Over the years, approaches have varied, informed by changes in British society. Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister and the first female leader of a major British political party, minimised her identity as a woman since it represented a clear disadvantage for her: she needed to be seen as similar to but better than the men around her, in order to be deemed worthy to lead them. (Her image was just one of the problems she encountered due to being a woman: because of mandatory post-Second World War military service for men, all her cabinet had served in the military except for her, the ultimate commander of the armed forces.) No matter how much or how little you know about the period, it’s clear that in the 1970s and ‘80s being a woman in politics was a big disadvantage to political credibility – but how about nowadays?
The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Rachel Reeves, the first woman to hold the post in its over 600-year long history. She has spoken about the privilege of being the first woman to hold this post, and there has been some emphasis on this from the Labour Party (although I suspect that the reason they haven’t made a bigger deal of this is that to date, the Conservative Party has had four female leaders and the Labour Party has had none). On the other hand, the new leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, could probably use her identity as a Black woman to her political advantage by emphasising that she represents a different and historically marginalised point of view. However, this would go directly against her stated political beliefs and dislike of ‘identity politics’, a position which has infuriated some people because they feel that she is advocating for less, rather than more diversity in politics. So, should we emphasise the female firsts and celebrate them, or is it more effective to acknowledge them and quickly move on? And might having more women in positions of power change the direction of policies for the country? If so, why?
It’s easy to fall into a trap of arguing that women are somehow fundamentally different from men in their perceptions; however, it is true to say that life experience affects how people approach policy. Helen MacNamara, former Deputy Cabinet Secretary (the second most senior civil servant in the government) during the Covid pandemic, has told the UK’s Covid Inquiry that only she, in the meetings where Covid policy was made, had thought of the potential impact of the lockdown on those experiencing domestic abuse, as well as policies on childcare, PPE and pregnancy. MacNamara was the one who suggested the policy of free train travel for those fleeing domestic abuse, and some argue that the pandemic policy on childcare would have looked very different if any of the powerful men making the decisions had been required to take care of their own children 24/7. In MacNamara’s witness statement to the Covid Inquiry, she said that the “exclusion of a female perspective” led to “significant negative consequences”. In the context of a global pandemic, that means needless deaths caused by factors such as domestic abuse: although it is a crime with low levels of reporting, the number of domestic abuse reports during the 2020 pandemic restrictions compared to 2019 rose by 5% in the same time period. It’s clear that in the Covid pandemic, lack of female life experience in the top levels of government had truly fatal effects.
Finally, what stereotypes or preconceptions help women in politics? And the kicker – should we work to stop these as much as we do for the negative ones? Of course, stereotypes change over time: women in politics are now far more expected to seem kind and understanding, perhaps running for MP using pamphlets which depict them surrounded by children in the local primary school, whereas Thatcher had to be seen as tougher than all the men around her: the ‘Iron Lady’. It’s tempting to say that if the stereotypes surrounding women work to our advantage in some situations, then the fact of the matter is that we live in an inherently sexist world and should maximise any advantages woman might have to compensate for those they don’t. But is this moral grey ground really what we want to settle for? Politics is always a battle between the idealistic and the pragmatic and this is just such another issue. It shouldn’t be women’s responsibility to push for every tiny change for the better; but it is, and we should keep doing so to make our country better for the women who come after us.
Chloe (VII)
Image credit: Jingru Shao, Garry Knight,