Boys and girls

Kevin thinks I won't want to come back to Canada now that the Tories are in power. Paul Martin was never the Canadian I went over there for in the first place. It's not impossible that Tories could be in power over here next time, not that I like to think about that.

My main concern is about the percentage of women MPs. As far as I can ascertain, in both Britain and Canada, the proportion is roughly 20%, desperately unrepresentative of the percentage of the population that are female in each country. As I had mentioned in an earlier blog, when Tony's New Labour party came to power, they proactively worked towards increasing that percentage. I fear, though at present cannot substantiate that women may not flourish in a right wing political party.

When they are in the cabinet, women often seem to be under closer scrutiny than men. The Education secretary, Ruth Kelly, is currently making a complete pig's ear of her job, but she is also being accused of things that cannot possibly be in her purlieu. Likewise her predecessor, Estelle Morris. Education is in any case a poisoned chalice, like Health, the public all seem to have an opinion on it and just like Health, or in fact any other government department is generally run by people who have little or no expertise in that area. Ministers are supposed to be able to get their heads round any portfolio. I cannot remember any Education Minister who I could say did a sterling job.

So where are we going wrong? I had written previously about the disgraceful gap between men's and women's pay in this country, we think we are moving towards equality but the statistics tell a different story, how does this come about?
A section in my American Serviceman's instructions on Britain gives a couple of hints.

'A British woman officer or non-commissioned officer can - and often does - give orders to a man. The men obey smartly and know it is no shame. For British women have proven themselves in this way. They have stuck to their posts near burning ammunition dumps, delivered messages afoot after their motorcycles have been blasted from under them. They have pulled aviators from burning planes. They have died at the gun posts and as they fell another girl has stepped directly into the position and "carried on". There is not a single record in this war of any British woman in uniformed service quitting her post or failing in her duty under fire.
Now you understand why British soldiers respect the woman in uniform. They have won the right to the utmost respect. When you see a girl in khaki or airforce blue with a bit of ribbon on her tunic - remember she didn't get it for knitting more socks than anyone else in Ipswich.'

The tone, referring to women as 'girls' is a little patronising. Women are to be respected because they are as good as men at doing blokey things. Well, any woman or man who has been present during childbirth cannot doubt a woman's fortitude and courage. But implicit in this is that men's activities are valued more highly than women's. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to think about what life was like for the women who stayed in the home and held the country together during the war.

A recently published book, 'Women Chauvinist Pigs' by Ariel Levy, has been reviewed in the quality nationals. Now I have not yet read this book, just the reviews. As far as I can tell, Levy is pointing to the 'raunch culture' of young women who think they are in control of their own bodies and yet are complicit in their own objectification. They 'collude in the pornoisation of our culture'. Women who don't collude are seen as spoilsports, they 'don't get it'. And interestingly, Levy seems to make a link between right wing politics and this debasing of the female side of culture. The right to abortion is once again being debated and she mentions Oprah Winfrey recommending a book about accomodating men's desires.
'There's just one thing,' Levy suggests. 'Even if you are a woman who achieves the ultimate and becomes like a man, you will always still be a woman. And as long as womanhood is thought of as something to escape from, something less than manhood, you will be thought less of, too.'

I think she's on to something. I also don't think that it's just women who are disadvantaged by this patriarchal oppression. But what do I care? I'm on my way back to Portsmouth today, the naval tradition there - women having to manage on their own for long periods of time has allowed more matriarchy - also a strong lesbian community. And again, what DO I care? I have chicken jalfrezi for lunch, that'll put hairs on my chest.