Forgotten voices: an opportunity for Labour

This article was published during the Labour Conference by Progress.

On the train up to Liverpool, I began to read Progress’s Purple Book which contains policy ideas for the future. I was quickly distracted by a group of five men who got on at Northampton and were on their way to see Liverpool football team play at home.

‘So you’re a politician?’ they said, when they heard of my destination. ‘Not quite,’ I smiled, but it didn’t stop their questions. I put aside the Purple Book and instead embarked on an alternative policy research exercise: listening to their very real concerns – the effect of immigration on their jobs, the lack of opportunities and their feeling that they don’t have a voice.

When I arrived in Liverpool, I found that lack of voice was a theme that continued into the conference itself. The first event, before the main conference began, was the second ever annual women’s conference. Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper led panel discussions on what women want – for themselves, the party and for achieving equality in society at large.

‘The coalition isn’t listening to women,’ said Fiona Mactaggart, who has piloted a listening exercise in her Slough CLP, which has revealed some illuminating results; for example, that women are worried about their personal safety on public transport. ‘This is opportunity for Labour.’

A canvass of the audience’s views showed that some of main issues that women are concerned about are adequate, accessible and affordable childcare, flexible and family-friendly working, violence against women, gender inequality in parliament and the coalition’s cuts to local services that disproportionately affect women.

Indeed, the coalition forgot women, said Angela Eagle, who listed a string of faults and areas of neglect. The coalition’s emergency budget was missing a crucial gender assessment, the cuts hit women three times as much as men and senior Tory politicians have treated their female colleagues, both in and out of their own party, with contempt.

‘We will make women’s voices heard,’ said Angela Eagle. And Ed Miliband, who joined the conference towards the end, agreed. ‘There is some deep change needed,’ he said. ‘I won’t rest until we have 50:50 gender representation in parliament.’

In an upbeat tone and style that he continued to use throughout the evening receptions, Ed Miliband also acknowledged that a problem with politics is a ‘total disconnection with society’. He pledged, strongly and confidently, that the conference will be addressing this. I felt there was a new forcefulness about Ed – I saw a certainty and determination. He’s all set to drive change and take the party with him.

Later, Peter Hain, who wrote the document called Refounding Labour that is designed to be the basis of change of the party from within, told me that this is just the start. ‘We need a huge cultural change,’ he said. And these views and ideas have been echoed in the conference hall, and in fringe events and training workshops, focusing on grassroots campaigning and a strategy to win. The challenge will be to ensure that this innovative thinking is a consistent and coordinated force throughout the whole party with clear goals, policies and direction.

Above all, we must address the issues of the people, and to do that we need to understand them. This is Labour’s chance. The forgotten voices are starting to be heard. We must be the party that listens and reaches out to those who are being ignored by the coalition. And we must do something.

Degrading term 'Women's fiction' out of fashion

As a postscript to my last blog post, here's a link to today's article in The Bookseller, which is about the genre termed 'women's fiction' and its predicted demise:

According to the article, Eithne Farry, literary editor for Marie Claire, said: "People are getting a bit sick of the chick lit look, and the term as a genre label—it seems to cover such a wide range. The jackets make it seem frothy and light, but a lot of books with those covers actually deal with quite serious things."

WH Smith is to drop the term in its stores after two women - Claire Leigh and Julia Gillick - wrote in to protest that it was patronising and degrading to women.

War against sexism in the literary world

In a courageous, dramatic gesture, writer Polly Courtney has dropped her publisher because she said that it is "ultimately degrading to women".

'It's a Man's World' was published on 15 September by Harper Collins imprint Avon, and is about a woman trying to find success working for a lads' magazine.

At the launch of her book, Polly dropped the bombshell.

She told the Daily Mail: "They dressed up my book as something frivolous, light and racy, which is the complete opposite of what’s inside my books. It is degrading to the writing and ultimately degrading to women. It’s sexist."

At her launch, according to The Bookseller, Polly said: "A lot of chick lit patronises women. There’s intelligent writing out there and I don’t know why it has to be sold in such a fluffy package. The reason why I left the city was to tell the story of how it really was and that there was sexism. Now my message is in danger of being lost."

Polly said she is returning to self-publishing.

This follows the success of two women this month - Claire Leigh and Julia Gillick - who wrote to WHSmiths to protest about the sexist term ‘women’s fiction’ in its stores. The shop is going to stop using it in October.

Watch Polly on Channel 4 here. Does the 'chick lit' label dumb down women's fiction?

Interview with Delilah: the future I choose

I was very pleased to be interviewed by ThinkActVote, the think tank that brings together citizenship, sustainability, digital, creativity and culture, on the future.

In it, I talk about what led me to feminism, why I care, and what we can all do help make the world a fairer place.

Read the futures interview here.

Tory Ministers defy Dorries on abortion

Following a campaign from the organisation Abortion Rights, and many of us writing to our MPs concerned about Nadine Dorries and Frank Field's amendments, Tory Ministers have pledged not to back them.

Here are some extracts from a letter that Minister for Public Health Anne Milton wrote to all MPs today; explaining, very reasonably, her position and why she will not vote for the amendments: