David Cameron's 'Problem' with Women: Representing Women in the Coalition Government
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4, October–December 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-923X.2012.00000.x
David Cameron’s ‘Problem’ with Women:
Representing Women in the Coalition
Government
CLAIRE ANNESLEY AND FRANCES CA GAINS
Introduction gender equality, but many New Labour pol-
icy makers were committed feminists, and
Prime Minister David Cameron appears to their capacity to achieve their goals was
have a ‘problem’ with women. There have enhanced by an investment in gender equality
been a series of women-unfriendly policy infrastructure and resources such as the
gaffes—think scrapping rape anonymity, Women and Equality Unit, gender main-
clawing back child benefit and accelerating streaming tools and gender equality legisla-
the equalisation of the pension age. Independ- tion.3 The combination of women’s presence
ent analysis of government deficit reduction and gender equality infrastructure, it seems,
measures produced by organisations includ- improved the range of gender equality issues
ing the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the reaching the political agenda and the
Women’s Budget Group and the Fawcett strengthened resources helped gender equal-
Society consistently show that government ity advocates pushing through their priorities.
decisions are disproportionately hitting In opposition David Cameron showed a
women. And leaked documents from the similar sensitivity towards the need to attract
Number Ten Policy Unit indicated concern women’s votes and engender politics. There
in government that a range of polls show that were the highly visible campaigns to support
women are significantly more negative about female ‘A’ list parliamentary candidates and a
the government than men.1 The women ‘prob- commitment that one-third of his cabinet
lem’ has become so significant that Cameron members would be women. The party even
has deemed it necessary to appoint a special claimed that it would be the most ‘family
advisor on women and, in February 2012, friendly’ government ever. There are com-
Laura Trott was confirmed as the person mitted feminists in the government; indeed
who would help Cameron to turn the tide Theresa May has worn the ‘This is what a
and get policies right for women. This is, we Feminist Looks Like’ t-shirt as part of the
argue, a huge burden of responsibility to fall Fawcett Society campaign.
on the shoulders of one woman. Women are So what accounts for this disjuncture
not, after all, a homogenous group and gender between pre-electoral aspiration and the
equality policy is notoriously hard to get onto coalition’s experience of representing
the policy agenda.2 women? Drawing on our previous work on
Under New Labour, notable progress the gendered ‘disposition’ of the United
towards gender equality was made both in Kingdom core executive,4 we assess here
terms of the representation of women and in the gendered credentials of the coalition
respect of policy outcomes which promote a executive in terms of recruitment, roles, re-
more equal distribution of power and re- sources and relationships. We argue that the
sources between men and women. This coalition government’s problem with women
achievement was never down to one person, stems from: the lack of women across gov-
but the result of a commitment to promoting ernment; the dismantling of and disregard
better representation of women in Parliament for the gender equality infrastructure which
and government. There is, of course, no clear support gender equality advocates seeking to
or automatic link between female represen- make a difference for women; and women’s
tatives and policy outcomes which promote exclusion from the powerful forums that run
# The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012
718 Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USATable 1: Female members of government by party and source, March 2012
Coalition member Female Female Of which Of which Female Female Of which Of which Total female Total female
ministers ministers MPs (N) Lords (N) junior junior MPs (N) Lords (N) members of members of
(N) (%) ministers ministers government government
(N) (%) (N) (%)
Conservative 5/20 25.0 4/5 1/5 6/60 10.0 4/6 2/6 11/80 13.75
Liberal Democrat 0/5 0.0 0/0 0/0 2/12 16.6 2/2 0/2 2/17 11.76
Government total 5/25 20.0 4/5 1/5 8/72 11.1 6/8 2/8 13/97 13.4
Source: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/list-government-departments-and-ministers
# The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012
David Cameron’s ‘Problem’ with Women
The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4
719the coalition. With this in mind, there is little (15.6 per cent of all Conservative MPs) and
prospect that a lone policy advisor for just seven Liberal Democrat MPs are women
women will help Cameron solve his ‘prob- (12.2 per cent of all Liberal Democrat MPs). In
lem’ with women. total, Cameron had just 56 women to choose
from, compared to 363 men. Ministers can be
(but are less commonly) recruited from the
Recruiting women to the coalition House of Lords as well and there the propor-
government: too few, and too tion of women on the government benches is
higher: 18 per cent of Conservative Peers are
thinly spread women as are 30 per cent of Liberal Democrat
Despite Cameron’s 2008 pledge that he Peers. Four of the female Ministers selected by
would, by the end of his first term, give a Cameron to join his cabinet are from the
third of ministerial jobs in a Conservative Commons; just one—Baroness Warsi—is
government to women,5 he has so far mana- from the Lords.
