Event report: What do women have to do to get taken seriously?

On Thursday, Oona King chaired a debate with guest speakers Emily Thornberry, Ellie Levenson, Katherine Rake and Jessica Asato on the issue of what do women have to do to get taken seriously.

To kick this event off, Oona King began by saying women in politics are either characterized as nanny or lightweight. The first speaker was Ellie Levenson who outlined her view very strongly by indicating that women are not taken seriously. Many fights have taken place she highlighted, but not enough has changed. A five point plan was suggested by Ellie in combating this:

1. women should be proud to call themselves feminists
2. feminism should not be a prescribed set of beliefs – drop the earnestness
3. it is acceptable to be feminine
4. feminism is more than being interested in health and education – we shouldn’t buy the idea there is a feminine way of doing things
5. men can be feminists

The second speaker, Katherine Rake responded and said that because men define the rules in society so women can’t be taken seriously. If women want to pursue a job at the top, they have to do so in a society defined by men’s rules. If women do not then they risk going nowhere. She went on to indicate that there are no more than three women on any FTSE 100 board. The way forward indicated by Katherine is to demonstrate that the sky doesn’t fall in when women get into power. One way in that other countries, namely Norway have attempted to overcome this, is by having quotas on the number of women allowed on the boards of companies. Katherine argued that this could be a possibility for firms in Britain.

Emily Thornberry began her response by joking, that if women want to be taken seriously they should not be too pretty, or too unpretty! She went on to highlight from her own experiences in the 1980s that she was turned away as a barrister because there were already three female barristers out of 25 in her chamber. This emphasized what the earlier speakers had said surrounding the issue of men’s rules. Further to this, she outlined that the public do not have a problem with women MPs and would accept women shortlists for political parties. In order for women to be perceived other than the way they are now, men have to change and be liberated.

Jessica Asato was the last speaker at this event and addressed a number of key points to conclude this event. Her first point was that women should continue to campaign for equality, in terms of:

1. universal childcare
2. maternity and paternity leave equalised and shared
3. change divorce laws which predetermine women as primary carer
4. make women aware that they don’t have it all

Her second point highlighted the need for women to fight against stereotypes. An example Jessica gave was Labour’s use of the term, which implied only mums mattered. Furthermore, she said that women should stop complaining and become engaged with what really matters. Women need to show more solidarity with one another and overcome the difficulties that they face.

The floor was then open for the audience to ask questions to the speakers and put their comments forward. A point raised by one member of the audience suggested that the public debate for women to reclaim themselves was not over. Another remarked that young women who are faced with sexism are put off by feminism.