Our submission can be read here – http://lead4women.wordpress.com/.
We are lucky to have so many passionate feminists in our
party, from grassroots activists to Yvette Cooper and Harriet Harman. Women in
the party have been leading an inspirational fight against the gendered impact
of the cuts, and it is thanks to women making the arguments that so many
advances for women were secured by the last government.
However, we publish this submission in the knowledge that
the case for Labour being a truly feminist party is still not accepted by all.
Many of you will remember the recent furore around Frank Field’s comments at
Progress conference, when he said that feminism ‘should not be the dominant
ideology’ in our party. I asked Ed Miliband shortly afterwards his view and he
restated the bold commitments he made to Lead for Women, and women in the
party, when he was elected. We are lucky to have a leader who is willing to
fight for a feminist party, but I think we all recognise that we still have a
long way to go until we truly are.
Another event of the last few months which I think
highlights this is David Cameron’s ‘Calm Down Dear’ remark to Angela Eagle. I was proud when so many of our
MPs stood up and said that that was the kind of sexism that kept women out of
politics. I was concerned, though, when I saw so many on our side of the
political spectrum claiming that the whole thing had been blown out of
proportion. I feel the same concern whenever Harriet Harman or Ed Miliband use
prime time opportunities to talk about women’s rights issues – and then I hear
the chorus of people who believe ‘women’s issues’ belong on the sidelines of
British politics. We often see that reflected too in local party organisation
when women’s rights, and women’s inclusion, are simply not tackled.
Our submission to Refounding Labour is broad ranging and
tackles a number of issues in our party which prevent the equal representation
of women and the prioritisation of women’s rights issues – because, after all,
the two are inextricably interlinked. Some key headlines from our submission
include root and branch reform of local organisation. We need to change how our
meetings operate, so that they are welcoming to all. We need to reach out to
CLPs to help them understand why Equality and Diversity is important, and to
give them ideas on how they could engage more women. We must also move away
from a culture which only values those activists who have the requisite hours
to spend delivering leaflets, and we need to start valuing all of the different
skills that members bring to our party.
We ask for a stronger voice for women in the party’s
policy making process, and request an annual women’s conference for women to
come together. There was once a vibrant women’s organisation in the party which
gave many women confidence to get more involved. We must seek to regain that
spirit, and we should recognise that women members want to contribute directly
to policy on the issues that they are uniquely qualified to speak about.
Our submission deals with a number of the issues we see
with candidate selection to help ensure that women are given an equal and fair
chance to become MPs. We must continue to support all women shortlists (AWS), but we must also get
better at communicating why we do it. We must have AWS in more seats because at
the moment we are falling way short of our target of 50:50 representation. We
also call for reform of the selection procedure – simple changes like ensuring
all candidates are asked the same questions at hustings will make a massive
difference for women.
We also talk about the importance of 50:50 representation
at every level of our party. From 50:50 representation on local council Labour group
executives and cabinets to a Labour party leadership team which is
always guaranteed to be gender balanced, we must take our commitment to equal
representation seriously. If we don’t then we are letting women down.
Lead for Women are calling on all Labour Party members to
read our submission and to submit it to the review if you agree with what we
call for. If you want to submit parts of it, or you want to expand bits of it,
please do. The more submissions received by the review which talk about the
importance of Labour being a feminist party, the more likely we will start to
see some much needed structural, and attitudinal, change.
This is a real opportunity for our party to become a
party which truly represents women, and which truly speaks up for them. Please
do use this opportunity, and make a submission to the review.