you believe it? - we didn't even have email! We had something called Tenet, right. So I managed to gradually acclimatise to that environment.' But sisters, and brother allies here, we shouldn't have to acclimatised to this.”
She added: “We need to be making sure we are taking stronger action. Peter Kyle is well aware of this - as well as Bridget Phillipson with the work she is doing on ensuring we really stamp out misogyny in schools.”
Anneliese Dodds also acknowledged the importance of collaboration in improving work culture everywhere. “But we've also got to learn from each other. Some of the initiatives we have seen - the FTSE Women Leaders Review, for example, have been so exciting. Action on Women in Business, Women in the City, the Rotary Group - so much work that has gone on. We need to pool that learning together and then act on it. Now we have a group of women, and male allies, at the heart of government who are determined to push forward on this. We're in a hurry, we're practical, we want to take that action and deliver for women.”
“Feminist Futures: What’s Labour’s First Term Priority Plan for Women?” was held the evening before by the Labour Women’s Network (LWN), an independent membership organization affiliated to the Labour Party as a Socialist Society. Founded in 1988, when less than 10% of Labour MPs were women, it includes training and support to help secure more Labour women in public office at every level and promotes equality within the Party.
Alumni include Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Jess Phillips MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.
“There is a difference in the way women are treated on social media - people do feel they can say what they want.”
Speakers included Joeli Brearley, Founder and CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed - who spoke of pregnancy discrimination and 'the motherhood penalty'; Anna MacShane, CEO of the newly-launched all women think tank, The New Britain Project, who spoke of 'Missing Mothers' - the high number of women, those in their thirties, leaving teaching; Erin Parker Leonard, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Represent Women, a North-East and Tees Valley women and girls advocacy organization and others.
Councillor Sharon Thomson, Labour Women’s Network Executive Committee and Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, was Chair. In celebratory mood, she welcomed attendees who she encouraged to lobby, use their voice and persist - highlighting the record numbers of women entering Parliament this year. The gender mix in Cabinet now is equal too.
LWN member and newly elected, Member of Parliament, Naushabah Khan MP, however, knows first-hand the challenges increased public exposure brings when moving from Councillor, which she first was in 2015, to MP with threats of racism and gender-based violence, but asserted it is still worthwhile.
There was loud applause after she said, “I am proud to say I sit here today as the first female Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham. It was a genuine team effort.”
Whilst there is more diversity and women on the benches at Westminster, Naushabah Khan spoke insightfully on the challenges multicultural women, in particular, face during elections today and how the problem needs addressing: “I speak to a lot of women who say, 'It just feels so scary!' I'm not going to sugar coat it and suggest that vitriol doesn't exist. We have to start talking about it. I was in what was known as a battleground seat, a target seat. I got a lot of support - literature, spend for social media, messaging and volunteers. That was important. However, for the first time ever, the Party ran a social media campaign in a way that they had never ran before. The amount of racism and misogyny that I also got, as a result of it, was quite tough.”
“There is a difference in the way women are treated on social media - people do feel they can say what they want. We've got a piece of work - to learn and think about how we challenge that. That's not just for the Labour Party to do, though some of that has to come with the policies we have around social media companies out there. Social media platforms and companies need to have honest conversations about how they are going to tackle that. It is incredibly off-putting, particularly for women. It’s hard - putting yourself out there. Despite all that, it's an incredible job. I love every minute. I would honestly encourage everyone in this room, in whatever way, to continue. Championing women is having an impact, making a difference and really bringing people forward.”
She shared a “first day of school” anecdote from her arrival at the iconic Houses of Parliament: “I, myself, had a bit of Impostor Syndrome when I walked in. I did have to double-check whether I was allowed to sit on the green benches! I was told I was! So that was good. I did sit there and think, 'I'm a girl from Gillingham. I grew up in this working class family. Do I really belong here?' Then I remembered everything I'd been taught by Labour Women and the Network and realised, yes, I did - and this is an opportunity.”
“I, myself, had a bit of Impostor Syndrome when I walked in. I did have to double-check whether I was allowed to sit on the green benches!”
“Who knows how long I will be there for because elections are fickle things! However, in that time, I’m going to do my best. That is the message we have to take. Of course, when we look at our Parliament, our politics, it still feels like there is a little bit of, let's say, 'a certain type' that is more likely to be successful. But I feel that this new government and what we have achieved as the Labour Party is really bucking that trend – and that is so important. We still have a bit of work to do.”
After all the other speakers, there was a lively Q&A including touching on needing more people in senior positions of power that have competency, skill base, allyship and diversity.
Super-busy latecomer, Labour Peer and broadcaster, Baroness Ayesha Hazarika MBE, used the humour of her stand-up comedian skills to echo the need for more gender equality and diversity in senior roles at Westminster – behind the scenes as well as in front. She said, “It’s not that long ago where, even in this Party, to get a group of women like this in a room was really controversial and quite difficult! I remember when we lost the 2010 General Election campaign and Harriet Harman became Acting Leader. I was working with her. We actually reinstated the Women’s Conference - something that Harriet really pushed for. We had to really fight like tomcats to get that!”
This year’s Women’s Conference had taken place the previous day on the first day of the five day Labour Party Conference.
“People were, like: 'Why? What's it going to be? It has got no constitutional rights; no power whatsoever!' We drew up an agenda and the word ‘feminist’ was taken off - because a lot of the people who were making the decisions were men and they were absolutely aghast, found it embarrassing, and cringed to have this 'Women's Conference'. The idea of putting the 'f' word there was beyond! It's not that long ago: 2010. It just shows you that this stuff is so, so structural.”
“There should be 50-50 women in the room making decisions and the same should apply in terms of racial diversity”
It had been mentioned that women are 51% of the population – which probably made a few of the men present smile.
Baroness Ayesha Hazarika continued: “As somebody who was a senior female Special Advisor and also a woman of colour, I was very, very rare. I did a Stand Up Show about it - being in the room of male advisors. I was very fond of them ... how they all looked the same, they all sounded the same and they were all called Bob, Tom and Simon... jolly and jaunty…” It's courteously censored here, but she had the whole room in stitches with humorous, fond anecdotes from across her political life, including elders in the House of Lords!
She continued, “There are still a lot of the same types of 'Labour human beings'! There are more women and that is a good thing - but we need a critical mass. When you are the only woman in the room and there is a dominant cultural view about the ways things should be, it is hard for you to speak out. The easiest thing is to go with the grain, so you can stay in the room and get to be promoted.”
“The real elephant in the room is racial diversity; so few people of colour. There are not that many women. In fact, there are hardly any men of colour, to be absolutely honest. We're not having those different views in the room at a senior level where you're not the rarity, not the oddity, anymore. We are doing so well in front of House in terms of MPs. But we still have a long way to go.”
Crucially, she concluded: “We're not going to get the policy changes we want until we get that cultural change. I would like us get to see not just one woman. There should be 50-50 women in the room making decisions and the same should apply in terms of racial diversity.” Many present echoed: “Me, too.”
by Susan Wallace
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