Where are all the women in the cabinet?

Thank you, will go and have a look

Yes, he did play the politician's wife well. Adds weight to the arguement that for a woman to make it, she needs a wife.

I read somewhere that Thatcher's husband (Dennis?) used to mix the drinks and stuff and offer them round at political gatherings, bless him. He's the only man I've heard of who's ever played the spouse.

To be honest, I think Sarah Brown's situation was a lot worse. IIRC she gave up work pretty much the day she was married, which gave the impression that it wasn't because she had children but because she thought her career would negatively affect her husband's. Admittedly it probably would have done. Being in PR is a lot more contraversial than designing handbags and stationary, but still.

I don't know, perhaps because she's younger.... But you're right, it's completely ingrained in the culture so there's no reason for her to be attacked. I feel guilty for my above comment. It's not her fault, and she's not a politician. Her playing first lady is just a testament to the status quo, that's all, and how far women have to left go...

Why is Sam Cam being slagged off for this? Sarah Brown has been doing it for 10 years and barely anyone bats an eyelid.

Maybe she's just been caught up in the whole hype of everything. She is pregnant, after all: you're not at your most political at a time like that. Then again, I get the nagging feeling that the pregnancy is being used to the max in order complete DC's "image"

I know edam. She actually let him go forward then took two steps back.
It was definitely staged, so it would have been rehearsed before-hand. Is she a bit thick or something, Sorry. She does look lovely as a person, but I'm honestly curious as to why an intelligent woman would accept that.

yeah, when DC strode up to the prime ministerial podium leaving Sam standing several feet behind him adopting an adoring wifey pose it did make me feel a bit sick. Like the UK version of one of those extremist Islamic (or Christian) sects where the wife has to follow several paces behind her lord and master.

Would have been far better if Sam had been out of shot - she didn't need to be there and the poor woman's heavily pregnant and shouldn't be made to stand anyway.

I don't care what sex the cabinet is comprised of as long as they are all competant ministers.

I'd be interested to see how the media treats Miriam (aka Mrs Clegg). So far she hasn't seemed keen to play the game but they have been quite kind to her. I wonder if that will continue. But then usually less is expected from other ministers' wives compared to the PM's wife so she may be ok.

I think that the media will treat her much better than Cherie Blair. Sarah Brown had a pretty easy ride because she was quite prepared to make a career out of playing the dutiful wife. Cherie Blair did not conform and payed the price for it in terms of her media coverage. Sam Cam must have learnt the obvious lessons here. Make sure you are always in the back ground behind your husband, with some pretty clothes on and nice shoes and a smile on your face because that's where the public thinks women belong.

Sorry- that was the Sam Cam thread

"even those whom they work against, and even those who are aware of and horrified by such stereotypes... "

God that's so depressing, but I know it's true. I still can't get over what I saw on the BBC, when David Cameron gave his opening speech outside No10 and she was just playing this submissive wife role. It would have been so much better if she wasn't there, if she was just getting on with her own life doing something else.
It's fine for partners to support each others work, but what she was doing was more than that... It was different...playing second fiddle, and it's so ingrained that it seemed normal, even to me, until I thought about it for half a second. Do female MPs have their other half hanging around like that?

I hear there are more old Etonians in the cabinet than there are Tory women

I wonder where their natural sympathies lie?

"You cannot go giving a cabinet job to a rookie MP". Clegg's only been in Parliament since 2005, I believe.

excellent piece here about why this matters - including pointing out that Liam Fox has NO qualification to run defence, nor have many of them to run their departments.

There is interesting stuff in Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Blink' about how ONLY positive discrimination can make an impact against embedded cultural stereotypes around things like gender and race, because we all internalise them so successfully, even those whom they work against, and even those who are aware of and horrified by such stereotypes...

For anyone who thinks that 'best person for the job' is an effective way to recruit, he points out that a massively disproportionate number of US CEOs are above 6 foot, compared to average heights in the country. I think it's something like 60% are 6ft-plus, vs 15% in the population. There is no way you can argue that somebody's height has an objective impact on how good they are at their (non-physical labour) job! It's all to do with internalised concepts of power.

Ah, I see happysmiley

that was really interesting noblegiraffe fruitstick "I don't argue for quotas, gender representation or anything else, but I do think that we should seriously look at the working practices of parliament which are stacked against attracting capable and talented people (rather than workaholic megalomaniacs), whether men or women."

I think this is the main thing that needs to change. Apparently you have to be a real narcissist or have a personality disorder to get to the top in politics (Tony Blair, for example- I think he was a sociopath, I really do, to be able to lie so barefacedly again and a-fuckin gain just to get what he wanted)

I agree that someone should only be given a position if they are the best person for it. But as many commenters here have pointed out, there are many reasons why we never find out if a particular woman would be the best person for the job, because she never gets there. As for the dangers of positive discrimination, all women lists etc, hasn't this been what has happened for many years, the only difference being that until recently it was all male lists. We have suffered negative discrimination for such a long time, I think we are justified in asking for the pendulum to swing the other way for a little while.

noblegiraffe thanks for that post - really interesting. I am in favour of all women shortlists (as you say, they work) and it's good to know some background.

I saw that and wish her the best of luck. I do think that she will make a fantastic minister.

happysmiley, Sarah Teather was named as an education minister (though not a prominent Cabinet position) last night.

Read here: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8681719.stm