‘The sisterhood of the girl swots unites us'
Women’s rights activist Sophie Walker reflects on a week that put women at the heart of politics
AFTER MONTHS OF the Brexit boys’ club, its macho banter marking the stalest of political stalemates, a breath of fresh air arrived last week in the form of three women who calmly and efficiently took back control of the agenda and ended the prorogation of Parliament.
Whether you are pro- or anti-brexit, a remain-and-reformer or a Canada-plus-plus-plus (no, me neither), you can hardly have failed to be cheered by Baroness Brenda Hale, Gina Miller and Joanna Cherry QC. Between them they have changed the course of history – Hale led the panel of judges behind the ruling, while Miller and Cherry campaigned for the legal challenge – and put the achievements of the female sex into the heart of the biggest political conversation in decades.
Post-referendum debate in the UK has been dominated by male voices and lazy sexism that repeatedly disregards women and our contribution to whatever future we all face. The Chancellor talks of investments in technology and construction – men’s jobs, by and large. The EU is criticised as being out of touch and autocratic by the Tory boy band known as the European Research Group, which itself sits in a Parliament where men outnumber women by two to one.
Among the vital work left in limbo by the nationalistic wrestling that now passes for politics is a bill to tackle rising domestic violence – yet on the first day back at work post-prorogation, the Government’s top lawyer, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, was accused of making a ‘joke’ about wife beating (he compared being asked when
he knew his legal advice on prorogation was ‘not true’ to being asked the loaded question, ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’ He has since apologised).
But such a lack of consideration for women’s needs and experiences is perhaps not a surprise when we have a Prime Minister who counts ‘big girl’s blouse’ among his favourite insults (most recently mouthing it at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during PMQS), and referred to David Cameron as a ‘girly swot’.
After years in school listening to boys insult each other by comparing themselves to girls, many women watching Parliament lately may have felt as if they were back in the playground. And we know the deep impact of those school insults. We know that girls are less likely than boys to say they are clever, despite better exam results.
So, of course, many women’s hearts fluttered when Baroness Hale, with devastating professionalism, demolished the Government’s case for closing down Parliament. She showed the full force of the first female president of the Supreme Court – a superheroine complete with her own Black Widow emblem in the form of the jewelled spider brooch she was wearing, which sent social media into meltdown. A fair number of us punched the air alongside campaigner Gina Miller, named the UK’S most influential black person in 2017, who has challenged the Government repeatedly over its authority to act without parliamentary approval, while batting away death threats. And we beamed – broadly – at the final outcome as Joanna Cherry, the SNP’S justice spokesperson, who has received police protection because of the level of online abuse aimed at her, staunchly led the cross-party campaign to have the Government’s decision to suspend Parliament set aside.
Meanwhile, let’s not forget that, across the Atlantic, top Democrat Nancy Pelosi was last week announcing a formal impeachment probe of US President Donald Trump, prompted by allegations that he pressured the Ukrainian President to investigate his leading political rival, Joe Biden.
Our political allegiances may differ. But the sisterhood of the girly swots unites us. Whether you were the girl who hid your brilliance in order to survive, or gave it up to bullying and harassment; whether you kept your head down or lifted your chin – when other women’s tenacity and talent cuts through the banter, it’s a chance for all of us to shine equally. Sophie Walker is chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust and former leader of the Women’s Equality Party