ged just 20 per cent, or five ministers in a Some credit can be given to the Prime
cabinet of 25. He initially appointed four Minister. It is a noteworthy achievement that
women to his cabinet (Theresa May, Home Cameron managed to recruit so many women
Office and Equalities Minister; Caroline Spel- into government given the appalling record of
man, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the coalition parties at nominating, selecting
Cheryl Gillan, Wales Office; and Baroness and electing women MPs. Women are better
Warsi, Minister without Portfolio) and a fifth represented in the cabinet compared with
was promoted to cabinet following Liam their descriptive representation in the Com-
Fox’s resignation in October 2011 (Justine mons (Table 2). While women make up 15.4
Greening, Transport). per cent of female MPs from the coalition
Ever since the coalition was formed, parties, they comprise 20 per cent of cabinet
Cameron has faced strong criticism, from out- ministers. In this sense, Prime Minister
side and inside government (for example, patronage has clearly been important in pro-
from Liberal Democrat junior minister Lynne moting women to the coalition cabinet. The
Featherstone6) for the under-representation of reshuffle following the right-winger Fox’s
women in his government. As Prime Minister, resignation led to calls from the right of the
Cameron has the full freedom to choose his party for a replacement minister from that
own ministers. At the same time, it might be ‘faction’, but, sensing the pressure to improve
argued that Cameron’s capacity to meet his 33 his women-friendly credentials, Cameron
per cent target was constrained by two not firmly resisted factional demands, bringing
insignificant factors: the small size of his in another woman—Justine Greening—into
ministerial supply pool and his need to form his cabinet instead.
a coalition government with the Liberal The second major constraint to Cameron’s
Democrats. freedom to appoint ministers was the need to
United Kingdom ministers are predomin- form a coalition government with the Liberal
antly recruited from the House of Commons Democrats and include five ministerial
and the size of Cameron’s eligibility pool for nominations from the Deputy Prime Minister
female ministers is relatively small (Table 1): Nick Clegg. Important to note is that none of
there are just 49 female Conservative MPs the five Liberal Democrat ministers in the
Table 2: Female presence in the government feeder institutions (percentages)
Coalition member Women Commons MPs (2010) Women Lords (December 2011)
Conservatives 15.6 18
Liberal Democrats 12.2 30
Coalition parties total 15.4 –
Sources: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/pathways_to_politics.pdf and
http://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-lords-faqs/lords-members/
720 Claire Annesley and Francesca Gains
The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4 # The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012coalition is a woman. In this sense, Cameron’s ment departments contain no women whatso-
ability to reach his 33 per cent target is ever. As Figure 1 illustrates, nine of the
significantly constrained by his coalition nineteen spending government departments
partner’s ministerial nominations. He has (including the Foreign and Commonwealth
control over just twenty ministerial posts, Office, Justice, Defence, Energy and Climate
curtailing his ability to deliver a more Change, International Development, Culture
balanced ministerial team of 33 per cent Media and Sport, the Northern Ireland and
women. Scotland Offices and the Cabinet Office) have
The consequence of front-loading Conser- neither a female minister nor a female minis-
vative women to his cabinet means, however, ter of state nor a female parliamentary under-
that Cameron is left with a significant short- secretary of state. Other offices of state, in-
age of women in the rest of government. Just cluding the Offices of the Leader of the Lords
six of 60 Conservative junior ministers are and Commons and the Law Officers, are also
women (10 per cent) and there are just two entirely male in their composition. In contrast,
female Liberal Democrats with government in just two departments—the Home Office
jobs from a total of twelve (16.6 per cent). This and the Department for Transport—are there
creates two problems. First, there is a weak more than just one woman.
