Working with women – why Sparkbrook matters

Yesterday, Birmingham Labour took one step closer to taking overall control of the council. Following the resignation of Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob, Labour’s Victoria Quinn won her Sparkbrook seat with a comfortable 1600 majority. Sparkbrook now has two Labour councillors, with one remaining Respect councillor up for election next year.

Victoria and the Labour team worked incredibly hard for this result, and the campaign united Labour members from all over Birmingham.

But it is nothing to how hard she will have to work to get a good deal for Sparkbrook – and particularly for the women of Sparkbrook. Councillor Quinn was selected from an all-women shortlist. Not everyone is a fan of their use, the main argument against being that positive discrimination is still discrimination. I don’t agree, and particularly not in this case, where it would have been nothing short of irresponsible of the branch to do otherwise. Nearly 59% of people in Sparkbrook are of Muslim faith. How these people apply their faith to the lives they lead varies considerably, but nonetheless, many local women would not feel comfortable answering the door to a male councillor, or going to a surgery. It was absolutely critical to give those women a choice. Labour put up a strong, female candidate because we recognised the loss to the ward, to those women, of a strong, female councillor.

I am no fan of Respect, but Salma Yaqoob is a remarkable person, and an able, articulate politician. Locally, she is a role model to scores of young women – many of whom are considering their place in the world of politics because of her. They identify with her because she has pushed through the barriers that they face, and showed them that faith and independent thought are not incompatible. Of course, it’s not just her – women’s groups like Saheli in Balsall Heath build the confidence of young women through a combination of sporting activities and civic engagement, ensuring that none of their number fear to aspire. It’s a work in progress, and one that Labour must now engage with.

That will be a huge challenge. On the doorstep yesterday, I met a lot of women. Some of them told me about their voting intentions (Labour and otherwise) with confidence. Others told me that they had voted, but did not remember how. Some got their children or husbands to talk to me, or hid when I came to the door. It is quite possible that some of the women I spoke to were told how to vote, or had their postal votes filled in for them. Casting a vote is one of many ways to take part in a democratic society – but as we all know, a very important one. I hate the idea that women, in numbers unknown to me, are casting votes because they have been ordered to do so.  I hate that they do not have a choice.

So now to work. Councillor Victoria Quinn has big shoes to fill, but the way she conducted her campaign assures me that she gets this. She spent a lot of time speaking to women at the school gates, ensuring that they had an opportunity to talk to her in a neutral context about their issues and concerns. More than this, it is a place that represents the ‘mother’ part of the identities of those women – a part which feels culturally comfortable to share. Now that she has been elected, Victoria has the space to build on this, to work with young, adult and elderly women, and to draw them into local democracy. It is vital that she succeeds.