Yvette Cooper: why I decided not join Labour’s leadership race

by Jennifer Painter / @jenpainter

In an article in today’s Guardian Yvette Cooper defends her decision not to stand in the Labour leadership race, writing:

Ed, always my strongest supporter, said he’d back me and stand aside if I wanted to run. But this isn’t the right time for me – and that wouldn’t change whether Ed was standing or not. Nor would it change if Ed were always at home looking after the kids, or if we had a zillion hours of childcare support.

Because, yes, for me the age of our children is a factor – our youngest is only five – and it isn’t a sign of weakness or a betrayal of women to admit it. Quite the reverse. To ignore or scorn such choices is to fail to understand the lives of millions of working parents, especially women – and to fail to reflect them in our politics too.

Cooper views much of the criticism she has received over her decision, specifically from David Cameron, to be ‘shocking sexism’:

Sexism in politics is nothing new when you’re standing for election. But don’t stand for election and it’s almost as bad. Shockingly, David Cameron thought it acceptable to claim this week that my decision not to run for the Labour leadership was because my husband, Ed Balls, “stopped [me] from standing.” The Guardian leader wasn’t much better – suggesting I’d chosen to sacrifice all Westminster ambitions for Ed. Rightwing bloggers claimed it was proof women can’t do top jobs. Even more friendly supporters told me I was letting women down – particularly by mentioning my young children.

But all this is nonsense. And to let these claims go unchallenged would indeed be letting women down. Because they are also a distraction from the real problems – the need to get more women into politics, to support working parents across the country, and to challenge the toxic mix of ageism and sexism which holds too many women back.

She continues:

I know the extra commitment, energy and resilience that Labour’s leadership needs on top of what I already do, and I know it won’t work for me while the children are young.

Ed has had to agonise about whether this is possible for him with young children too. We share stuff – including taking the kids to school. And he does all the cooking, shopping and sorting out the daily chaos of the house. I admit a desperate vision of ready meals loomed before me when he decided to stand. We also work in very different ways. And we don’t fit the normal gender stereotypes about multi-tasking – the opposite is closer to the truth. So we’ve made different decisions about what we can do right now.

Read the full article here.