pipeline of future female ministers, which is The literature of the coalition formation
important if further reshuffles are required. records that the Liberal Democrats opted for
Second, it means that women are extremely a strategy of spreading their allocation of
thinly spread across government. The total ministers across departments rather than con-
number of women in the coalition govern- centrating them in a smaller number of
ment is just thirteen (compared to 31 under departments. This, it is argued, has had a
the last Brown Government7). Of the nineteen detrimental impact on their capacity to make
‘spending departments’ (which excludes the effective policy change.8 We would argue that
Offices of the Leaders of the Commons and this analogy works differently for gender and
Lords, Law Officers, Whips Office and that in fact it is important to have a presence
Church Commissioners), over half of govern- of women across departments. To cite Helen
Figure 1: Government departments and their ministers by gender, March 2012
Source: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/her-majestys-government/.
David Cameron’s ‘Problem’ with Women 721
# The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012 The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4Ghosh, Permanent Secretary at the Home We wonder whether, in an era of spending
Office, ‘you need a range of perspectives and cuts and in the new context of a coalition
a range of experiences at the top’.9 There is a government, it might be worth reassessing
presence of women in the cabinet, but else- which portfolios carry prestige and resources.
where in government it is thin. Of course It might not be so lucrative to be in charge of a
counting women is not enough. Rather, it is large spending department when department
as important to look at their roles, their re- budgets are being slashed and, in a coalition
sources and how easily they can access the government, housekeeping roles might have
powerful networks and relationships that more strategic significance than in a single
make decisions. Only then do we get a sense party government. We note that three of the
of their power relative to their male counter- four female ministers with spending portfo-
parts, and their capacity to make change for lios experienced higher than average cuts to
women or gender equality. their resource base when the government first
came to office—the Wales Office fared com-
Roles and resources: the gendered paratively well.11 And further cuts came in the
October 2010 Spending Review from which
allocation of ministerial portfolios only Education, Health and International
We have argued elsewhere that to understand Development were exempt.
the gendered distribution of power in govern- What is more, although the government
ment, it is important to look at how minister- launched a new Equalities Strategy in 2010,
ial portfolios are allocated. We noted that this initiative masks a rapid dismantling of
historically few women have held one of the resources developed by the last administra-
four key ministries of state (Prime Minister, tion to support the equality policy capacity
HM Treasury, Foreign and Commonwealth within government and the work of the
Office, Home Office) and that in many Women’s Minister, now Equalities Minister.
instances female ministers tend to be given Since June 2010, the budget of the Govern-
‘housekeeping’ roles such as Leader of the ment Equalities Office has been significantly
House rather than the full prestige and re- cut, the Women’s National Commission has
sources of spending departments.10 been scrapped, and the remit and resources of
In terms of resources, it is significant to note the Equalities and Human Rights Commis-
that four of five female ministers have spend- sion have been downgraded. The new Inter-
ing portfolios. While Baroness Warsi is Min- Ministerial Group on Equalities, chaired by
ister without Portfolio and is unpaid, May, Theresa May, has twelve members but
Spelman, Gillan and Greening are in charge of includes just four women. Finally, while
the Home Office, Department for Food, En- May’s ministerial capacity is potentially bol-
vironment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the stered by the presence of a second feminist
Wales Office and the Department for Trans- minister (the Liberal Democrat Lynne Feath-
port, respectively. They have the resources erstone), according to Robert Hazell’s study of
that accompany a spending department, the coalition Featherstone is ‘marginalised’ by
which they can exchange to make a differ- May.12 The dismantling of the equalities infra-
ence. structure clearly diminishes May’s capacity to
It is also significant to note that one female act for women. This lack of capacity we argue
minister, Theresa May, is in charge of one of is exacerbated by the fact that she, and all
the four key, but also notoriously demanding, other female ministers, are excluded from the
offices of state, the Home Office, and she holds core networks and informal relationships
the additional portfolio of Minister for which control coalition decision making.
