Labour women's voices and policy

Ann Henderson

Labour's 2003 election campaign was, of course, set against the international situation and the military intervention in Iraq. However, it was notably dull, whatever way you looked at it! Political and media commentators struggled to find political pledges of interest, and much of the manifestos of the main parties seemed remarkably similar. The presentation of one face of Scottish Labour - Jack McConnell - did not in any way reflect the progress made on equal opportunities and women's representation during the first years of the Scottish Parliament, nor did the Scottish Labour manifesto include many of the policies on which women had worked and made submissions. The 4 Years - 40 gains Labour election leaflet did not mention the significant commitment to tackling domestic abuse - nor the importance of the repeal of Section 2 A. The Scottish Labour Women's Caucus continues to bring Labour women together, providing an opportunity to develop policy discussions and support women in elected office. However, the absence of a structured Labour women's organisation in the Labour Party since 1998, has definitely had a negative effect on the integration of a women's agenda into Labour's key policies and manifesto. The Scottish Executive, not the Labour Party itself, has actually taken clearer steps on equal opportunity commitments and mainstreaming. These commitments should have been applied to the Party manifesto.

The voices and experience of Labour women in Scotland, in the Parliament as elected representatives, at local government level, and in the Party and community, are not being brought together in the most effective way. It is likely that a Scottish Labour Women's Forum will be convened in the autumn - the Scottish Labour Party office has now given responsibility for the women's organisation to Fiona Stanton as one of the regional Organisers - this Women's Forum will only be productive if it has a role in the policy development of the Scottish Labour Party, and is not seen simply as yet another training workshop.

Some of the problems with Labour's policy making process are of course not specific to women - but past experience tells us that without specific positive action mechanisms and accountability, the gains made on equality will be reversed.

Let's take the most recent statements on the Civil Partnership debate - the Cabinet decided on Wednesday 10th September to use Sewell legislation to allow Westminster to progress this issue with application to Scotland, rather than devising specific Scottish legislation. A short consultation paper will come forward later this month. Leaving aside the debate about the appropriate legislative procedure to achieve a progressive policy on civil partnerships for same sex couples, we should be deeply concerned and angry about the emphasis placed by the Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson, on the importance of marriage.

The Scottish Executive statement, whilst emphasising the commitment to giving children the best possible start in life, describes "the pillar around which such (strong and stable) families is built is marriage."

This is an enormous step backwards on the work that was done during the Section 2A debate in Scotland to address and value all the diverse family relationships in Scottish society, and reflects a huge concession to those who have a different moral agenda. The Scottish Executive position is not that of the Labour Party - according to the Scottish Policy forum documents - and it is debatable if it is indeed the policy of anyone in the Party other than a small handful of cabinet Ministers, backing off from defending progressive policies.