Harriet Harman on "depressing" male-dominated landscape of political podcasts
One of the longest-serving MPs in British history gives her verdict on the lack of female voices in the political podcast world.
When I was first elected in 1982, I was one of only 20 women MPs. There are now over 200 women MPs across all parties, making the Commons more representative and broadening the political agenda, so it’s depressing that the newest form of political communication – podcasts – reflect a men-only politics that should be long gone. The politicians leading podcasts are all men!
But podcasts mustn’t be yet another way that male politicians talk at women. We’ve had centuries of that and don’t want it for one minute longer.
When politics was a male domain, women voted but it was men making the decisions. Those decisions affect women’s lives as well as men’s, but women’s lives are still very different from men’s.
They take responsibility for most of the family care, whether for children or the elderly. At work, women are still paid less and more likely to suffer from discrimination. Male-dominated politics dictated not just how Parliament looked (all men in grey suits) and the tone of political discourse (lots of shouting) but also what was defined as political.
My first Parliamentary question, in 1982, bemoaned the lack of childcare services in school holidays. Working mums, on whom the public services and the economy depended, were tearing their hair out to keep their children safe and occupied during the long summer weeks of no school. This was a serious point. Children are more likely to get run over, be a victim of or engage in crime in long unsupervised holidays. And the cost of keeping them busy is enormous.
But my question was met with jeers, from all sides of the House. MPs were supposed to ask about the mines and the money supply. Childcare wasn’t politics, it was down to women at home to sort out.
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So, when 100 women fought their way into Parliament in the 1997 election, they not only replaced many of the grey suits with colourful jackets, they also changed the political agenda. Childcare was recognised as a public policy issue. Domestic violence was no longer to be regarded as a "personal" matter between husband and wife but something to be tackled by the Criminal Justice System. And women’s voices were there, alongside men’s, in debates.
We ended all-male cabinets and ensured that there were no men-only government departments. At party conferences, women banned "manels" (men-only panels at meetings). We’d made sure that women’s voices were heard alongside men’s.
So, it was a shock to find that all the politicians anchoring podcasts were men and I was hugely relieved when Electoral Dysfunction, featuring two women politicians – former Scottish conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Labour’s Jess Phillips, with Beth Rigby, Sky News's political editor – was launched in March this year.
When Jess Phillips was promoted from the backbenches to being a government minister, I jumped at the chance to take her place alongside Ruth and Beth. We don’t just talk about "women’s issues" but cover all the topical political issues from the economy to foreign policy.
Once again, women have to fight their way in – but we’ll keep on doing it. With women having broken through so many glass ceilings, it is perplexing that the default has been to revert to homogenous male voices. And if you’re wondering, research shows that while women are accused of talking incessantly, they actually talk less than men.
Women know about the national debt and global warming, but also about balancing work with family responsibilities and the scourge of sexual violence. Men dominating the airwaves is the antithesis of modernity. It’s time for the tables to be turned. With men listening while women have their say!
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