Liberal Democrat Member of the European
Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber
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Diana Wallis Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber |
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| Undelivered speech on Gender Balance, Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Bournemouth 2001 01/10/2001 |
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In 1970 I was a 6th former. Two events shaped my thinking on women’s issues. Firstly I got to play Mrs. Pankhurst in the school’s production of ‘Oh What a Lovely War!’ and, second, my then drama teacher gave me a book, covered in brown paper – to hide the picture on the front cover – Germaine Greer’s ‘The Female Eunuch’. I was enthralled, inspired, I wanted to go out and fight battles on behalf of womankind.
But I went to university, I got two degrees, I qualified as a lawyer, a solicitor, I became a partner in a good London firm before I was thirty and then I became a parliamentary candidate. Despite all my enthusiasm – I couldn’t find the fight; I couldn’t find the battlefield. Where was the problem? I hadn’t encountered one. So why now 30 years on am I making a speech in favour of a cause I thought was won, making a speech I never dreamed I would have to make to this Liberal and Democratic party of ours. Because colleagues if the battle had been won some 20 or more of the MPs we elected in June would have been women, instead just 5 – I couldn’t, can’t bear it – I care for this party too, too much. Some three or four years ago we took a view about the first PR elections to the European Parliament, we decided to allow zipping for one election. I was a beneficiary of that, though I would have happily fought off other contenders as I have done before in six contested selection procedures – even for my local council seat. But conference think how proud we are of our balanced EP group now 6 men and 5 women – would anyone like to tell me that Baroness Nicholson, Sarah Ludford, or Liz Lynne or Elspeth Atwooll – or even myself are token women – I don’t think so – just come and try! Our party does not produce token women – and we don’t need tight T-shirts to prove it. I believe the problem lies in women believing that being a PPC is likely to be a worthwhile and successful process for them and not just a disappointing waste of several years of their life – you need a realistic hope that you can win, all other things being equal – to make the sacrifices of family, home and work. I have no doubt that I have succeeded in our party because I am a professional woman in a suit who speaks well, acceptable to constituency parties. But I don’t just want male like identikit women to succeed in our party, I want the full diversity of female talent in our party to be unlocked now – now before it is too late! I remember one of my male MEP colleagues reporting on his attendance at a Westminster Parliamentary Party meeting – he said you could palpably feel the testosterone in the room! By contrast, I remember my first sitting in the European Parliament, we have a woman President, 30% of MEPs are women, some chair important committees – I felt a woman could achieve anything there. Democracy is a fundamental value of the European Union, enshrined in the founding treaty, but democracy requires the full representation of all citizens within the political decision making process. Colleagues if we don’t pass this motion without amendments, we are doing what our predecessors did to Mrs.Pankhurst and her followers – we are driving women away from the political process and political parties – more especially our own. |
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