Suffrage

Suffragette arrest                                                                                            Source: Huffington Post

Things have moved on in the 100 years since (some) women were given the vote but the Guardian view on women’s suffrage is that there is still no real equality:

"After a campaign that had lasted more than 50 years, that had seen violence and death – as well as the forcefeeding of a thousand suffragettes in prison – women had at last won “the full rights of citizenship”; some women, at least. The Representation of the People Act 1918 extended the vote to those women over 30 who owned property or were married to a man who did. At a stroke, 40% of British women were enfranchised. An intellectual revolution rapidly became a political one as Britain absorbed ideas about gender equality and the purpose of political representation...

...Britain still has a serious democratic deficit: women make up more than half of the population, but less than a third of MPs. While Theresa May is the country’s second female PM, only after a byelection in 2016 did the total number of women ever elected finally exceed the number of men elected at a single election. This raises questions of legitimacy: “who” is present in political institutions directly affects whether they represent the public symbolically and substantively."

The following percentages are provided in a Commons Library briefing paper, Women in Public life, the Professions and the Boardroom. The table provides an overview of female representation in the public sphere across the UK:

                                                                           %

MPs (2017)                                                       32
Lords (2017)                                                     26
Cabinet (2017)                                                  26
MSPs (2016)                                                     35
AMs (2016)                                                       42
MLAs (2017)                                                     30
Board of public bodies (2016)                          39
Senior civil service (2017)                                41
Justice of the Supreme Court (2017)                 9
GPs (2015)                                                       54
NHS Consultants (2015)                                  34
Secondary head teachers (2015)                     39
University Professors (2015-16)                      24
FTSE 100 directors (2016)                              26

The table shows that GPs are predominately women. In the teaching profession women represent a majority of teachers in English state-maintained nursery and primary education. The proportion of  female teachers was 85% in 2016. Unlike their male colleagues, many women GPs work part time while teaching offers the attraction of being home for much of the school holidays suggesting choice rather than discrimination accounts for the apparent imbalance.

Feminists use numerical parity as a synonym for equality to gain an advantage through positive discrimination. This is particularly so in the Anglican Church where feminism is rife. Women bishops in the Church of England are being fast-tracked while the women bishops in Wales have made it clear that they regard parity as a priority.

The Conservative Woman blog gave its own particular take on the  Presidents Club "pearl-clutching hysteria" which was about the behaviour of some men and the reaction of some women. As comedian Jimmy Tarbuck pointed out women attending hen parties are also known for "bad behaviour", and that "it has to be both ways".

The Channel 4 News interview with clinical psychologist, Professor Jordan B Peterson was another attempt to show males in an a poor light. That confrontation has been viewed over 6 million times on YouTube. As The Atlantic put it, a British broadcaster doggedly tried to put words into the academic’s mouth. A more comical response is available here.

One hundred years after the female heroes who led the suffrage movement gained the vote, the battle continues.