tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3952108899218764633.post3803386324954472607..comments2024-02-28T22:03:19.609+00:00Comments on A Scottish Liberal: The real problem the Liberal Democrats have with gender balanceAndrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02027368242570244912noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3952108899218764633.post-42432278906153260622012-01-20T23:03:53.835+00:002012-01-20T23:03:53.835+00:00Graeme, you are of course right. The long-term vi...Graeme, you are of course right. The long-term view is the right one. Quick fixes are seldom fixes. And the greatest challenge facing the party, especially here in Scotland, is one of survival and maintaining a cultural and political relevance.<br /><br />But if the party is not to lose much (if not all) of the female elected representatrives it currently has at Westminster in three years time, the party has to do something either radical or imaginative. There needs to be structural planning for the longer term in regards creating a more diverse party and in the recruitment, retention and training of talented women (of which the Leadership Programme should be simply a part) - but serious thought should also be given over to how best we can defend these seven quite vulnerable seats. So far, I've heard nothing from the Campaign for Gender Balance on the subject...I wonder if they have noticed?Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02027368242570244912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3952108899218764633.post-83792265856185198572012-01-20T20:24:26.681+00:002012-01-20T20:24:26.681+00:00Quick fixes often don't fix anything. Whilst w...Quick fixes often don't fix anything. Whilst we should be gender-conscious as an organisation, we're not going to see the fruits of schemes set-up now to get more people from minority demographics involved for a good 2-3 General Election cycles at a minimum. Alas, as your piece implies, our rather more pressing issue is making sure there's a Lib Dem party left for there to be an argument worth having about who represents it!Graeme Cowiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02704481523638679620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3952108899218764633.post-55290172115297686132012-01-20T20:20:15.023+00:002012-01-20T20:20:15.023+00:00Thanks Colin. A lot has been asked in recent year...Thanks Colin. A lot has been asked in recent years about why we have so few women MPs. Is it an attitude problem within the party? Is there a shortage of women coming forward? Is it a case of our not being good at recruiting women and people from minorities? Is our message not sufficiently women-friendly? And so on. All these questions need to be asked but the real problem as I see it is an ability to take any more seats; even in 2010 with an increase in the % of the vote, we made few gains and scored net losses. If we can't make gains, we'e not likely to change the make-up of our parliamentary party any time soon.<br /><br />Perhaps we're looking at this in the wrong way. In terms of equality and gender balance, maybe we're taking to top down approach, believing if we get the numerical equality in parliament (always tough given the volatile nature of electorates) all else follows. Perhaps - just perhaps - we should first ensure that the party as a whole, our activists, local election candidates, party officers and councillors better reflect the diversity of the communities in which we live - and then build upwards?Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02027368242570244912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3952108899218764633.post-58289207450898200262012-01-20T19:19:15.473+00:002012-01-20T19:19:15.473+00:00interesting post.interesting post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com