Young, gifted and Tory … or Independent

A little more here from the Sunday Times about both Chloe Smith and what the Tory party are doing to attract women.

This is obviously a media topic du jour, as the Observer ran a similar piece on 12th July. I find it very odd to find myself leaning towards a party which has never before had the slightest political appeal, but I do now feel as if the Tories have picked up on the zietgeist surrounding female power.

Is it a coincidence that Gordon Brown is said to “use women as female window dressing” according to former minister Caroline Flint – and that Labour seem to have left this field wide open for the other parties?

And of course, as of yesterday we have veteran campaigner and broadcaster Esther Rantzen standing as an Independent MP in Luton South, another constituency bruised and battered by the expenses scandal. I admire Esther’s courage and integrity but I wonder what her platform will be? Unlike Chloe Smith, she’s not a young woman replacing an older man, but is in fact an older woman replacing a younger – so her election won’t move the needle on the number of female MPs in the HoC (a mere 19%, in case anyone’s wondering, and as we were reminded with force at last night’s Downing Street Project meeting).

Good luck, Esther …

On loving “Mad Men” more than life itself …

This is a very cool tool, isn’t it? It’s called “ManMen Yourself” and offers the chance to “Recreate Yourself in Swanky ’60s Style.”

Brilliant.

OK, hands up – who wants to look like Joan?

And here I am:

On the arrival of a new female MP

I think I’ve arrived at a new definition of “ageing” and it’s this: you know you’re getting on a bit when you’re closer in age to the leader (43) of a political party than you are to the newest elected member (27) of that party – and particularly so when said new MP becomes the new “Baby of the House”.

So, welcome to the world of Westminster politics, Chloe Smith. Aged 27, you are a woman who carries a number of firsts on your slim shoulders: the first new MP to be elected post the recent expenses scandal and, indeed, as a direct result of said scandal; the first Tory to take a seat from Labour in a by-election for 27 years.

Tory leader David Cameron commented that the result shows that “people want change in our country” – but is Chloe Smith the face of that change or simply a representative (or even, a victim) of tactical voting?

And Labour leader Gordon Brown noted that: “The voters were clearly torn between their anger and dismay at what’s been happening with MPs’ expenses, something we have been trying to clean up – and, at the same time, support for the former MP, the Labour MP Ian Gibson, who was very popular.”

As mentioned before, the Downing Street Project (DSP) was launched at the House of Commons last month, at an event which was hosted by Jo Swinson, the then Baby of the House and a Liberal Democrat MP since the age of 25. I love this photo, taken by Julie Gilbert, founder of WOLF and one of the amazing women who are involved with the DSP – her caption was “… the shadows of the next generation of female leaders”.

So, in that context, it seems obvious to me that Chloe Smith, notwithstanding her obvious talents and commitment to the political cause as evidenced by her career path to date, must have been selected in part because she is the anti-Ian Gibson; she is young (27 years old against his 60); a woman; a brand new politician, untainted by the behaviours and associations of the past. She is and has a clean slate.

There are said to be c. 200 MPs standing down at the next election, currently scheduled to occur in June 2010. As a result of the expenses mess, the lists of approved candidates, which had been closed, have been re-opened and the DSP team are hoping to use this as an opportunity to both persuade more women, perhaps more Chloe Smiths, to stand and to be a new type of political representative. David Cameron and co seem to have recognised this as an opportunity ahead of the Labour party; I think I read or possibly heard somewhere that Cameron made six constituency visits in the run up to polling day, which is an incredible amount of top down support for Ms Smith – and it remains to be seen in the coming months if all the parties will get on board with the concept of “out with the old, in with the new”.

The DSP is primarily, I think, not about women per se but about framing a new type of leadership in which women should be playing a vital and enhanced role; let’s hope that Chloe Smith is the first one of those women and that she manages to retain her seat at the 2010 election. How brave, in reality, are the Norwich North electorate?

On feminism, 1913 style

I was reminded of this (in)famous quote on feminism yesterday, when having lunch with some friends; they are a married couple, with two small children. He works outside the home, she is at home with their boys, aged 5 and 8.

Although I said nothing to prompt or provoke what followed, I can only imagine that, for whatever reason(s), her “at home” status is perhaps preying on her mind, because she commented that: “I suppose, because of your job, you think that I should go back out to work now that the boys are at school”.

Not at all, I replied; my job is about ensuring that women who are already in the workplace, have the opportunities once there which are afforded to their male colleagues, ie to be promoted, to lead, to manage, to work in a flexible way – and that the lack of those opportunities does not then make them wish to leave. There’s nothing about my job in gender diversity which is about forcing women to go to work unless they want to do so, or, economically, have to do so.

But it’s clear that, even in 2009, there’s still confusion over what we mean by “feminism” – so this 1913 quote from Rebecca West does still hold true:

“I myself have never been able to find out what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.”

For what it’s worth … feminism to me is about choice, opportunity and flexibility; it’s not about “having it all”, but it is about having the opportunity to choose what form and shape your life will take, be that working inside the home, outside the home, having children, or not – or making any other of the myriad of choices now available to twenty-first century women.

On things coming along in threes

Well, it’s all very strange; suddenly, offers to get engaged with various gender related organisations in the not-for-profit space seem to be popping up all over.

Like buses, three at a time.

First came the Downing Street Project (DSP), with which I am involved in some as yet to be defined way. So far, this has simply entailed helping to organise meeting room space for c. 80 people on two dates: next week and then again on 1st September. But I am having dinner tonight with one of the Directors, so perhaps my role will become clearer over a salad at Joe Allen. There are currently four teams, working as follows:

– Defining the DSP’s key messages and associated media strategy;
– Designing the leadership training;
– Creating the strategy, the organisational structure and roles and responsibilities;
– Fund raising!

And, although I’m not officially in any given team, I hope that I can be helpful in some way to all four workstreams. Watch this space.

Then on Monday, I received a call from a woman, Priya, whom I met in India last year, when I was speaking at NASSCOM’s Women in Leadership Summit in Bangalore. We’ve kept in touch since then and she has invited me to join something called the “Global Women’s Leadership Forum”, which she is setting up. Am waiting to receive more info about that. I’m passionately interested in the issues and challenges which face women in India (I’ll blog more about this shortly) and so I’d love to do something which supported them.

And finally today I was asked if I’d be interested in joining the London chapter’s Advisory Board of the European Professional Women’s Network (EPWN) – and discovered whilst talking about it (and frantically finding the website) that the existing advisory board members are also involved with the DSP.

As my granny always says: “it’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to clean it …”

What is quite interesting, though, is that I am very aware that these organisations do primarily want me because of my current role in which I run the (award winning, yet!) global gender diversity programme of a multi-national firm. So there’s presumably a sense in which they’ll get two for the price of one – a human form of BOGOF – if I join a board, as it affiliates my employer and me with the board in question. But, because I know that I am shortly to be leaving my esteemed employer … I feel forced to explain, in some cases sooner than I would have liked, that I will shortly be outta there and that, whilst I am happy to be asked and possibly to work with them – it would have to be as me rather than in a corporate capacity.

But what has been very gratifying has been that all three entities have all welcomed me on board, even though I have bent over backwards to give them a get out clause if they want one.

My hope from all of this is that I will be able to find a way to work on gender projects which I love, whilst finding a perfect job and keeping my network strong and relevant.

But all of this reminds me that I do have to get some sense, and very soon, of what is happening work wise and timeline wise, before I go mad with the uncertainty of it all.

On needing the Irony Meter Repair Person

I’ve just been sent a “Career Girl Bear” on Facebook.

Ever wondered if your friends really know you at all?!