Introducing LabourWomen

By Jessica Asato

Last week after getting fed up with the idea that the only answer for political women who feared blogging was to ‘get a thicker skin’, I decided to set up a group blog for Labour women. I had no idea whether my fellow sisters would go for the idea, or if when it launched today anyone would have bothered to write. But I have been blown away by the response. My first post explains the reasoning behind it in more detail.

The blog now has 40 authors and 26 have posted blogs already. Many are first time bloggers and I’ve been struck by how harshly women judge their own efforts. I received a great first post from one, accompanied by the rather sweet words “don’t worry about asking me to start again”. If only every man who wrote for Progress were just as accommodating.

And there have been some really good posts too. We’ve had Marie-Noelle Loewe posing the question whether it was right to issue an arrest warrant against al-Bashir, Emma Reynolds urging open selections to be just that after her experience of winning one, blogger Sadie Smith arguing that women need to claim the blogosphere in the same way they fought for all their rights to be heard, and Leni Wild on how women are taking power at an international level. Some of our authors have asked me what I want them to write on, and the answer has been it’s really up to you. So I’m pleased with the mix we’ve had, some light-hearted, some policy-oriented, some irreverent, some angry. That’s exactly how it should be, everyone’s style will be different.

But once today is over, the greater task will be to keep women blogging on LabourWomen, submitting articles to LabourList and using the web to make their voices heard. It will take time, and it won’t be a medium for everyone, but I think we’ve got a great base to start from. Over the next few weeks I hope to post more tips on blogging and advice from Labour women politicians about how they have made it into Parliament.

What I’ve learnt today is that women are willing to give this a real try as long as they have a direct ask, feel supported in what they are doing, and empowered to do something about lack of representation. I hope that we can use this to inform how the Labour Party engages with female supporters more generally, and that LabourWomen becomes a really active forum for views, debate, and shared learning. Bit by bit, we may then help to civilise the online political blogosphere so that more women feel able to play their part in it.

If you want to join the blog as an author, email me at [email protected].