Equality
I was at the Liberal Conspiracy/Guardian Blog Nation event on Wednesday evening. One of the many thoughts to come from it (more of which might be written up at a later date) was that female blogging was alive and kicking. I admit to not regularly reading blogs written by women, and for presuming that only a handful of women actually blogged. I am well aware of the statistics showing the tiny minority of women bloggers, but have opened my eyes to the joys of some of the female blogs out there*. Upon hearing Harriet Harman’s latest proposals for “equal opportunities” legislation, therefore, I made a concerted effort to see what the female and feminist blogs had to say.
The message is fairly clear - the proposals are extremely confusing. It is unclear as to whether allowing women to be chosen above men of equal ability is anything new: surely this is already legal? In fact, it is unclear as to whether or not any sort of positive discrimination is being proposed at all. The draft proposals seem to be a wrapping up of existing legislation, being spun as a great move for feminism. It seems as if the feminists aren’t buying it.
The Westminster media narrative has moved on, but it is worth considering the effect of this legislation. It has been spun to appeal: one Tory commented that it was the most politically correct announcement from the most politically correct minister. He couldn’t be more wrong. I was ready to get on a high horse about the evils of positive discrimination, but found that I couldn’t. Instead, I was left wondering why Harman needed to bother at all. This is no new announcement, no change in policy, just a way of lubricating the existing regulations. It is dull, but exactly the sort of legislation Parliament should be churning out - like the fertilisation bill, which gathered the loose ends of a whole sphere of regulation into one manageable bunch. It actually allows employers to arbitrarily discriminate in any direction: not very PC at all.
The Daily Express ran with some tripe about how white middle class men are to be slain by the feminist monster, but the proposals give equal rights for potential employers to pick white men over black women arbitrarily. This was a confusing announcement because of the spin. The substance of the proposal is limited, but commendable. If Harman had dared to present it for what it was, she may have missed headlines but would have done the important work of government. One cannot help but think that Labour, in its current state, should not so easily sacrifice a rare display of good governance for the sake of a failed attempt at positive headlines.
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*Penny Red is a favourite already. Our Recommended Links list has more.
Good to see you all on’t Wednesday.
I’m faintly disappointed that I couldn’t stick around longer,
but I had to catch a train that warned of engine trouble two
minutes before chugging away.
Hello - nice to meet some of you at the conference. And glad to hear you’ll be linking to more feminist and women-written blogs and covering more related issues. Here’s my piece on the Equality Bill:
http://cruellablog.blogspot.com/2008/06/harriet-harman-is-putting-together-new.html
It was a particular pleasure to see the writers of those blogs I/we value more highly. Always good.
There are loads of women bloggers, it’s just that they don’t tend to get picked up by “serious” commentators. I feel like I am running a one woman campaign against this erroneous trope…
Click on “random blog” on Livejournal. Chances are you’ll get someone female, because about 70% of the several million livejournallers are female. I’m one of them.