General Election Special - Guest Post

2015’s General Election is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in recent years.  There is barely a sliver of daylight between the Conservatives and Labour in the polls, which is due, in part, to the growth of smaller parties; a sign, perhaps, that we are finally moving away from the two-party politics that dominated the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of this one.  But the most surprising aspect of this election was not that there were seven party leaders debating the issues, but that not one, but three of those leaders were women.

This election is unprecedented in many ways, but the increased role of women is one of its big positives.  One in four candidates standing are women, more than at any other election.  It’s predicted that women could make up 30% of MPs in the next Parliament – a significant increase on the 22% elected in 2010.  It’s not quite the 50% that it should be, but it’s inching slowly towards it.

As Harriet Harman said, when launching Labour’s Women’s Manifesto: "All women are different but there are some commons themes.  Above all, we need to make sure women understand that politics and democracy is for women as well as men.  Too often women feel politics is just a group of men shouting at each other, who don't understand their lives.”

One way of achieving this is to raise the profile of the women who are already in politics.  Below is selection of the women who are currently Members of Parliament and who will be standing for election again on 7^th May.  There wasn’t space to include all 148 female MPs, so I’ve tried to choose one from each party whose journey into the House of Commons and political activity tell the most interesting story.

Diane Abbott (Labour)

Labour, due to their socialist roots, have always lead the way on getting women into politics, with their first three female MPs taking their seats in 1923.  53% of Labour candidates contesting their target seats in 2015 are women and they also lead the way on numbers, having 86 female MPs.  Despite this, they have never had a female leader, though Diane Abbott challenged for it in 2010.

Abbott took her seat as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington back in 1987, becoming the first black woman elected to Parliament.  Born to Jamaican immigrant parents in 1953, Abbott attended Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read history.  After graduating she worked in a number of positions, including as a television researcher and reporter.

Abbott has been something of a livewire within the Labour party, often voting against party lines.  She voted against the Iraq War, and has opposed ID cards and the renewal of Trident.  Her speech on civil liberties in the debate on the Counter Terrorism Bill won recognition at the 2008 Human Rights awards.  She served briefly as Shadow Minister for Public Health under Ed Miliband's leadership, before being sacked in a re-shuffle, but chairs the All-Party Parliamentary British-Caribbean Group and the All-Party Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Group.  Outside of Parliament she founded the London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst black children.

She has often courted controversy, with frequent media appearances and comments on race, but was re-elected with an increased majority in 2010.  She has announced that she will be putting herself forward to become Labour’s candidate for London Mayor in 2016.

Dr Sarah Wollaston (Conservative)

It could be argued that the Conservatives have the best record of all when it comes to prominent women, having elected a female leader as far back as 1975; a leader who would go on to become one of the most iconic British Prime Ministers of the twentieth century.  But it’s been 25 years since Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street and today the Conservatives are lagging behind other parties when it comes to the proportion of female candidates and MPs.

Dr Sarah Wollaston studied medicine at King’s College London and worked as a GP for twenty years before entering politics.  She was selected as a candidate for Totnes in 2010 through the country’s first open primary and was subsequently elected to Parliament with an increased majority for the Conservatives.

Wollaston is Chair of the Health Select Committee and since election has gained a reputation for being an independent-minded MP, unafraid to oppose the party leadership in defence of the interests of her constituents.  She has rebelled against the Coalition on several key issues, voting in favour of a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union in 2011, for a cut in the EU budget in 2011 and voting against military intervention in Syria in 2013.

She is, understandably, very interested in health issues.  Her opposition to NHS reform in 2011 resulted in the Conservatives changing certain clauses at her request, and she subsequently voted in favour of the revised Health and Social Care Bill.  She has also been a vocal proponent for minimum unit pricing for alcohol and was greatly admired for standing her ground on the issue, clashing with the party leadership when she declared that the plans for minimum pricing had been shelved due to party strategist Lynton Crosby’s ties to the alcohol industry.  In 2013, she jointly won The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Award for her opposition to a Royal Charter on press regulation.

Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat)

Things are looking pretty bleak for the Liberal Democrats at the moment, but they’re looking even bleaker for Liberal Democrat women.  Only 12% of the party’s MPs are women and polls suggest that figure could be even lower after the election.

Jo Swinson hales from East Dunbartonshire and has been an active member of the Liberal Democrats since she was seventeen.  After graduating from the LSE with a BSc in Management, she first stood for Parliament at the age of 21, contesting John Prescott’s seat of Hull East in 2001. She lost, but gained a 6% swing for the Liberal Democrats.

She took her home seat of East Dunbartonshire in the 2005 General Election, becoming, at 25, one of the youngest women ever to become an MP.  She is currently the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Junior Equalities Minister.

