14 female Labour parliamentarians are opposing Labour’s potential all-women shortlist in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Equality used to cover up Labour fuck-ups
Journalist Sienna Rodgers shared that the well-known Labour women opposed the proposals as:
Women’s representation should never be reduced to a procedural fix or a means of managing political challenges.
Though the letter doesn’t explicitly say it, they’re clearly mad that women and the facade of equality are being used to dig Labour out of the ditch it created by denying Andy Burnham. The letter is signed by well-known women from Labour, including Debbie Abrahams, Cat Eccles, and Nadia Whittome.
They say that they have “long supported” women-only shortlists. They acknowledge that these shortlists exist to combat the structural inequality women and other marginalised people face in politics. However, the group condemns “equality” being used in this way:
When such a mechanism is deployed primarily as a tactical response to a difficult political situation, rather than as part of a principled and consistent approach to advancing representation, it risks undermining the very purpose it was designed to serve.
Stop using women as a shield, Labour
The letter continues:
Using equalities tools, including but not only women-only shortlists, in this way is not progress; it is game-playing with equality.
As the letter says, if they truly cared about equality, the National Executive Committee (NEC) would show it. Not use women to make themselves look better:
If women-only shortlists are to retain legitimacy and support, they must be used to expand opportunity – not as a shield in moments of political difficulty.
A few hours later, Rodgers shared an update that she’d been contacted by another Labour MP who pointed out another reason why this move would be pure tokenism. Because equality didn’t matter to the NEC in the 2024 General Election, and most of the MPs parachuted in were men.
Equality should be something Labour actually gives a fuck about
This letter completely skewers the NEC for attempting to use women to get themselves out of hot water after blocking Burnham. And rightly so. As the women say, equality isn’t just a sticking plaster you can use when you fuck up. It’s something that should be built in and that you actually want to make an effort to improve.
Featured image via the Canary
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