I have been pleased during the recent election to read about how many women were standing for parliament, this is a huge win for Emily Davison who died simply trying to get us the vote in 1913 by jumping in front of the king’s horse. In fact my local Tory councillor (unfortunately Labour held their seat in my area) is a 26 year old woman and has worked in Boris Johnson’s office, how times have changed. I can understand how in preceding years the majority was held by men in the houses of parliament with society previously believing that women should stay at home with the children etc etc. But here and now in 2010 women are doing even more than men could have ever have managed – juggling high powered jobs with being a wife, mother and still finding time to cook, clean and meet the girls for cocktails on a Friday night. 51% of the population are female but we are still seriously underrepresented in the House of Commons. I strongly believe that this is not down to women being held back, belittled or discouraged from being in politics, but more perhaps because women in general are not enthused by the idea of thrashing out political views and policies for a living. It is totally unrealistic to think we are ever going to have an even ratio of men to women in parliament unless we were to use Labour’s all women shortlists. I am in two minds about this policy as I can see their intention was good, but the right person for the job should be selected on merit and not for their gender. There definitely should be more women in politics, but maybe we should be looking at ways to entice them into the game rather than force numbers artificially.
Girl Power – The real deal
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