Women in politics: Bristol bucking the trend

Women make up around half of the UK population, yet make up just one in four MPs in parliament. When Margaret Thatcher broke through the glass ceiling in 1979, she paved the way for more women to enter what was previously seen as a man’s world.  And in 1997, there was a concerted effort to boost the number of female MPs, but instead of continuing at a good rate until the percentage of women in power matched the percentage of women in society, it simply dwindled to the point where there are still constituencies without a single female candidate and most of the country is represented by a male MP.

Earlier this year, outgoing Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo told the Pigeon Magazine about her journey from one of just 41 female MPs in 1987 to 100 MPs thanks to All Women Shortlists (AWS) but said: “It is worrying that since then there has been only a tiny further increase in the number of women Members of Parliament, to 22% at the current time. One way to make sure that women’s voices are heard is to elect more women to both Parliament and Bristol City Council in May.”

And Bristol may well just do that  – thanks in part to AWS – which means we’ve had no shortage of female MPs. In fact the tables are turned entirely, with three out of four of MPs being female and just one in four being male. From the aforementioned Primarolo and Labour colleague Kerry McCarthy in Bristol East to Conservative Charlotte Leslie in Bristol North West, only Bristol West returned a man in the last election (2010), in the shape of Liberal Democrat Stephen Williams. 

And this could well change on Thursday, giving us a full run of female MPs in all Bristol constituencies – with Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire hot on Williams’ heels in Bristol West and Karin Smyth stepping into Primarolo’s shoes as the Labour candidate for Bristol South. Alternatively, we could be left with no female MPs. That latter outcome is unlikely, but there’s all to play for in each seat.

When we’re looking at the number of women standing in this election in Bristol, the figures are strong – with 50% in Bristol North West and Bristol East and almost 50% in Bristol West. The only one which appears more to mirror the national average more is Bristol South, where just 30% of candidates are female. Other female candidates include independent Dawn Parry in Bristol West, the Green Party’s Lorraine Francis in Bristol East and Liberal Democrat’s Clare Campion-Smith and TUSC’s Anne Lemon in Bristol North West.

‘Totally unnecessary’

Every Bristol candidate being put forward by the Conservatives is female – but according to Leslie, who is campaigning for a second term as MP for Bristol North West for the Conservative Party, this is less of a concerted effort to address the gender imbalance and is purely down to their being excellent female candidates in the running.  Nationally, they have less than 50 female MPs.  

Leslie is firmly against All Women Shortlists. ”They’re totally unnecessary,” she said. “All four Bristol Conservative candidates are women and there were none of these lists. We need enlightened political parties and the equality will follow. As a woman, I also want my right to meritocracy – to know I’ve got where I am on my merit, not on my gender.” 

She hailed Margaret Thatcher, who regularly spoke about meritocracy, as a true inspiration, saying: “Feminists often forget that Margaret Thatcher was our first and only woman Prime Minister, and that is truly impressive.”

She continued: “Politics is tough for everyone, and I worry we put women off coming in by constantly focussing on what’s difficult for women. But in so many ways, being a woman in politics is fantastic. So I’d like to see women who are actually in politics to start talking about how brilliant it is to be a woman in politics – and it is.”

‘Positive discrimination’

Conversely, the Labour Party regularly uses All Women Shortlists to select Bristol candidates and is putting forward a female candidate in every Bristol constituency bar one for this election. This makes a significant contribution to the bigger picture which sees almost 100 female Labour MPs in parliament– double that of the Conservative Party and 10x that of the Liberal Democrats (who have less than 10). 

“I think positive discrimination – quotas or all-women shortlists – are still needed, at a local and national level,” said McCarthy. But she conceded: “I don’t really see it in gender terms, but I do think it’s really important that parliament reflects society as a whole, and that we move towards 50% representation. Not all women MPs will have the same agenda, but that’s a good thing too. “

The most recent parliament consisted of around one in four female MPs; putting us on a par with the Czech Republic. Sweden is the closest to the desired 50/50 split, with 45% of its political representatives being women. Recent polls suggest that there could well be another 40 female MPs in parliament this time around – taking the overall figure of women MPs to almost 200 (out of 650). More info here.

And there are more signs of women being better represented in politics, not only on a constituency level in Bristol, but nationally as the leaders of the Green Party, SNP and Plaid Cymru are all women – something which was notable during one of the election debates, where thanks to the absence of David Cameron, there was a 50/50 split.

‘Make politics more appealing to women’

Bristol Women’s Voice was set up in response to a piece of work by Bristol based GEM consultants, commissioned by the council to find out whether women in Bristol were able to influence decision makers and what were the key priorities for women across the city.

The campaigning organisation also organised Women’s Question Times in the four Bristol constituencies in the lead up to this year’s election – raising awareness of important issues for women. More than 200 women attended from across Bristol, with ‘lots of tweeting and engagement and vote swinging’.

Bristol Fawcett’s Counting Women In campaign plays an important role too. It looks at the women in politics issue in depth and wants to see the number of women in parliament reach the 50% mark. “It is less than a century since women in the UK were given any right to vote, or to stand for political office, to take up civil professions or to take up public office.  While the laws that prevented women from being visible and active in public life have been dismantled, the legacy of a bygone age still influences today’s models of leadership, policy-making and the setting of priority policy areas.”

Five years ago, during the Mayoral election, Bristol Fawcett released an eye-opening report into the assumption that the mayor would be a man. With just one female candidate (Daniella Radice from the Green Party) out of a list of 15 would-be Mayors and the Bristol Post running a piece under the title ‘The right man for Bristol’, they turned the spotlight on gender inequality in local politics. The report found that three out of four councillors were male and just one public sector board – health, education, emergency services etc – was led by a woman. 

Sian Webb, from Bristol Women’s Voice, said: “Unfortunately, politics is predominantly male and women entering politics are faced with challenging the majority or being seen as the ‘token woman’. Further, it is exceptionally difficult for female MPs to work part-time, and juggle their family life as there are still such long hours in Parliament. There needs to be a shift in political culture to make politics more appealing to women.”

McCarthy agrees. She said: “I know many women – and some men – are deterred by the work-life balance, and the need to be in Westminster, away from family, half the week. We’ve made the hours more family-friendly, but I don’t think there’s much that could be done to reduce the very high workload.”

And being a female MP is not without its issues. McCarthy who counts Barbara Castle among her inspiration, said: “The focus on appearance and sexist trolling is a real pain, although others with a higher profile have had it much worse than me. (Read more Social media and politics).

“Dawn Primarolo has been an amazing role model; when she started out in 1987 she was one of only a handful of women MPs in Parliament, and the only Labour MP in the South West. It must have been much tougher back then.” 

She added: “I do think local parties should be identifying great local women and encouraging them to get involved, as we try to do in Bristol.”

While on the national stage, Bristol is leaps and bounds ahead of many other cities and towns in terms of representation of women, we mustn’t rest on our laurels as there’s still a long way to go in local politics.

Webb said: “Last year, Bristol City Council had 28% female councillors compared to a national average of 35% so there is still a long way to go to achieve 50:50 representation within local government.”

And McCarthy added: “We’ll need to find 70 candidates to stand for council in next year’s all-out local elections, and ideally we want 50% to be women, so we’re on the lookout!”