Today is the first birthday of Women2Win. It's undeniable that they have made quite an impact on Conservative selections.
At the last General Election just 19% of target and Conservative held seats (where the former MP was retiring) had women candidates. Just 11% of the 2005 intake were women.
FACTS
Proportion of women selected of all candidates (29 of 80): 36.25%
Proportion of women selected since A-list (24 of 58): 41.4%
Proportion of women selected before A-list (7 of 22): 31.8%
And finally..... 11 out of 20 in Tory held or notionally Tory (post boundary changes) have selected women. I'll be interviewing Anne Jenkin from Women2Win and two selected female PPCs, along with Pam Giddy of the Power Commission on 18DoughtyStreet tonight at 9pm.
11 comments:
Oh, Iain, you have such a good heart and are such an inclusionist, and you are so wrong about women. By and large, they're interferers. They're "Mummy knows besters". Get them out of my life. When a woman gets to the top by her own driving thoughts, I'll take a good luck. Mainly, apart from Ann Widdecombe and two or three others, they're losers and they do not speak to the electorate.
Give up this foolish dream, Iain, and concentrate on things that can be achieved.
I Don't think some of these women are going to win their seats like a
meritocratic selection candidate would have.
The Big Guns are still to be turned on the them for being ferreted and circumvented to selection through the A list.
Old Bernard has been the first fall guy- many more still to come as the winning margin of the conservative electorate turns its
head.
Women towin'.
Margaret Beckett perhaps?
"Proportion of women selected since A-list (24 of 58): 41.4%"
1) Pauline Latham
2) Andrea Leadsom
3) Karen Bradley
4) Harriet Baldwin
5) Anna Soubry
6) Michelle Wiseman
7) Debi Jones
8) Esther McVey
9) Jane Ellison
10) Louise Bagshawe
11) Sarah Newton
12) Annunziata Rees-Mogg
13) Angie Bray
14) Laura Sandys
15) Sheryl Murphy
16) Charlotte Leslie
17) Nicola Blackwood
18) Heather Wheeler
19) Deborah Dunleavy
20) Ann McIntosh
21) Joanne Cash
22) Pritti Patel
who are the remeaning 2?
Happy birthday, Tokenism!
Wimmin to whine. As Verity says, a daft idea from an increasingly loony faction of people who think that women, and every daft minority group can run the country. They can't.
Yes, Ann Widdecombe is an exception. Thatcher got there by sheer force of personality and ability, sans AW shortlist.
Let's put a stop to this nonsense about including everybody in our Governing process in precise demographic proportions. Where will it end?..Burglars? People with a low IQ? Dribbling shelf fillers from ASDA?
yes macchiavelli,happy birthday indeed.
Iain, what percentage of the readers of your site do you think is made up of misogynists?
Don't you realise Iain, that those in command are using female discrimination as a social weapon to use against 'undesirables' that are known to lurk in the wings?
An 'undesirable' is someone whom is just not liked by a certain few who have got into position regardless.
If you think it a commendable act to push women forward, fair enough, but there is a dark side to this female fascism running rife throughout Conservative and Labour hierarchies.
It is a weapon of convenience that is currently hard to argue against for fear of being seen as anti women.
Cameron has ultimate power over you Iain.
Doom.
Dear me, there's some very odd types posting here..........
Did you realise, chaps, that "women" aren't some kind of odd sect or minority, we're half the population. We're - how can I put this delicately - people. We have jobs, drive cars, pay taxes, and even the vote!
Hope this isn't too much of a shock for some of you, although I think perhaps it might be. Gosh, some of you might even have had mothers............
However, cards on the table time. Despite being (sorry to use such a word) female, I am utterly totally permanently opposed to any kind of 'positive discrimination'. If you discrimate for one person you discrimate against another.
Frankly the so-called "Blair Babes" have done us all a disservice by showing that women can be just as much stupid toadying lobby-fodder as men - which isn't the kind of equality I had in mind.
Surely what we want in an MP is the best person for the job. We need MPs who care about serving their constitents, not ones who couldn't find the place on a map.
But judging by what we've seen up to now, there's no reason to think that only men have those qualities...........
Hang on though I don't think this is about positive discrimination but positive action. A discriminatory - in all senses of the word - act is one which does in fact give an advantage to one over another by virtue in this case of their gender. However positive action as is women2win is simply a peer support and mentoring group. It's *not* the same as all women shortlists. I think that the only measure currently being used by Conservatives which qualifies as discrimination is the A list and even then I'm not sure it would technically meet the definition.
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