If Lib Dems want a 'Clegg's babes' moment, we may well need Clegg's shortlists

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/09/lib-dems-cleggs-babes-all-women-shortlists

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His wife Miriam thinks he has cojones for sharing the childcare. And Nick Clegg will need them if he follows through on his latest idea to help womankind. Ironically, this is because he may have to take on a group of outraged female activists.

On Friday the deputy prime minister admitted that if the 2015 general election fails to boost the proportion of Lib Dem MPs who are female, currently a measly 12%, "something more draconian" will be required than the current system of encouraging and mentoring female candidates in target constituencies. But suggesting the Liberal Democrats should address their dire record on women's representation by imitating Labour's 1997 all-women shortlists will make some in Clegg's party angry.

"Ugh" was one instant Twitter response; an up-and coming and outspoken campaigner told me that she and other younger Lib Dems despise anything that smacks of being patronised.

There are fantastic women in the party, they argue. Consider Jenny Willott: young, a mother, and since last month the first Lib Dem woman to attend cabinet. And what about the often unsung female peers?

The flaws in these arguments seem to me glaring, but they will have to be exposed repeatedly if Clegg is to try to put affirmative action to a vote at the policy-making Lib Dem conference.

"Blair's babes" were often dismissed as tokenistic sops to the diversity agenda. But don't believe the anti-feminist hype: working as a political aide before and after the 1997 election, I felt the instant, overnight change in the culture of the Commons as they swept in. By 2006, when I was back as a journalist in the lobby, this "monstrous regiment" was still there, battling against the ridiculous slur that every one of them was mediocre and undeserving. If hundreds of years of history have ensured male dominance of our parliamentary democracy, and of the governing executive drawn from it, have the men who enjoy the privilege of being an MP or minister all earned it on merit?

But, as Clegg has now acknowledged, the biggest problem is the ineffectiveness of Lib Dem schemes to promote women without loading the selection dice in their favour. Five out of the six constituencies where male Lib Dems are standing down next year now have a woman prospective candidate. Given the non-existent phenomenon of a Lib Dem safe seat into which to parachute favourites of the leadership (a feature of both main parties that has helped their rising stars), succeeding a locally popular incumbent is a good bet for a woman who wants to be an MP. Seats the party could take back from the Tories also have women lined up.

But this strategy did not work in 2010, an election that was supposed, through the target-seat operation, to add female faces to the Lib Dem Commons group photo. Both the number and proportion of women actually declined. It will fail again if the number of Lib Dem MPs is cut significantly next time – a racing certainty.

Shocked by allegations of sexual harassment against the Lib Dems' former campaigns supremo and chief executive Chris Rennard, and by the party's seeming inability to take the complainants seriously, the public may already be in danger of seeing the party as a no-go area for women. Unfair, I would argue. But with each successive failure to promote women, fewer are willing to defend the lack of progress; the decision of MPs earlier this year to reject Lorely Burt as deputy leader in favour of retiring old hand Malcolm Bruce caused the despairing roll of many eyes. Willott said this week she now wants to see all-women lists.

There is risk for Clegg in pushing even for shortlists aggressively weighted towards women, let alone excluding men, because sections of the Lib Dems will brand the move "illiberal". And of course, even then there may not be enough winnable seats to make a dramatic difference. Labour's 1997 women were borne high on an incoming tide.

But without action, how long will it take to change the complexion of the party's decision-makers, and make the party of political reform more representative of an electorate that is, after all, mostly female?