I want to start by making a confession. You see, I am not an academic, I am not a politician, I am not even a writer. I am in fact just a very ordinary 40-year-old nurse and mother-of-two living and working in Nottingham. I have been a member of the No More Page 3 campaign team for just over 18 months. Prior to joining the team, I had absolutely no experience of campaigning and had been pretty much completely disengaged from politics, apart from voting, for most of the last 10 years.
No More Page 3 has inspired women like me who have never been involved in politics to become passionate feminist campaigners and potential politicians. But how can fledgling activists make the leap from online campaigning to national party politics? In turn, what lessons can mainstream politicians, who are, in contrast, struggling to engage the masses, learn from feminism about political engagement?
First, the social media revolution has made activism easier and more accessible than ever. For the most part these campaigns have been managed and run through social media and online petition websites.
Just a very short time ago, to protest would have required the ability and confidence to, at the very least, write to a member of parliament or newspaper, organise a demonstration or attend a meeting. Instead, Twitter has made it possible to voice your opinion in less than 140 characters in two minutes of your lunch hour.
Not only is this activism ridiculously easy, it can be massively and instantaneously powerful. So much so that companies have withdrawn items from sale and had to apologise in a matter of hours, leaving newspapers unable to keep up and reporting the incident in the past tense the following day.
There is certainly a world of difference between this instantly gratifying form of political engagement and the systems and processes of local or constituency political party meetings. After the excitement of this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants activism, any engagement in the far slower process of national party politics could so easily seem dull in comparison – so how do we help people join the dots?
Well, some already are. I see many women like me who on the back of their campaigning experience are entering into dialogue with politicians and attending meetings in Westminster. Some political figures are realising the power of these meetings and are supporting and listening to them.
But equally, if social media is where people are carrying out political campaigning then politicians must step into this world and communicate with these people right there where they are. I welcome the fact that there are party political groups currently engaging with people online, but it needs to be done in the right way. Many local political groups have made a start, but there is little interaction on their pages so far.
When it comes to social media, those in politics need to take a step outside the comfort of their own page. What are the current hashtags? What are people talking about? How can you engage in that debate and learn from it? In this way you reach thousands of potential voters, who will make the links between the issues they feel passionate about and the power of their member of parliament or local councillors to affect change.
Clearly, face-to-face meetings in person should remain a vital part of interaction between any member of parliament and their constituents or between members of the party at local level. But what about virtual meetings for those for whom getting out in the evenings is prohibited by jobs or childcare? When canvassing opinion or passing motions in your area, what about the ability of online discussion and voting?
Another clue to the popularity of the grassroots movements lies in the teams or individuals fronting them. There is a world of difference between the stuffy, jeering debates among men in suits that I see in parliament and the lively, informed debate I see going on out there in the rest of the United Kingdom. At national feminist meetings I have sat in awe listening to the inspirational voices of young teenagers; petitions have succeeded in the hands of young Asian women wearing the hijab, working-class voices are aplenty and there are women. Lots and lots of women!
To achieve lasting difference to the women of this country, we need more women in power. We must start by building the confidence of these passionate and articulate female activists at the stage where they are now so that they are encouraged to take part in mainstream national politics in the future. We have to show people that those in power can be and should be just as ordinary as they are.
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Lisa Clarke is a campaigner at No More Page 3
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This article originally appeared in the Fabian and Compass collection ‘Riding the New Wave: Feminism and the Labour party’ edited by Anya Pearson and Rosie Rogers. It is available to read online here
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Photo: No More Page 3
The trouble you have Lisa is like most of the feministas, you make noise to a bubble which is patted on the back by the rest of the bubble you’re in but even you’re own bubble can’t even make your nonsense arguments stand up.
If gender was the key to everything and not ability, then the noise made be your clique would have led to the champaign socialist being elected as your great leader but instead of rallying to the call the party, including huge sections of your bubble, chose not to do it.
Even the great leader in all his noise, to support your bubble doesn’t truly believe your mentality is actually the way things should be done, if he did there wound not be a white American male running campaigns.
The ‘no more page 3’ campaign is subject to the result of the ‘no more rupert murdoch’ result :).
Getting more women in to the political arena – operative word ‘arena’ – is admirable and I am sure that if you were to cast around for references you would see that women have been pre-eminent in major areas of successful human endeavour down the ages, from Adam and Eve days. I am a strong supporter of so-called women’s-lib’/feminism, not because I feel threatened by any male-dominated-class-rules Clubs, but I see women as equals not chattels or prize possessions as many men do, especially those in the creative and entertainment fields.
Its a myth to think men are in any way superior to their female counterparts, it takes two to Tango and the Power behind the Throne [with one notable exception I can think of] is invariably a woman.
To really rock the boat for Feminism, you should look into some old-fashioned habits that have been passed down from Adam & Eve, eg, ‘Honour and Obey..’ etc in the marriage ceremony [CoE]. PS What is page 3 ?
HI Roy, in answer to your question. Our best selling paper in the UK is The Sun. It markets itself as a family newspaper with offers for family holidays and toy promotions etc but on its 3rd page, it’s largest single image is of a woman posing in a sexually provocative way with her breasts exposed for male sexual gratification. We are campaigning to ask for its removal and that women be featured in new’s media in the same way that men are, I. E. For their contribution to the news rather than as decor to it.