Daniella Radice, the Green candidate standing to become Mayor of Bristol, has
produced the most comprehensive and detailed manifesto of policies of any of
the candidates and has made a lot more sense than other candidates at the many hustings
meetings held. All the other candidates
have been more vague, generalised, wishy-washy, incoherent and in some cases populist,
where Daniella has offered real leadership. She is the only woman standing,
which is a story in itself.
It’s important to discuss the fact that
only one of the fifteen candidates for Mayor is a woman because: just 22% of
MPs in the House of Commons and 20% of members of the House of Lords are women
and women aren't in many positions of power and influence across society; 3
million women in the UK suffer rape, domestic violence, trafficking, forced
marriage or other violence; 90% of local authorities do not have a rape crisis
centre; of 109 High Court judges only 15 are women; women’s average net income
per week in 2010 was £180 compared to £231 for men; 20% of people believe it is
sometimes acceptable for a man to hit or slap his girlfriend; 36% believe a
woman is partly responsible for being raped if she is drunk; 83% of experts
cited in news stories are men; 19% is the proportion of women in news stories
portrayed as victims, compared to 10% for men...Clearly our decision making
would be better if women were present in positions of power and influence on a
par with men.
We need to address the issue of
disempowerment and the facts clearly illustrate why. Without strong and
positive action it could take forever to achieve fair and balanced representation.
We don’t get the best range of candidates for positions of
power now because we have a system that on the whole continues to favour men
and disempower women. We are wasting half the talent we have. The social system and within it the economic and political system is
discriminatory, not always in the legal sense but certainly in the sense of
culture/traditions. The right to fair and equal treatment that I'm arguing for
is a human right that putting into action would benefit every person.
In broad terms I am saying that if there
was no sex discrimination there would be many more women candidates for Mayor
of Bristol. Some question this, saying
there is no discrimination in the mayoral process itself: doubtless the rules
would be illegal if they were directly discriminatory so no surprise there!!
But the mayoral election does not take place in total isolation from the
social, economic and political context – and we can’t yet say that there is
nothing in our social system at all that deters and discourages women from
coming forward as candidates (see list and link below). For instance: the
costs involved in applying to become Bristol Mayor are a deterrent to many who
might otherwise consider standing – however the high cost will discriminate
more against women than men because women’s average income and other wealth
levels are lower. Discriminatory social, economic and
political context deters and discourages women. Some admit that discrimination
exists but stick to the unsustainable, implausible position that it has no
effect at all on women coming forward to stand in elections such as for Mayor!
In 2008 an Inter-Parliamentary Union reported said that these
factors deter women from entering politics to at least a fair degree: Domestic
responsibilities; Prevailing cultural attitudes regarding the roles of women in
society; Lack of support from family; Lack of confidence; Lack of finances;
Lack of support of political parties; Lack of experience in "representative
functions": public speaking, constituency relations; Lack of support from
the electorate; Lack of support from men; Lack of support from other women;
Politics seen as "dirty" or corrupt; Lack of education. Seehttp://tinyurl.com/8px89md
Take nursing and primary school teaching as
examples in addition to being a Mayor. Stereotyping of male/female roles due to
sexism results in men and women tending to be deterred and discouraged from
coming forward for certain jobs, for example women for Mayor of Bristol - and
elected and other positions of power generally - and men for nursing and
primary school teaching. It’s not uncommon to find some arguing that not all
jobs are equally appealing because of 'natural tendencies' ie women aren't
coming forward to be Mayor because they are not 'naturally' suited to it – ‘men
and women are different, in most ways’ as
someone said to me recently. Different yes but different
in most ways no – and of course there are differences between people of the
same sex! Men and women have a huge amount in common - they are equally capable
for example of being Mayor, though some suggest otherwise. Sexists argue
that we have one woman candidate in fifteen for Mayor of Bristol because men
and women 'want different things' and therefore women don’t want to be Mayor
and its all down to inherent reasons with no effect from sex discrimination in
our society at all. What a load of utter nonsense.
The sexists are assuming that what men and women do is what
they want; is where their talents and abilities are; that they have no latent, suppressed
capacity for anything else; that this wont/cant and does not need to
change...and that its only what men and women inherently 'are' that affects
what they do ie there is zero effect from the society, the economy and the
political system that men and women live in. My favoured party – the Greens - do not knowingly or deliberately (and certainly not blatantly) discriminate against women in its processes but it does exist in a social, economic and political context which does discriminate and this does have effects. It is working continually to do better, has a women leader, Natalie Bennett...its ex-leader and its first MP, Caroline Lucas, is a woman...the Greens fielded a good number of women candidates at the last general election (a higher % than other parties I think) compared to the 20% of MPs that are women but the Greens must do better as other political parties and society in general must!! 100% of Green MPs and 50% of Bristol’s Green Councillors are women by the way :) but the party can only choose from those who come forward not from its whole membership. Even in the Greens fewer women come forward because the social context deters and discourages them. There is no inherent reason why they would not come forward.