Women and Equalities. Moreover, the Home
Office is one of just two government depart-
ments with more than one female member of Relationships: The Prime
government: Lynne Featherstone is May’s
Minister, the Chancellor and
parliamentary under-secretary and Minister
for Equalities. This combination of resources ‘the Quad’
gives May significant potential to act for In our previous work on gender and the core
women. executive, we identified that it is essential for
722 Claire Annesley and Francesca Gains
The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4 # The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012feminist ministers to have access to the Prime business is conducted in informal forums,
Minister and Chancellor for getting women- restricted to a few key figures. The two most
friendly policy outcomes. The Prime Minister important are: Prime Minister and Deputy
controls the policy agenda and the Chancellor Prime Minister bilaterals; and the group
the purse-strings, so it is imperative to get known as the ‘Quad’, comprising Cameron,
their support. Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Danny
Much has been speculated and written Alexander. The next level identified by Hazell
about Cameron’s attitude to women. Indeed, are Oliver Letwin and Danny Alexander and
the whole premise of this article is that he then meetings between the Prime Minister’s
has a ‘problem’ with understanding women’s and Deputy Prime Minister’s top advisors
issues and the importance of gender equality. and top officials.17 Again, women are absent
While, as we noted above, the Prime Minister from these powerful, closed informal forums.
has done reasonably well to recruit women to
the Conservative portfolios, his ‘calm down
dear’ comment to Angela Eagle in the House
Conclusion
of Commons further fuels accusations that he Cameron’s ‘problem with women’ is deep-
is ‘sexist’ and has a ‘patronising and outdated rooted, beginning with the startlingly poor
attitude to women’.13 levels of representation in government. The
The relationship between feminist advo- core executive is where power and resources
cates and the Treasury are equally problem- lie to make a difference, and yet elected
atic. In a letter dated 9 June 2010, Theresa women are noticeably absent from all tiers
May, in her capacity as Equalities Minister, of decision making. What is more, the
reminded the Chancellor George Osborne of coalition’s ability to recruit more women
‘the importance of considering the impact of into government is severely hampered by still
reductions in public expenditure on different appalling levels of representation in the
groups when identifying how Departmental House of Commons—acutely so on the Lib-
savings can be achieved’ and of ‘the legal eral Democrat benches. The four cabinet min-
requirement to additionally consider how isters with spending portfolios preside over
women, disabled people and ethnic minori- departments which face high spending cuts,
ties are affected’.14 The Treasury had failed to and the resources and infrastructure available
produce an equality impact assessment of the to build gender equality policy capacity
June 2010 Emergency Budget (which led to a across government has been, as we have
legal challenge in the High Court by the shown, severely depleted.
Fawcett Society) and the adequacy of sub- To cap it all, there is also evidence that
sequent impact assessments (for instance, women are absent from the crucial networks
that provided for the October 2010 Spending required to oil the policy-making wheels of
Review) have been formally called into ques- government. The formal committees and
tion by the Equality and Human Rights Com- informal forums designed to weld the coali-
mission.15 May’s failure to get the Treasury to tion together appear to actively undermine
meet its obligations with regards the Equal- the exercise of a strong voice for women.
ities Duty is a function, we argue, not just of Cameron’s ‘problem’ is deep-seated and sys-
her lack of resources, but also of her margin- temic, and not one that a lone policy advisor
alisation from the key decision-making net- on women can fix. Instead, we argue the
works which govern the coalition. coalition initiatives to turn around the falling
In a coalition government, the Prime Min- approval ratings for the government among
ister–Chancellor power base inevitably women require a more securely embedded
widens. Two cabinet committees were estab- approach towards representing women in
lished following the formation of coalition to government. We argue that the achievement
manage coalition relations and secure its suc- of better policy outcomes for women will
cess: the Coalition Committee and the Coali- require concerted action to overcome the
tion Operations and Strategic Planning Group difficulties with recruitment, resources and
(COSPG). No women are present on these relationships outlined above.
committees.16 An analysis of the workings of To address recruitment, the coalition par-
the coalition by Hazell found that almost all ties will have to follow Labour’s lead and take
David Cameron’s ‘Problem’ with Women 723
# The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012 The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4action to improve the supply chain and coalition partners might understand why
increase the pool of female ministerial hope- their approval ratings are plummeting. With-
fuls in the House of Commons. This will out a stronger voice for women in govern-
prove a tall order given that both parties are ment, policy outcomes for women will
reluctant to intervene in local party selection continue to reflect inadequate, unrepresenta-
procedures.18 In fact, the prospect of a reduc- tive decision making and Cameron’s coalition
tion of the number of parliamentary seats at government will continue to have its ‘prob-
the next election is likely to make the pool of lem’ with women.
