Every issue is a women’s issue

In this member post, Debbie Moss introduces a new publication by Young Fabian Women, which is being launched as part of Young Fabian Equalities Month.

This week, Young Fabian Women launches its first pamphlet, Women’s Issues - a selection of essays covering a wide range of policy issues, from the impact of the economic downturn on young people to Labour Party reform, youth violence to European cooperation.

Young Fabian Women provides opportunities for young women on the British left to get involved in politics and policy. We hope this pamphlet, no doubt the first of many, will encourage others to make their voices heard. As Oona King points out in her foreword, a century after the Suffragettes, the fight for equal representation and equal rights is far from won. As young, progressive women we have a responsibility to keep fighting to break through the glass ceilings that still characterise every area of public life.

A key vehicle for achieving greater equality, whether in the political or social realm, is the Labour Party and the wider progressive movement. And now is the ideal time to prove that Labour is the party of gender equality. As Sunday’s papers made clear, the Coalition Government is losing its electoral appeal to British women.

The problem is twofold: first, the Prime Minister’s attitude appears patronising, out of touch, and at times sexist, and second, his programme of swinging cuts – the defining feature of the Coalition to date – disproportionately affects women. No surprise then that a new study shows female approval for the coalition has plummeted to just 25%, with only 13% of women believing the Conservatives are the party “closest to women”.

Labour should take the initiative and make real equality for women, in terms of representation in the Commons, seats in the boardroom, fair access to pensions and support for carers, at the heart of its opposition to the Coalition. And we must play our part, by engaging in policy debates and standing for election.

After all, every issue is a woman’s issue.

Debbie Moss is a member of the Young Fabians and a contributor to Women’s Issues, a pamphlet by Young Fabian Women.

• Women’s Issues can be downloaded here. To find out more about Young Fabian Women click here or contact Claire Leigh on cleigh@youngfabians.org.uk.

#kenwasthen … Labour or London?

It’s interesting that the contest between Oona King and Ken Livingstone has failed to attract significant national media attention, or a huge amount of engagement from Labour Party members. Labour is often accused of being too London-centric, and some of the leadership candidates have certainly gone out of their way to promote their regional roots and focus.

But while we have surely all made up our minds by now about who we are going to vote for as our new leader?! I don’t witness the same level of debate about which Labour candidate we want to challenge Boris Johnson to be the most powerful directly elected politician in the country.

Perhaps this is because Labour supporters don’t think we can beat Boris? Or perhaps its because we are a bit tired of these nomination processes now and if we are going to go to the effort to go to a hustings, its going to be for the Party Leadership and that’s about it?

But while the Leadership contest is about the future of Labour and how we will challenge and hold the new coalition Government to account, the Mayoral nomination race is surely about the future of London, and nothing is more exciting to me at this time than that.

I’ve lived in London all my life, and I think Labour in London has always been weaker than it should be. We have had and still do have, a huge wealth of hard-working London Labour MPs, activists with huge amounts of experience and knowledge, and a structure of local and devolved government which allows for our councils, and our Mayor to have a real impact on the lives of Londoners and make our city a better place to live.

For me, its a shame that Ken has thrown himself back into the race this time. I think if he had said that he wasn’t standing then we would have seen some of his supporters throwing themselves forward, such as David Lammy.

Ken should have recognised that it was time for the next generation to take on the challenge on re-engaging with Londoners, and what a great nomination race it would have been if Lammy and Oona has both been vying for our votes. Labour could have showcased its diversity and talent in London at a time when the Party is desperately looking for experienced and engaging personalities to re-connect with voters.

As we get closer to the nomination of our candidate for Mayor (it will be announced in London on the day before Party Conference) I hope that London members will get more engaged in the debate, and will see that Labour has to re-energise itself in London with a new and vibrant candidate before we have any chance of taking on Boris Johnson in 2012. In my opinion, there is only one candidate who can do that.

What are your views? Email me.

David.

David Chaplin
Chair, Young Fabians
dchaplin@youngfabians.org.uk

Who will beat Boris?

Many of us are just getting over the General Election and are only starting to get to grips with long Labour Party Leadership Campaign. So it just typical that another political contest has quickly emerged, one just as interesting as the Leaders’.

Yesterday the Guardian broke the story that Oona King is going to announce her desire to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor today.

Admittedly talk of mayoral candidates and campaigns might seem a little premature since Boris’ term runs till 2012. Back in March the NEC decided that the Mayoral candidate contest would start straight after the General Election. Despite wanting my fair share of the summer sun, I think that the real lesson from the General Election should be that the campaign do better the earlier they start. For me, the battle to win back the Capital cannot start early enough.

So far it has been taken for granted that the last Mayor, Ken Livingstone, will run. In fact some have argued that he’s been running a re-elect Ken campaign ever since he left office. Even so, Ken will have to face up to the many obstacles he currently faces. Like the General Election, this Mayoral candidate contest seems, on two levels, to fit the ‘change vs. experience’ model. The winning candidate will need to convince a Labour Party eager to regain political leadership role in the Capital and then convince Londoners; who seem worryingly ambivalent about the progress (or lack of it) that Boris has actually made since 2008.

In general “change is always a more powerful campaign theme than experience” and if one thing Oona immediately brings to the contest it is that offer of  big change for Labour. The Guardian’s Martin Kettle recently commented in public that what Labour needs now is a woman leader and whilst Diane Abbott many not fit everyone’s first choice for a Labour leader, Oona ticks a lot of boxes.

She has remained intensely popular in the Labour Party (as well as outside it) since she lost out to George Galloway in 2005. She is a personable, likeable and importantly human politician. Many in her shoes would have struggled to stay politically relevant. However anyone who was at Progress’ annual conference this weekend (and if you were did you visit our Young Fabian stand to say hello?) will have caught a sense of the buzz surround Oona as she took part in the conference  sessions on campaigning.

Those campaigning skills will be critical and will be helped, if she does become Labour’s candidate, by the already active supporter base that seems to have emerged around her – I overheard more than a few people talking about setting up grassroot campaigns to encourage her to run for Mayor.

That is not to say Ken is a pushover. His career shows just how much he thrives at being the political under dog. Don’t forget, whilst Labour spurned him as their official candidate he still ran as an independent in 2000 and won. Who is to say a third or fourth candidate might not emerge too. It is early days yet.

If anything this contest needs to be a contest of views, ideas and values rather than just a choice about who ‘looks’ like a winner. With transport costs rising, the aftermath of the Olympics to manage and a Capital struggling to balance cuts with investment needs, every candidate will have show more than their fair share of new ideas.

Moreover whoever wins their place in the contest will have to show serious broad appeal. The last Mayoral Election showed real political division in the Capital between inner and outer London, so an ability to unite the Capital could be all the difference.