Women, they have minds

In the last week there have been two articles on Starmer’s Labour, one by George Eaton on the UCL Policy Lab, tracking influential thinkers, and one by Andrew Marr more grandiosely titled ‘the battle for Keir Starmer’s soul’. Across these two pieces, controlling for duplicates, there were twenty two men named as being influential to Starmer’s thinking, or core to the LOTO policy operation. There were five women, at generous inclusion.  

This calls into question the reporting bias of the journalists themselves – both published in the New Statesman, and despite the gender imbalance being screamingly obvious in both pieces, neither Eaton nor Marr named it as an interesting factor. Miatta Fahnbulleh, former director of the New Economics Foundation, now PPC for Camberwell and Peckham, who is widely known to be helping various shadow cabinet teams develop their policy offer, jumped out as one key omission. Carys Roberts, director of the IPPR, another. 

It is true there have long been criticisms of how male the party is behind the scenes, criticisms that have been eased by Sue Gray’s arrival but certainly not solved. Whilst no formal gender audit of political advisors to the party is available, anecdotal research suggests it would paint a sorry picture.  

Due to the differing nature of hiring practices into shadow cabinet teams – some are hired through party HQ, whilst some were appointed without application, and an increasing number of staff are seconded from external organisations – it is difficult to ensure the diversity of who is feeding into Labour’s policy offer in an election year. It is, however, easy for quiet biases to emerge in these informal hiring processes, and for all male teams to slip through.

This reflection is in no way meant to undermine the good work being done, but it has long been proved to be true that diversity adds value to the policy design process. As Labour looks likely to enter government, inheriting a multitude of complex crises that the Conservatives have left for them, it should surely be the case that a plurality of expertise is needed to fully grasp the challenges that lie ahead.  

What is uniquely frustrating about this imbalance is that in other, more public facing areas, Labour is consistently leading the way. Claire Reynolds – recently awarded a Women in Westminster accolade for her chairship of the Labour Women’s Network – told Morgan Jones recently that she anticipates the next parliament to be the most diverse ever, given Labour’s current statistic of 44% women in winnable seats. If Labour wins a majority, we will have the UK’s first female chancellor in Rachel Reeves, with Yvette Cooper holding one of the other four great Offices of State. Though the award for first female deputy prime minister goes to Therese Coffey, who held the role during the Truss premiership, Angela Rayner will still likely make history as the first woman to serve as deputy prime minister for longer than forty-six days.  

These successes, amongst others, are down of course to individual merit, but also testament to the work that Reynolds and the Labour Women’s Network, and the Fabian Women’s Network, launched originally by Seema Malhotra MP, have done in bringing women up through the ranks of the party and preparing them to be elected representatives.  

Not every person wants to be a councillor or an MP and not everyone who wants to be gets to be, either. But there are myriad ways in which women’s voices are shaping the political agenda. In trade unions, two of out the three largest unions are led by women, and the gender balance of affiliated union political officers – the vital link between the party and the union movement – is near equal. 

No one would deny that a similar diversity effort is needed in the wider Labour and centre-left ecosystem – across think tanks, consulting agencies and academia. The gender divide between policy and public affairs roles has long been commented on – the younger women who welcome you to an event whilst the male thinkers talk on the panel. Ushering women into entry-level policy and research roles is a start, but also ensuring they are given their dues when in place is important. Politics is about who you know, who talks about you and who recommends your insight. The male heavy teams become self-fulfilling, as the male journalists write about the male brains who are talked about by their male sources.  

The real disappointment of Starmer’s Labour is not that there are no women advising Keir and other senior figures – that is simply untrue. What is disappointing is that they are consistently not named and they are not acknowledged. When the books are written about the 2024 election and the ensuing government, who will emerge as the back room architects? Who will be rewarded with coveted Labour grandee status, the authority to speak on panels, take on professorships and launch podcasts? 

Who will get to shape public debate, the way we govern and the way we think? 

Ultimately, this is about power, and why as a political and media class, we still cannot wholly bring ourselves to cede power to women.

Megan Corton Scott is a Labour Party member and former Vice-Chair of the Fabian Women’s Network.