Role of Women in Public Life

Baroness Bertin Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bertin (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with so much of what the noble Lord, Lord Addington, has just said. Women are now leading and shaping this country like never before, but while it is right to recognise progress, it would be wrong to become complacent. I am afraid that once you scratch the surface, it is clear that there is still significant inequality of power between men and women in this country. The quality of women in Parliament does go some way to making up for the lack of quantity, and we on the Conservative Benches owe my noble friends Lady Jenkin, Lady Seccombe and Lady Morris a great deal on this front. So although the situation is much improved, female levels of representation are still a long way from being good enough. We, like the other place, need to be more representative of society generally, and if not, we surely risk being irrelevant and some of the rocks that are thrown at us are sometimes justified.

We all know why women are not running into politics in their droves. Spectacles like PMQs, with all its braying and shouting, are big turn-offs, as is the combative, aggressive default position of many politicians. We need to show each other more respect in politics. We all want the same thing after all, which is to make the country a better place, but we sometimes disagree on the route to get there. More signs of working together to get the right outcome and less division would make political life more appealing to many people, and not just women. We also need to practise what we preach in Westminster. There would be outrage if business tried to ape some of our loose employment structures. Harriet Harman made this point well last week. If we want more women to seriously consider politics as a career, which no one disputes we do, then we have to find ways to make ourselves more appealing and more modern.

The media also have a part to play in this. I do not suggest that they should stop holding politicians to account by going soft, but I do think the relentless aggression sometimes shown to reasonable politicians simply setting out their stall must surely eat away at the numbers of women wanting to sign up to life as an MP. Technology is supposed to be a great leveller, but with the easy availability of hardcore porn often degrading women and the seemingly endless pressure to be body beautiful, social media need to make sure they do not play an unintended part in holding women back. Moreover, the persistent trolling and intimidation of MPs, or indeed anyone, on Twitter for standing up for their views is a sickening and unattractive development of public life.

This debate is about recognising the progress that has been made in increasing our numbers in Parliament, but we have a duty to represent those who are nowhere near public life, and I want to broaden my speech out with that in mind. All of us recognise that there is no easy switch that can simply be flicked to solve the stubborn issue of gender inequality. The subject is complex and tied up with long-standing cultural attitudes that both men and women still hold. While I do not pretend to have all the answers, a good place to start is being more honest and open about the potential barriers.

First, deeply ingrained gender stereotyping starts early on. When my daughter was barely four years-old she bounced in to the kitchen saying, “Mummy, I want to be a nurse”. I was delighted, until she followed up by saying, “I would quite like to be a doctor, but only boys can be doctors”. This was last year. I have no idea where she gets this into her head—in fact I do, it is “Peppa Pig”, but moving on—but it serves to highlight my point that it starts early and is very subtle. It can still subconsciously drive women and men down different paths.

Secondly, we should be open and cognisant of the female tendency to be a bit more cautious. I have done it myself and I have witnessed it time and again in both my professional and my personal life—passing off opportunities or perhaps not speaking out in that crowded meeting because I did not feel 100% qualified. We need to engender girls from an early age with a strong and resilient self-belief. We also need to keep that ambition going throughout their lives.

I also thank my mother, who is watching this debate. She gave up her career to look after us, so I owe her a great deal. To borrow a phrase from others this evening, I do indeed stand on her shoulders.

I have been unbelievably fortunate in my career. I have had several brilliant bosses—all male, I might add—who never put any limitations on what they felt I could achieve. I drew enormous confidence and strength from their belief in me. I do not think it can be underestimated how powerful mentoring and coaching can be. It frustrates me that it is very often still only the preserve of senior executives. It should be encouraged right from the get go, starting in education and continuing throughout a career.

Finally, on children and jobs, we should be honest about how challenging this can be, if and when children come along. All the talk of superwomen having it all is not very helpful to most women in this country. “Leaning in” is all very well if you are a highly paid executive with wraparound childcare, but less so if you are a single parent or if both of you work very long hours and there is a hard stop for nursery pick-up. It also should not be a crime against your career to want to see your children awake during the week.

Organisations that show little or no flexibility will lose good people, but particularly women. Women do not want special treatment, but we do deserve a level playing field. If a woman takes time out to have a child then companies must try to ensure that the broken service does not serve to level off her opportunities. They must also try to help her maintain the same level of ambition.

Laws and legislation are not the only answer, but the Government should be rightly praised for the proactive role they have played. Shared parental leave and gender pay reporting are arguably the biggest thunderclap moments for this agenda in many years. Legislation makes organisations and companies look at themselves in the mirror and ask painful questions, forcing them to interrogate internally. “Could we change the culture at the top to promote fairness? Are we creating an environment where the juggle is sustainable? Is there flexibility? Is there an option of a meaningful job share, weekend travel bans and”—most importantly in my mind—“a stamping out of a macho culture that sniggers behind its hand at shared parental leave or dads playing a bigger role?”. Equality at home is the ultimate game-changer for equality in the workplace.

Nothing in isolation offers an overnight panacea, but I hope they all add up and over time help to shift attitudes even further. The signs are good: the intellectual argument has been won. Nobody could argue that society is not far healthier if it is balanced and fair, but we must march on and keep the pressure up to make sure a debate such as this at the bicentenary would be long obsolete.