I’m pretty sure everyone in Britain is so utterly fed
up with the General Election that no one wants to read yet another opinion
piece on yet another campaign trick especially on an international blog
attempting to gender otherwise gender-blind headlines. However, this site also
seeks to explore specifically gendered headlines when they (once in a blue moon)
hit the headlines. This week the ‘women’s vote’ has been the political football
of choice for the UK general election candidates. In particular for the Labour
Party who announced this week that they were issuing a separate manifesto
entitled: Labour’s Manifesto for Women.
You can find the full detail of said manifesto here:
but for those of you with lives let me summarise. If elected, Labour will do
the following ‘for women:’
1. Raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2019 and
therefore stop the disproportionate exploitation of women’s labour under the
current government.
2. Reverse cuts to childcare therefore making free
childcare available for up to 15-25 hours a week and for primary aged children
from 8-6 every weekday.
3. Double paid paternity leave from 2 to 4 weeks and increase
parental leave pay to at least national minimum wage.
4. More stable funding to rape crisis centres and legal
aid for rape victims. As well as a new commissioner to monitor domestic abuse
and sexual assault.
5. Introduce age appropriate sex and relationships
education in schools.
6. Continue using all women shortlists and quotas in
Westminister that has already resulted in them having the largest number of
women MPs.
Do not get me wrong there are many things wrong with
this which I will move onto subsequently but firstly let me highlight why I
think this is ultimately a necessary evil, much like other positive
discrimination agendas. Ultimately, this manifesto highlights that a Labour led
coalition will be better for women than the Conservative alternative that has
allowed women to take 85% of the austerity burden. All of these measures are
fundamental steps in the right direction. They are in no way the destination
but they pave the way for significant progress in the crisis of gender inequality
brought about my the current government. Free childcare and better-paid, fairer
parental leave will potentially emancipate women from some of their care
burdens whilst providing the desperately needed aid and education in the area
of sexual politics is also a positive step. Much like their policies detailed
under point number six and earlier this year at pink bus gate, this is just another act of positive discrimination
that, whilst patronising and somewhat unfair, does try to make women’s voices
heard. It is because women’s voices are being heard that issues that
unfortunately affect women more than men are, for the first time, being voiced
in this election debate. It is no coincidence that Labour is the party with the
most women MPs and the only party to have pointed out their deliberately
gendered manifesto promises. At the end of the day, in the system we live,
whilst it is not right, women and men experience their lives differently and
often disproportionately and if positive discrimination is the way to
progressive change and in the mean time proper representation this I am all for
it. Perhaps it is what some might call a peaceful and gradual revolution that
will bring more women into politics, making their issues heard and therefore
make progressive changes towards the emancipation from gender roles. In 2010 only 39% of British women between
the ages of 18 and 25 voted, the lowest turnout category, therefore
anything politicians can do to engage with women who feel their voices are not
being heard is great. We are taught to actively disengage with formal politics
as it is a ‘man’s world’ and this has the dual damage of reifying the
patriarchal nature of politics and ensuring unequal representation of issues.
If we do not vote we will be an unrepresented majority and the system will be
maintained. Women must vote for representation and equality and this manifesto
seeks them out and encourages them to do so.
Now let’s get one thing clear positive discrimination
is in no way positive. It shouldn’t be necessary but it is. The reason its
necessary is what political parties should really be trying to tackle but in a
way this does attempt to do so, in a circular kind of way. My biggest peeve
with is that it is not a Manifesto for
‘Women’ because this perpetuates gender roles associated with women being
in charge of all childcare and only women being affected by sexual violence and
domestic abuse. It should be entitled Labour’s Manifesto for Gender Equality
and every party should have to write one and have their manifesto’s checked by
the Equality Impact Assessments. This should not be a campaign tactic and a
political football but a basic, instrumental part of writing a manifesto. Or
a budget (cough cough George Osborne.) The idea that only women care about
childcare is at the very root of the
problem: institutionalised and patriarchal gender roles that subordinate
women’s agency by conflating them to the private sphere are the problem. This is what we should be tackling not
emphasising! Equally, sexual abuse and domestic violence affects men too. It is not a women's issue. In fact, gender
equality is not a ‘women’s issue’ it
is a humanitarian issue that affects all people in their everyday lives and
yes, much like everything else, most of the blow is taken on women’s shoulders
but everyone should be voting for gender equality. Not just women. One of the
policies is about paternity leave: paternity leave FOR FATHERS is not a women’s
issue. It is a gender equality issue and this tendency to box off feminism in
to ‘women’s issues’ is detrimental to ultimate feminist aims.
Furthermore, this manifesto directed solely at women
is patronising and implies that the rest of the manifesto is for men. Equally,
much of it is fabricated and tokenistic: raising the minimum wage for everyone
should not be considered a ‘women’s issue.’ Rather, taking direct action
against those who exploit women’s labour and perpetuate the pay gap by paying
part time workers less and discriminating against women should be detailed
here. Raising the minimum wage does not
tackle that sneaky little 17% pay gap. Also, Labour will continue with
austerity and women’s disproportionate burdens will undoubtedly abound here.
Teaching sex and relationship education in schools is of course fundamental but
here a mention of teaching children about the fundamentality of consent should
be included. Overall, there are many holes in all of the above policies and a
lot of problems with the root ideas and implications of all positive discrimination
of this kind. The problem is not that positive discrimination exists, but that
it has to exist. That we live in a
world, a country, where in order to employ women or encourage them to vote we
have to treat them as incompetent secondary citizens! I like to think that these
measures put Labour’s feet in the right direction but whether or not they will
have the opportunity to follow through is another issue. For me, any deliberate
action taken to ensure women’s voices are heard and their problems accounted
for is a good thing.
P.S. If you haven’t registered to vote PLEASE DO.
Even if you don’t agree with any of them, spoil your ballot! Tell people you’re
unhappy. A non-vote does nothing, a vote, even a spoiled one, could change
everything and will make a difference in the closest election we’ve had for
years. (but also don’t bother if you’re gonna vote UKIP.)
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