Swinson was vocal in her opposition to the Iraq War and the Labour government's proposals for national identity cards. She supports measures to tackle climate change and reducing the voting age to 16 as a way of engaging young people in politics. Although she believes more women should be involved in politics, she opposes positive discrimination to address gender imbalance, controversially wearing a pink t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I am not a token woman” to the Liberal Democrat’s national party conference in 2002.

Caroline Lucas (Green) 

The Greens can boast that they are the only party with all female MPs.  Of course, they only have the one MP, but unsurprisingly, the Greens have an impressive record when it comes to female representation.  They are fielding the highest number of female candidates and are the only political party where a female leader has handed over the reigns to another female.

Born to Conservative parents, Caroline Lucas gained a first class degree in English Literature from the University of Exeter in 1983.  Whilst a student, she became heavily involved in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.  She joined the Green Party in 1986 and held numerous positions within the party’s leadership, before becoming leader in 2008.  She was elected MEP for the South East in 1999, and in 2007 announced her intention to stand for Parliament in Brighton Pavilion, where the Greens had been gaining in popularity.  In 2010, she was elected as the first Green MP and in 2012 stepped down as leader of the Greens to concentrate on her role as MP and to allow other members of the Green Party to gain prominence.

Lucas has been a popular, at times radical, but always hardworking MP.  She has been an outspoken and welcome voice in opposition to the political establishment in the House of Commons.  She was reprimanded for breaching the Parliamentary dress code by wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “No More Page 3” in the chamber and was arrested during a non-violent protest against fracking in Balcome.  She is a tireless advocate for the causes she believes in, including promoting localisation over market-led globalisation, protecting the environment, animal rights, the advancement of women and disarmament.  Despite her popularity, dissatisfaction with the Green-run Brighton Council could cost Lucas votes in the election and it’s unclear whether or not she will retain her seat.

Eilidh Whiteford (SNP)

The SNP have been a powerful force in 2015’s election, with leader Nicola Sturgeon's debate performances surprisingly managing to eclipse the popularist platitudes of Nigel Farage and UKIP.  As a progressive party, the SNP, and Sturgeon in particular, are keen to promote gender equality.  Although the SNP only recently voted to introduce all-women shortlists, they already have the second highest proportion of female general election candidates of the six main parties in Scotland, at 36%, behind the Scottish Green’s 43% and ahead of Labour’s 27%.

Currently, the SNP only have one female MP in Westminster (to their five male MPs).  Eilidh Whiteford has been actively involved with the SNP since 1986 and was elected as MP for Banff and Buchan in 2010.  She sits on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee and is the SNP's Westminster Spokesperson for Fishing, Food and Rural Affairs, and International Development.  Her causes include encouraging women in politics, opposing austerity and, obviously, greater devolved powers for Scotland.

Margaret Ritchie (SDLP)

Margaret Ritchie was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2003, became the leader of the Social Democrat and Labour Party in 2010 and has been the Member of Parliament for South Down since 2010.  On Remembrance Day 2010 Ritchie made history by becoming the first leader of a nationalist party to wear a poppy at a wreath-laying ceremony in Downpatrick and has attacked Sinn Féin for causing division in Northern Ireland.  Although described as “sincere, decent and focused”, Ritchie was not a popular leader of the SDLP and stepped down in 2011.  She resigned from the Assembly in 2012 to concentrate on her duties as an MP in Westminster.

Michelle Gildernew (Sinn Féin) 

One of ten siblings, Michelle Gildernew was born into a politically active Irish republican family.  The Gildernews were leading figures in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association during the 1960s.  Gildernew was appointed Sinn Féin representative to London in 1997 and was part of the first Sinn Féin delegation to visit Downing Street.  She was elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in 2001, though only held onto her seat by 4 votes in 2010.  Like all Sinn Féin MPs, Gildernew follows a policy of abstentionism and does not take her seat in Parliament.  Gildernew is a Republican activist and has campaigned on women's and mothers' rights.

Naomi Long (Alliance)

Naomi Long graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast with a civil engineering degree in 1994 and worked for several years in structural engineering consultancy before going into politics.  Her first foray into politics was in 2001, as a member of Belfast City Council; she also served as Lord Mayor of Belfast.  In 2001 she was elected as Member of Parliament for Belfast East, becoming the first MP for the Alliance Party.  Long became the first liberal-affiliated MP elected to Westminster in Northern Ireland since 1914. Despite the close relationship between the Alliance Party and the Liberal Democrats, Long does not take the coalition whip and is not a member of the Liberal Democrats.

I am not advocating voting for female candidates regardless of party or politics, simply because there is a woman on the ballot.  That, like assuming that there is a ‘woman’s vote’ and that we all think and act – and vote – as one, is insulting and does little to advance the cause of equality in politics.  What I am in favour of is promoting and raising the profile of female MPs, such as those above, in order to encourage more women to take that step towards candidacy.  If more young girls become familiar with female faces on those fabled green benches, maybe future elections will finally see women making up two in every four candidates.