Ladies First...?

I wasn't originally going to write a post about the Chris Huhne resignation for a few reasons, one being that it triggers in me an excess of anger towards an ex-wife who is clearly only interesting on inflicting pain on a man who left her (however justified that pain may be), another being yet more anger at certain newspapers' reporting of the incident which always seems to make reference to Huhne's new partners' sexuality as if it were a contributing factor to their infidelity. As it happens Carina Trimingham has decided to sue the publisher responsible and I fully congratulate her in doing so (the spelling mistake in that article's headline isn't The Independent's greatest moment!). The third reason is that the press and social media chatter, both before and after Kier Starmer's announcement that charges were to be brought, seemed to focus on what would happen if he was guilty whilst ignoring the fact that Huhne is innocent until proven guilty. I didn't think that the gender of his replacement would be the thing that made me change my mind about writing a post.


Well it isn't so much the fact that Ed Davey is male but the fact that this seems to anger some people. I must admit I have very little knowledge of Ed's work but as far as I can tell he has done a great job in his previous role and I can only hope he does the same in his new one but the criticisms of Nick Clegg for his "failure" to promote a woman to the Cabinet, such as those from Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill, are ridiculous. Worryingly some of the most vocal criticisms come from party supporters, liberalism is equal opportunity for all regardless of arbitrary distinction therefore jobs should be awarded on merit. If a deficit develops it is due to a lack of education and opportunity for that group or discrimination against it and these things need to be tackled at the root, not glossed over when it's too late. That is not to say that Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone, the women most mooted for the job, are not fantastic MPs and fantastic ministers because of course they are, Lynne is pretty much single-handedly pushing for gay marriage as I can't imagine Theresa May is a fan (but the less said about her opinions on Page 3 the better), but I don't believe they should be promoted just because they're women.


I have never believed in positive discrimination: it's an oxymoron for a start, putting the word 'positive' in front of a negative concept does not automatically make it a good thing, and also because in the 60 years of affirmative action in America there has been no fundamental change in ethnic minority representation at the highest levels (the reasons Barack Obama doesn't count are too numerous to list here). Anyway, surely all discrimination is positive? If one group is being discriminated against, surely that means there is discrimination in favour of another? I'm a white woman who grew up in a middle class family but whose parents are now divorced: I don't want to live in a country which values my gender above my ability but counts my skin colour against me. Are my childhood holidays in Africa counted against me because they clearly indicate a financially-stable family even though I get bursaries from my university because my dad left and took with him a large chunk of the family income? I'm a politics student who doesn't want to become an MP but if I did, I would want to fight to be selected by the party and elected by the people on the basis of my ability and my beliefs not existence of two X chromosomes and a comprehensive school education. The use of all-women shortlists by Labour implies that women are unable to be selected on merit and have to be given a helping hand and this implication spreads to all women, even those who weren't selected in this way.


There is no denying that there is a problem of representation for women, BME people, non-heterosexual people etc in places such as the House of Commons but artificially boosting their representation does not help tackle the fundamental social circumstances which create this deficit. Incidentally I'm not entirely sure that the House of Commons needs to be a direct microcosm of society, without sounding flippant I don't feel that my MP being male makes him unable to represent me (his position as a Labour Whip on the other hand does). Interestingly, men are under-represented in teaching at lower levels, by lower I mean nursery and junior schools, but no-one is advocating giving male applicants these jobs over women simply because they're men, the effort focuses on making young men more aware that teaching is an option available to them and encouraging them to train and apply. Why doesn't this same thinking apply to under-represented groups in politics or business? Why is positive discrimination called for?


The Liberal Democrat leadership programme is well intended, of our 57 MPs only four are openly gay, only 7 are women and probably most shamingly none are BME, but it is fundamentally pointless. We should be tackling the problem at the root, pushing for change to an education system which nudges boys into 'hard sciences' but girls towards English and away from engineering, in order to ensure change which not only creates a more equal society for the next generation but for all the generations that follow, not aiming to provide change which is purely cosmetic.


Change is needed but condemning and repressing straight, white men is not the way to do it. 

A low, dishonest decade

I'm in one of those moods where I'm noticing every little annoying or stupid thing the people around me do. Like a housemate panicking that she didn't know what the numbers on the oven dial meant; increasing numbers on a dial on a device designed to generate heat, What The Fuck do you think it does! Even if you're never used a gas oven before it can't be that difficult!

.........

A side effect of this mood is that I become very sarcastic, moody, argumentative and confrontational. Probably a bad day to pick a fight with the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party then. I saw an article this morning about the Labour Conference having an event where men were not allowed to attend - with the exception of Ed Miliband - and issues such as maternity leave and childcare were to be discussed. I tweeted the link to the article, tagging Ms Harman and saying she had a lot to answer for. As a women, I find of lot of her proposals for gender equality derogatory; forcing the Labour Party to have a woman as either leader and all-women short lists are two examples of plans for equality that Ms Harman supports but that I feel merely reinforce the belief that women are not capable of becoming successful without help. Harriet Harman unexpectedly responded to this tweet saying women's only conferences will not be needed 'when women & men [are] on equal terms in [the] Labour party.' Now this isn't something I can agree with:

1. Discussing issues such as these at a women's only event surely reinforces the gender stereotypes that men are unable or unwilling to participate in child-rearing which is hardly conducive to gender equality and,
2. Gender equality (and a harmonious party) are hardly likely to come from making party policy whilst excluding the opinions and ideas of 50% of the population

While I did my best to convey these messages through Twitter's 140 character limit and Harriet Harman did reply for a couple more tweets I feel I probably did little to change her mind. It did however make my day slightly more cheerful; it's not every day you get to chat with the Deputy Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition!

.........

While that would have been a marvellous ending to a blog it's 9/11 and I feel some comment is required. Mass outpourings of grief has always made me feel uncomfortable; grief is such a personal thing that I feel the big crowds at Ground Zero and the constant documentaries and press stories border on morbid fascination. That is not to say that the friends and families of the victims shouldn't be able to visit Ground Zero and mourn but the endless press coverage, conspiracy documentaries and wall to wall news coverage of the memorial service just indulges some peoples unhealthy obsessions and cheapens the true feelings of people who actually suffered.

I've already been told off for expressing this opinion once so I hope it's not too offensive to anyone, I just find public outpourings of grief distasteful.

Hopefully more politics/ less my moods tomorrow :D