My childhood TV viewing was peppered with news reports of men standing on picket lines, the word ‘scab’ hanging furiously in the air having been thrown at those who deigned to break the unity and solidarity of men fighting for the future and that of their family. I felt for those people. I remember seeing footage of the women standing by their men and fighting to provide for their families. My admiration for these tough, yet caring, women was immense. Tales that I have heard since from people directly involved with some of the mining communities just deepens that admiration. I realised that there was a word to describe the fairness and equality that I felt so strongly about: socialism. That was it, I felt like I had found my place!
At the age of 18 the biggest milestone for me was to go out and cast my first vote for Labour, the party that I had realised I believed in since listening to conflicting views from a Thatcher-admiring grandfather raised in the West Country and a Labour-voting mother, born to eastern European immigrants and raised by a family whose history burrowed deep into the Glasgow coal mines.
It often surprises many people that know me when I tell them one of the biggest female influences in my life was a nun! Sister Anne was my headmistress for the majority of my primary school years. Looking back now I can see how progressive she actually was. Over the habit she wore a black velvet jacket, her black leather 1980s ‘tucker’ boots were just to die for. Aside from her fashion sense, this was the woman who aided my first strike for the sisterhood at the age of 10. Someone came to our class asking if any boys wanted to go to see Manchester City play Luton Town at Maine Road. I was outraged and marched myself off to inform Sister Anne of the blatant sexism evident to me even at that young age. My protest worked and later the visitor to my classroom was armed with the question ‘Do any girls want to go to see Manchester City …’, you can guess the rest. Result! Incidentally, the match itself I found so mind-numbingly boring that it actually put me off going to another football ground for almost 20 years, but that is beside the point.
May heart continued to be aligned to the Labour movement as I went through my early 20s, got married, became a mother, got divorced and embarked on a new role as a single mother. Tax credits, introduced by the Labour government, were my life-saver throughout this time. They enabled me to carry on working, helped me to afford childcare and, at a time when my children had been through enough turmoil in their young lives, meant that I could get a mortgage in my sole name and we could stay in the only home they had ever known.
At the last election, the realisation that the Tories, albeit aided by their Liberal Democrat bedfellows, were back in power drove me to sign up to join the party. With them ready to destroy all the good that Labour had done in the previous 13 years the only option was to be part of Labour’s renewal. The rest is history. With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work I could become Cumbria’s first ever female member of parliament.
One of the proudest aspects of my campaign has been to see the steady increase in the number of fantastic women who have become active in my local party: Jo, a teacher and single mother of two sons; Ruth, whose youngest daughter was at my selection hustings (albeit not having been born yet) and can often be seen on the doorstep in her pushchair; Kirsty who is behind the fantastic Child Eyes campaign, endeavouring to protect our children from seeing unsuitable publications on display in the supermarket; my fellow councillor Jackie, a mother of four, trade unionist and the owner of a big social conscience; Karen, our first ever female CLP chair.
These women have transformed the face of the Carlisle Labour party. With doorknocking, as for the rest of the key seat candidates up and down the country, being the order of the day for a good while, we now present a team that looks and sounds like the voters in their entirety. While we are getting a good reaction from plenty of men, it is the reaction from women that I have found most heartening. The door opens tentatively and at first, many are simply disillusioned or disinterested in politics. The number who have changed their attitude when I have told them that I am the candidate in next year’s general election has been a fantastic boost for me. After many years of being faced with men in suits, it seems that many women are pleased to have someone standing in front of them that they can relate to, someone they believe understands the issues that affect them most. Many of those non-voters on our canvass sheets have pledged to support our great party.
The hard work pays off. A few months ago I met a woman in her 30s refusing to vote. ‘You are all the same’ was her opening statement. You try your best and have to hope one of your arguments sticks. It was a very proud moment to return to her street last week. She came bounding out of her house, ‘yes I’ll be voting Labour, I did the other month too!’
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Lee Sherriff is parliamentary candidate for Carlisle.
Join Lee and others at our Winning with Women event at Labour party conference
Winning with Women: Is there still a women’s vote?
7.30-8.45pm, Tuesday 23 September 2014
Lancashire Room, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN
Alison McGovern MP Shadow minister for international development
Diane Abbott MP Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Lia Quartapelle Foreign affairs committee, Italian parliament
Jane Merrick Political editor, Independent on SundayChair:
Chair: Lee Sherriff Parliamentary candidate for Carlisle