Vote with your… vote

Just because I knew it was going to happen doesn’t make it any better.

Yes, as predicted, a woman was chosen as UK Prime Minster who was so incompetent she only lasted 44 days. And, as predicted, everyone immediately went running back to the ‘safe haven’ of having a Prime MANister again. For a few days there it even looked like Mr ‘Confidence vs Competence’ personified may be back in the game as the only option that the Tory party members seemed to feel happy with (some may say this is because he is a white man, I couldn’t possibly comment). Thank goodness that the majority of Conservative MPs saw it differently and at least chose the best ‘man for the job’.

That said, Rishi’s new cabinet is only 23% women, which makes it even more male dominant than Boris’ was. And some of the women in that 23% aren’t t exactly covering themselves in glory so far are they?

So why is it that we have so few women (and even fewer brilliant ones) at the top in government, when we know there are so many competent, talented women who could be there?

There are many reasons (all those invisible, unconscious forces at play in politics, just as they are in any workplace) but one of the key issues is that there aren’t enough women in government at the lower levels. Only 34% of MPs are women and it’s simply not possible that this will turn into 50% representation of women at the top : we only stand a chance of that if we start with 50% at the bottom and retain it all the way up.

Why is it so important that we have that 50% representation? Because that’s the only way that issues that predominantly affect women, like the cost and accessibility of childcare, or the right to control over our bodies, will be raised, properly discussed and satisfactorily addressed.

How do we get to this? Well, here’s the thing: much as I love seeing committed women out on the streets protesting and marching for our rights, it shouldn’t be necessary and we do in fact have the power tool for this job in our hands. It’s called our vote. Let’s start really using the vote that was so hard-earned for women 104 years ago this month and that, frankly, we are not using well enough today. We have 50% of the votes, we have real power to drive change, let’s use it. Let’s vote in those brilliant, talented at the bottom and give ourselves a chance of seeing some of them in the leadership seats one day.

Let’s vote with our vote.