State reverses Labour policy on women
Britain's opposition Labour Party has accepted a tribunal ruling which rejects women only shortlists for selecting parliamentary candidates Terry Conway state to be addressed. Networking among women and about gender between different local authorities, as well as more proactive support ad training from national NGOs, agencies and governmental bodies could also assist in ensuring that the transition from control to democracy and development at the local level does not exclude women. * Notes 1. President of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), at the launch of the Local Government National Forum (LGNF), Johannesburg Civic Centre, March 22, 1993. 2. Linzi Manicom, Ruling relations: rethinking state and gender in South African history, paper presented at Conference on Women and Gender in Southern Africa, Durban, February 1991. 3. See Walker, C (ed.) (1990) Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945, Cape Town, 1995, published by David Philip, and Jeater, D. Marriage, Perversion and Power. The Construction of Moral Discourse in Southern Rhodesia, 1894-1930, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993 4. According to Leile McKenna. 5. Membership and Participation in LGNF, Report by the Managing Committee, June 30, 1993. The author is a lecturer in the Department of Geographical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Natal. 6. Moses Mayekiso, opening remarks to LGNF Johannesburg Civic Centre, March 22, 1993. "Secondly, we must ensure that more women participate in the process of restructuring local government in South Africa. Looking around I see that much work needs to be done by all parties to the Forum in this regard. But more than participation in the negotiation processes, we need to ensure that women become centrally involved in the running of local government 7. Letter to Dirk Strydom, Deputy Director, Local Authority 8. Letter from S. Moodliar to the editor, Agenda #24, 1995 9. This and all subsequent references to Moodliar are based on an interview with her in Port Elizabeth, April 1995. 10. Towards Restructuring Local Government, carried out by the Centre for Community and Labour Studies (CCLS) at the University of Durban-Westville, 1994. 11. McKenna, L, Gender character and composition of local government, paper presented to the Foundation for Contemporary Research/Urban Sector Network Conference on Gender and Local Government, Cape Town, February 12. Halford, S "Feminist change in a patriarchal organisation: the experience of women's initiatives in local government and implications for feminist perspectives on state institutions" in M Savage and A Witz (eds.) Gender and Bureaucracy (1992) Oxford, Basil Blackwell. 13. Gwagwa L. and Todes A, "Engendering local government structures", paper presented to the Foundation for Contemporary Research/Urban Sector Network Conference on Gender and Local Government, Cape Town, Feb. 1995. Agenda is a South African feminist quarterly. Recent issues have focused on reproductive rights and on sexuality. Forthcoming issues will focus on the environment, a comparative look at women in South Africa's provinces, and media, arts and communications. A one year subscription costs R52 inside the country, R60 in Southern Africa, and £30/$52 US in other countries. Address: Room 7, Ecumenical Centre Trust, 20 St. Andrews Street. Durban, 4001, South Africa. Tel. +27. 31/3054074, fax 3010740. 16 International Viewpoint March 1996
The British House of Commons is one of the most male dominated legislatures in the world. Only 166 women have ever been elected to this bastion "democracy". Of 270 Labour Party MPs in the current parliament, only 38, an indefensibly small proportion, are women. In 1993, after many years of campaigning by women in favour of measures to improve women's voice in the party, Labour Party Conference agreed to move to a policy of making "women-only shortlists" compulsory in the selection of parliamentary candidates in half the constituencies that became vacant. Many women on the left had supported women-only shortlists as part of a larger campaigning package that would allow women more say in the party. We were unhappy that it was only this measure that had been agreed, and not other demands - such as the right for five resolutions
National Labour Women's Conference, a stronghold of the left in the 80s, particularly on international politics, to go automatically to national Party Conference. We were concerned that women-only shortlists by themselves, without measures of accountability on the women selected, would serve only as a way for women in favour with the party hierarchy to be elected, rather than those campaigning for women's rights. But, despite these reservations, we supported the move as a small step in the right In the run up to the 1995 Labour Party Conference, party leader Tony Blair made a public statement making clear his unhappiness with even this limited step forward, saying that the policy was "not ideal" and would be dropped after the next election. But the party conference endorsed a number of resolutions that reaffirmed the policy. Thirty-five women candidates have been selected as a result of women-only shortlists. Many of them will represent Labour in marginal seats, which the party is not certain to win. Two male Labour Party members, Peter Jepson and Roger Dyas-Elliot, who wanted to stand in seats where all-women shortlists were agreed, appealed to an industrial tribunal. This body ruled that women-only shortlists were a breach of Britain's sex discrimination laws. At the end of January 1996, the Labour Party National Executive Committee decided not to appeal against the decision. This means that, unless there are further legal challenges, the 35 women so far selected will stand, but that in ten other constituencies where women only shortlists have been agreed but selection had not yet taken place, the contests will now be opened to male candidates. The decision of the industrial tribunal has wide ranging implications,both in the power of tribunals to interfere in the democratically agreed decision making powers of a political party, and in reinforcing the limits which British law positive action employment. In the mid-80s, when the British left was relatively strong in local government, especially in the large cities, important steps were taken in improving women's position in the job market, albeit sometimes in a fairly superficial way. But many of these gains have been rolled back in recent years. The decision of the tribunal is yet another nail in that coffin. But it is the decision of the Labour Party not to challenge the tribunal ruling which gives most cause for concern. As one women who has been selected as Labour parliamentary candidate via an shortlist told Tribune newspaper, if the party lets the matter drop, Britain's ruling Conservative Party "will be able to argue that the strategy of all-women shortlists was flawed, and that it has failed to produce the best candidates". This view was endorsed by Ann Pettifor of the Labour Women's Action Committee (LWAC) who told Tribune "The Party should challenge this decision. It is the law that is making an ass of itself and giving the Tories a stick to beat us with". LWAC also pointed out that procedures exist that would have allowed an appeal decision within three months. Labour leaders' claims that the process would take up to 20 months, causing problems with the impending general election, are false. It seems that New Labour is more concerned with pandering to male prejudice that trying to combat the gender gap that still exists. A Party that wants to be elected would do well to note that a recent opinion poll showed that while the party had a 36 point lead over the Tories, amongst women its lead was only 28 points. * The author is a leading member of the International Socialist Group, British section of the Fourth International, and a regular contributor to Socialist Outlook newspaper. 1. MORI Opinion Poll, carried out in April -June 1995
Women and political organisations *