Louise Nousratpour in Westminster
Friday June 6, 2008
The Morning Star
WOMEN'S campaigners warned on Thursday that true equality cannot be achieved without communal and collective struggle against the exploitative nature of a society determined to reinforce class, gender and race divisions.
Delegates at a one-day London conference organised by teaching union NASUWT examined why, 90 years after the first woman MP was elected and 80 years after the franchise was finally extended to all women, only 19 per cent of MPs are female.
The event provided a forum for women decision makers to meet community activists and trade unionists in order to discuss strategies against the scandalously low female representation in Parliament, business and other positions of power.
However, the conference noted that the depressing figures do not reflect the massive involvement of women in grassroots campaigns, trade unions and local politics.
Britain ranks 51st in the world in terms of female parliamentary representation, behind North Korea, Cuba and even Kuwait.
Speakers at the One in Five conference accused authorities of "institutional sexism" in a society where occupational segregation is normal and women are still overburdened with "traditional" roles.
Joella Hazel of the Fawcett Society argued: "The ambition is there, but the structures that exist in society stop women from accessing positions of power as men often do."
London Metropolitan University Professor Mary Davis said that, to understand why we still battle racism and sexism, "we must understand the role of the exploitative society that seeks to reinforce class, gender and race divisions to keep wages down and workers divided.
"Nothing can be achieved without collective struggle in the community and in our trade unions, which can give women a sense of power and belonging," she insisted.
Aston University professor of sociology and UCU union activist Gargi Bhattacharyya agreed, warning: "Measures such as Labour's all-women short list are little more than tricks to get individuals into Parliament.
Ms Bhattcharyya added: "A common presumption is that a woman in power equals positive change, no matter her class or political background.
"But some of the world's most powerful women, Condoleezza Rice, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, have been as murderous, violent and corrupt as men in power."
