Labour still has a woman problem and America does too – why can’t they represent half of the population?
AS we head towards an election year in 2024, both here and across the Pond, I’m struck by the lack of female leaders in politics.
It’s often said that Labour has a “woman problem”.
Although the Conservatives have had three female Prime Ministers, the Labour Party hasn’t managed one.
And in the US this week, we learned that yet another male pensioner was throwing his hat into the presidential ring.
Robert F Kennedy Jr has just announced he is joining the race to become Leader of the Free World in 2024, when he will turn 70, challenging 80-year-old Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination if he, as expected, runs for a second term.
America is crying out for new blood and leadership.
And yet they are not producing any women voters want to support.
It’s happening here too.
And it’s a bitter irony that Labour, a party that prides itself on championing equality, still struggles to represent 50 per cent of the electorate.
That could be down to its traditional roots in male-dominated trade unions, or perhaps it’s a lingering culture of a macho “hard left”, a legacy built on working men in blue-collar industries.
Whatever the reason, it’s a problem that could cost the party dearly at the polls.
Perhaps new research showing the voter who could swing our next general election — so-called Stevenage Woman — will concentrate Sir Keir Starmer’s mind.
It is political shorthand for disillusioned suburban mothers, all over Britain, who are sick of politicians that “over-promise and under-deliver”.
Of course, Starmer might stand more chance of winning over Stevenage Woman if he could decide what a woman is, and be brave enough to utter it out loud.
Meanwhile, over in America, you’re more likely to see an octogenarian in the Oval Office than a woman.
I still can’t help wondering what sort of confidence drives men in their eighth or even ninth decade to see the US Presidency as their natural next career chapter.
As a keen anti-vaxxer, Kennedy, and wife Cheryl Hines, clearly struggles with reality.
But actually, we only have to look at the current incumbent of the White House to see that for male politicians at least, age is just a number.
While a few brave women have run for president over the years, Hillary Clinton is the only one ever to get on the ticket of one of the two main parties.
Rougher ride
And, as we all know, she lost to Donald Trump, even after he was recorded bragging that when meeting attractive women, “I just grab them by the p***y”.
His misogyny was there for all to see, yet he was still deemed the better candidate.
This “woman problem” is far from uniquely British or American.
It’s easy to blame male politicians for elbowing women aside, but the truth is more complicated.
Politics is never an easy career choice, but in our increasingly polarised, social media-powered world, women get a far rougher ride.
Death and sexual violence threats are now commonplace for female politicians.
Labour MP Jess Phillips got 600 rape threats in one night.
Their appearance and clothes choices are mocked and vilified.
In this hostile and unjust environment, there are fewer and fewer women who will dare to play the game at all, let alone run the show.
And that makes us all the losers.
Straight from the Klass of 2006
IT’S lovely to see Blake Lively looking so healthy and happy just two months after welcoming her fourth child into the world.
And just look at those abs! I couldn’t get back in a cut-out swimsuit two years after giving birth, let alone two months.
Perhaps the trick is not to put on three stone when you’re pregnant, as I did.
But maybe being married to is a bit of a motivator as well . . .
Rape victim failed
WHAT is going on in Scotland right now?
Apart from the chaos engulfing the SNP, basic law and order seems to be in a total mess.
This week rape charities were, quite rightly, outraged after a man who raped a 13-year-old girl was spared jail.
Although Sean Hogg, 21, was found guilty of raping a vulnerable teenager, he was deemed too young to go to jail.
Judge Lord Lake said the age of the rapist, who was 17 at the time of the attack, had to be taken into account when passing sentence.
It comes after new guidelines for sentencing under-25s came into effect.
The Scottish Sentencing Council recommended a more “individualistic approach” to take account of the perpetrator’s life experiences.
But imagine how this sentence must feel to the victim and her family?
Surely the focus should be on them.
Rather than serve jail time, Hogg walked free with 270 hours of unpaid work.
That doesn’t feel like justice to me.
James envy’s at play
WHEN did bashing James Corden become some sort of bizarre sport?
We barely go a few weeks without someone new deciding to wade in.
This week TV director Craig Duncan moaned about the star after working with him several years ago on Sky One’s A League of Their Own.
He described him as “difficult” and “obnoxious” for James apparently daring to question his lens work.
James, is a West Ham superfan and I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with him.
I’m afraid I don’t recognise these jibes in the slightest.
He is a charming man, very easy, relaxed and funny.
I’m afraid it’s easy to conclude it comes down to typically British envy.
Some people can’t bear how successful he has become.
Easter aces it
AH, the joy of a four-day weekend.
Not just one but two extra days off work, for most of us, to spend exactly as you damn well please.
Whatever you’re up to, I hope you enjoy every minute of it. I always forget how much better Easter is than Christmas.
Four days to see family and friends, go for walks and eat delicious food.
Best of all, though, is that you get to scoff as much chocolate as you please.
An odd choice by Nike
THEY say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Which is perhaps what Nike is thinking with its latest advertising blitz.
The sports brand has , a transgender influencer, to model its sportswear.
In one video, Dylan appears to mimic a cheerleader as she high-kicks with glee.
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies described the ad as “frustrating”.
She said: “The ad feels like a parody of what women are.
“In the past it was always seen as an insult to say, ‘run like a girl’ and here we’ve got someone behaving in a way that’s very unsporty and very unathletic and it’s so frustrating when only one per cent of USA sponsorship dollar goes to females in sports.”
Odd choice
Dylan posted a series of photos and videos to her Instagram page of her wearing leggings and a sports bra.
While visibility is important and the influencer is free to partner with whoever she pleases, this does seem like an odd choice.
There are so many fabulous women who could have been chosen to promote its sports bra, an item of clothing that, by definition, is designed for a woman’s anatomy.
The move has prompted outrage among many women, some of whom are promising to boycott Nike.
And to be honest, I can see why.