Dinti Batstone

  Political experience: Councillor 2002-06; Liberal Democrat European Parliament candidate, 2004 and 2009.

  Professional experience: City lawyer, businesswoman, INSEAD MBA, now freelance with 2 pre-school children.

  This submission is made in a personal capacity, based on research into the issue of women in politics, including conversations with candidates and parliamentarians from all major political parties.

SUMMARY

— A more family-friendly way of doing politics is essential not only to attract, but also to retain, female candidates.

— If politics and family are seen as irreconcilable, many women will choose family over politics.

— Experiences lower down the political ladder can turn women off, so this issue must be addressed at all levels of politics.

— Politics must wake up to the fact that the loss of female talent costs it dear. Flexible working is a powerful tool for retaining talented women in their transition through maternity.

— It is a curious paradox that while politicians lead the way in legislating family-friendly working practices (extended maternity/paternity leave, parental leave, the right to request flexible working), they do not adopt these practices in their own workplace. Politics is extremely family-unfriendly.

— If Government is serious about boosting female parliamentary representation, flexible family-friendly political working is not an optional extra- it is an essential prerequisite.

— Government can help kickstart culture change within political parties by extending parental and flexible working rights to elected representatives. This would send a strong signal that it is not only possible, but also desirable, to combine politics with family life.

SUBMISSION

  1.  Politics is widely perceived to be incompatible with family life, former Cabinet Minister Alan Milburn recently said that: "one of the tragedies of modern politics is that it is bloody hard to do if you have kids" (The Times, 17 January 2009). The advent of 24 hour news media, e-mail and Blackberries means that politicians are expected to be constantly available to their constituents, party colleagues and media.

  2.  While this affects all parent-politicians, the impact on women is amplified by other factors. Women have a shorter fertility window and delaying child-bearing is risky. Pregnancy and breastfeeding may be difficult to reconcile with the electoral cycle. Time off around maternity can result in women becoming the primary child-carer, limiting time for politics. All of this means that while family-friendly working potentially benefits both men and women, in practice it disproportionately helps women.

  3.  According to the Equalities Commission, women with young children are the most discriminated against group in the workplace[34]—more so than ethnic minorities and the disabled. The same may be true of politics. Women parliamentarians are predominantly "pre", "post" or "non" child-bearing.

  4.  Female candidate attrition begins lower down the political ladder, when female councillors and parliamentary candidates struggle to juggle family, work and politics. Exhausted and demoralised, many choose to withdraw from politics until their children are older. Some never come back.

  5.  Because she is not technically an "employee", an elected representative who becomes pregnant in office is in a far worse position than she would be in any other job (even if being an elected representative is her job). With no legal maternity rights, she is subject to the whim of "discretionary" provision by her political group. Some colleagues are supportive, others are not. Without the protection of statutory rights which apply to all other employees, women in politics are uniquely vulnerable to discriminatory behaviour. Female candidates of child-bearing age are routinely subjected to questions that would be illegal in a job interview.

  6.  Public policy debates make much of work-life balance and flexible working, yet it seems that good intentions apply only to other people, not to politicians themselves. A business (whose raison d' tre is to make money for shareholders) is required to make expensive provision to accommodate working parents while Parliament (whose raison d' tre is to represent people, including working parents) is under no such obligation. If good parenting is essential for the collective well-being of society, parliamentarians should be leading the way, not lagging behind.

  7.  The problem of female attrition around child-bearing is not new and not unique to politics. Businesses and professional firms face similar issues. Enlightened businesses accept that taking maternity leave doesn't make women less effective once they return to work. They also understand that flexible working is a powerful tool in retaining female talent in the transition through maternity. The business cost of losing a professional woman is estimated at three to five times her salary; it's harder to put a figure on losing political talent, but skills, experience and training are all wasted when women withdraw from politics.

  8.  Politics has an image problem, with politicians being seen as remote, unrepresentative and out of touch with issues that matter to ordinary families. Women with young children, by contrast, are often well networked into their local communities and at the coal face of using public services such as the NHS and education. They can connect politics with "real life".

  9.  The three main political parties are now all led by men with very young children. But where are the women? Ruth Kelly, arguably the most high profile young mother in politics, is stepping down for family reasons—this does not send an encouraging message to would-be female parliamentarians wanting to balance politics with family life.

  10.  All parties chase the votes of "school gate mums", but convert very few of those mums into candidates and elected representatives. Failing to modify expectations about the way the job of a parliamentarian can be done implies that mothers of young children cannot effectively be represented by one of their own. Just think of the outrage that would be generated by similar attitudes towards ethnic minorities or the disabled.

  11.  Disenfranchising women with young children perpetuates a vicious circle: women don't go into politics because it is family unfriendly, and politics is family unfriendly because not enough women with young children go into it.

  12.  Parliament must now put its house in order on parental leave and flexible working. Politicians must accept that parents of young children do not have as much free time as people without family responsibilities.

  13.  While the availability and cost of childcare is part of the problem (particularly at the candidate stage when significant expenses may be incurred), more fundamentally, a responsible parent needs to spend time with her/his family and simply cannot match the availability of someone without family responsibilities. Wraparound childcare is not a panacea.

  14.  "Presenteeism" undermines working mothers in politics as much as it does in business. Emphasis needs to be on quality work/ time rather than constant availability and long hours. This requires trust that a parliamentarian will do what it takes to get the job done, albeit in a flexible way. Emphasis needs to be on outcomes, not inputs.

  15.  The best way to combat defeatism about the prospect of women successfully combining family and politics is to change long-held views about how the job of a parliamentarian can be done.

  16.  While the top jobs in politics will always require an exceptional level of commitment, it should be perfectly possible for an ordinary backbench parliamentarian to do a good job without sacrificing family life. There needs to be greater appreciation of the value of non-political experience, and more effort to recruit candidates from a wider pool of well-rounded, multi-dimensional people.

  17.  Practical recommendations:

— Extend parental and flexible working legislation to apply to elected representatives. Women who become pregnant while in office should have the same statutory maternity rights as any employee, and men should have the same paternity rights (if parliamentarians can receive pensions, why not maternity/ paternity leave?). Set up a "working group" with parliamentarians from all parties to make recommendations. Gain cross-party agreement that parliamentarians who take statutory parental leave will not be criticised for doing so. Consider arrangements for maternity/ paternity cover and advise political parties on best practice.

— Consider the feasibility of piloting job share and other flexible working arrangements for elected representatives. Engage experts who advise businesses/ professional firms on retaining talented women in their transition through maternity (maternity coaches, job-share advisors, etc). Look at successful examples of job shares among senior business people, professionals and civil servants to understand how they could work for parliamentarians.

— Match the childcare voucher schemes and crèche provision offered by many employers.

— Attenuate, rather than accentuate the family vs. politics dilemma. Appreciate the perspective that parents of young children bring, even if it means they are less available. Recognise the importance of working parents participating in politics.

— Facilitate flexible family-friendly working practices at every level of politics.

— Encourage parliamentarians who successfully balance politics with family life to act as role models.