potential female ministers even smaller as the
numbers of female MPs is likely to suffer due
to the incumbency effect as existing MPs Notes
compete for fewer larger constituencies.19 1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/
The leaders will need to look to the House sep/13/government-plan-win-back-women
of Lords as the other feeder institution to 2 C. Annesley and F. Gains, ‘Investigating the
identify potential ministerial talent. If the economic determinants of the UK gender equal-
Prime Minister’s industry adviser can argue ity policy agenda’, British Journal of Politics and
International Relations, forthcoming 2012, avail-
that there should be quotas for FTSE boards,
able on Early View.
why can quotas not be applied for parliamen- 3 C. Annesley, ‘Gender, politics and policy
tary seats or ministerial positions? Without change: the case of welfare reform under New
this, women’s representation in government Labour’, Government and Opposition, vol. 45,
will remain difficult to achieve. no. 1, 2010, pp. 50–72; C. Annesley, F. Gains
The resources available to female actors in and K. Rummery, Women and New Labour:
government need to be improved by consoli- Engendering Politics and Policy, London, Policy
dating appointments within departments and Press, 2007.
avoiding the current situation where over half 4 C. Annesley and F. Gains, ‘The core executive:
the spending departments lack the presence of gender power and change’, Political Studies, vol.
a single woman. The information available to 58, no. 5, 2010, pp. 909–29.
5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/
decision makers in government on the impact
7287278.stm
of policy reform on women must also be 6 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/
improved. There is a legal requirement to 8683310.stm
examine policy interventions for their impact 7 http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/
on gender (and other equalities strands). This groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/docu-
information should be on the agenda of cabi- ments/digitalasset/dg_178619.pdf
net committees and policy infrastructure rou- 8 R. Hazell, ‘Inside story: how the coalition really
tinely and enforced by the Government works’, Political Insight, September 2011, p. 6; A.
Equalities Office. Women must be part of the Russell, ‘Inclusion, exclusion or obscurity? The
key cabinet and coalition committees and 2010 general election and the implications of the
Con–Lib coalition for third-party politics in
forums, both formal and informal, and a
Britain’, British Politics, vol. 5, no. 4, 2010,
more robust replacement for the Women’s pp. 506–24.
National Commission must be found. 9 Cited in http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/
In concluding, we argue that achieving 2011/mar/03/civil-service-glass-ceiling-
better levels of representation in government equality-bronwyn-hill
is vital on both ‘justice’ and ‘substantive’ 10 Annesley and Gains, ‘The core executive’.
grounds. 20 It should be a given that half the 11 http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/
population has equal representation in the 2010/may/24/coalition-government-public-
corridors of power. And on ‘substantive’ finance#data
grounds it is essential to get a range of per- 12 Hazell, ‘Inside story’, p. 5.
spectives and experiences in government 13 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-
13211577
where decisions are made. Better represen-
14 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interac-
tation in government might not alter the ideo- tive/2010/aug/03/theresa-may-letter-chancel-
logical decision to roll back state spending lor-cuts
and consequently put thousands of female 15 See C. Annesley, ‘Campaigning against the cuts:
employees out of work, but at least if women gender equality movements in tough times’, The
were better represented in government the Political Quarterly, vol. 83, no. 1, 2012, pp. 19–23.
724 Claire Annesley and Francesca Gains
The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4 # The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 201216 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/ 18 C. Durose et al., Pathways to Politics, London,
default/files/resources/Cabinet_Committee_ Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2011.
Membership_Lists_15_12_11.pdf 19 See F. Mackay in this issue.
17 Hazell, ‘Inside Story’, pp. 4–5. 20 J. Lovenduski, Feminizing Politics, Cambridge,
Polity Press, 2005.
David Cameron’s ‘Problem’ with Women 725
# The Authors 2012. The Political Quarterly # The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2012 The Political Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 4You can also read
