At the 2005 general election, seventeen women were elected as Conservative MPs. Seventeen men called David were also elected as Conservative MPs, and the Shadow Cabinet contained more Davids than women. This number of Conservative women elected was dwarfed both by Labour’s 98 women elected in the same election and by the 49 women who are currently Conservative MPs.
Conservative women are almost invisible, hidden from view. Even when they are public figures they tend to be silent. The “Conservative woman” who appears most in the press is Samantha Cameron, and yet few members of the public could pick her voice out of crowd. The media ignore high-profile politicians such as Theresa May, and instead portray the Prime Minister’s wife as being seen but not heard. Why?
Politics hides women because culture silences them. Firstly, there are not enough female role models, so the general public does not tend to associate women with power. The stereotype of an MP remains a white, middle-aged, middle-class male. Secondly, because women are not associated with power, women often don’t see themselves as capable. Like anyone told over and over again that they have a fixed gender role, many women absorb the stereotype and think that they can’t be politicians because they’re women.
It’s a vicious and subtle cycle. The lack of powerful women feeds the culture of women’s unsuitability. Where there are powerful women, they tend to be viewed as exceptions, oddities, and un-newsworthy. The French First Lady Carla Bruni is pictured in the UK papers more often than our own Home Secretary.
The answer lies in challenging cultural expectations. Society is made up of individuals, with different genders, ages and backgrounds. In order to represent the whole country, in order to understand the whole country, political parties must look within their membership for different experiences, different backgrounds and different approaches.
Women make an invaluable contribution to politics because they have often lived different lives to men. A variety of difference experiences widens the ability of politics to create effective and pragmatic policy by increasing the breadth of knowledge. The best decisions are those crafted by a group diverse in class, occupation, race and belief.
In hiding its female MPs and activists, the Conservative Party conforms to the outdated stereotype of what an MP looks like, and risks alienating future Conservative women.
Clara X blogs at http://feminismfortories.wordpress.com and is on Twitter @feminism4tories
@PlatformTen The Absence of Conservative Women http://t.co/m9hOULS Thanks!
Politics hides women because culture silences them. http://t.co/m9hOULS
@JOCWhite @PlatformTen http://t.co/m9hOULS Now maybe?
its good to see a Conservative allied blog take on this issue as its something that seems to be barely mentioned in Conservative circles. I’m not sure I agree with your reasons or even that women are “hidden” but I think the lack of women MPs in the party needs to be discussed. I certainly don’t think I can’t be a politician because I am a woman. There are a lot of powerful successful women these days and its not doing any of our sex justice to say we are silenced by men. I think the discussion in the Labour camp is a bit more advanced. A lot of the problem is the very nature of the work hours etc that make a political career unappealing to a woman who also wants a life outside Westminster.
RT @feminism4tories: Politics hides women because culture silences them. http://t.co/m9hOULS
RT @feminism4tories: @PlatformTen The Absence of Conservative Women http://t.co/m9hOULS Thanks!
“@betapolitics: New @platformten blog: @feminism4tories ponders the absence of Conservative women http://t.co/4XAnYH7”
“@betapolitics: New @platformten blog: @feminism4tories ponders the absence of Conservative women http://t.co/4XAnYH7”
Jenny, I’d tend to agree with you on the whole ‘I can do it so is there really a problem’ thing. Except for the fact that there are REALLY few women in top-level politics. REALLY few. Or actually at lots of levels – how many female Tory commentators? How many online (I’d say 3 of us are on this blogpost and there aren’t hundreds more!)
I don’t think it is that we’re being silenced by men, particularly – I think largely we’re silencing ourselves (better things to do, there’s often a whiff of weirdness about anyone who wants to be really political, and are there more practical ways of achieving what we want to?).
I think you’re right on the way Westminster operates – in the last 2 weeks, for example, I think I’ve been at politics/work-related things 6 out of 10 weeknights.
One thing I would add, which I would NEVER have considered until quite recently. Just before Christmas, I wrote a piece for the Spectator Coffeehouse. Plenty of comments etc, all engaging etc. Until one weirdo went off to youtube to hunt out a video of someone else with my name, getting into a bath backwards (fully clothed, fortunately!). I think that’s just BIZARRE (what’s the point?!), and I don’t think it would have happened if I were a man.
I think women are silenced by culture and expectation rather than by men. As I was given strong role models, encouraged and motivated, I absolutely think that I could be an MP — but the same isn’t true for many women. (There’s a connection with Fiona’s previous post on encouraging people to take opportunities…)
I doubt that many people are deliberately trying to hide women in politics, but because it’s historically been male-dominated it takes a lot to make us realise how our assumptions have been shaped. As you say, a lot of this has to do with connected issues such as the nature of the working hours.
There is certainly an embarrassing lack of women in politics across the board but particularly in the Tories. I think the worst thing we could do though, would be to separate ourselves into “Women’s Tories” or anything like that, I know Labour seem to do this and its quite patronizing and rather off putting. I know neither of you have suggested that, but I just know someone somewhere will think its a way to solve it. Women’s “issues” are the same as men’s, having ovaries doesn’t mean I care more about education than the economy.
I certainly agree, Clara that women are often silenced by expectation as a woman with opinions on politics always seems to be met with surprise or worse.
A good start would be for women politicians to be taken more on what they are saying and less focus on what they are wearing. Theresa May is a good example, whenever she is on telly Twitter explodes with comments on her clothing choices. Yes, the lady likes bright shoes and alternative necklines, so what? can we move on now? (Iain Martin WSJ obsession with ties was unusual by most standards).
I have to say once again though, well done for posting this. Its a worthwhile discussion sadly not had enough on what are mainly male dominated centre-right blogs.
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