International Women’s Day is over – but Labour are still showing our feminist values

International Women’s Day is over for another year. The purple and green banners have come down and the men of the left have returned, blinking and disorientated to the spotlight and the platforms.

But feminism and its ugly corollary sexism is going nowhere. We still live in a world in which women are vastly under-represented in terms of power in almost every aspect of life. We still live in a country whose politics reflect that under-representation. The Lord Rennard accusations may have faded into last week’s chip paper, but the culture they briefly exposed will take more than a few headlines to dismantle. That culture will take good women standing shoulder-to shoulder with good men to challenge and expose the abuses of power when they happen. That is what stops singular abuses from becoming a culture of permissiveness.

Labour know that the representation of women is vital not just to change this culture but to ensure we act as a truly representative democracy. One that reflects the country we live in. Parliament must have more women. It should also have more working class candidates, more candidates from non-professional backgrounds, more BME candidates. We need to think about how we achieve that. But these must be seen as complimentary not competing aims. We cannot allow our desire to do everything stop us from doing anything.

The Tories do not recognise this. They have a tin ear when it comes to the issue of women’s representation, and their lack of female-friendly policies is costing them in the polls.

Despite the headlines being dominated by their female keynote speaker, at the ConservativeHome Victory 2015 conference last week, you would have had to wait four hours before seeing a woman on the platform. Of the 22 advertised speakers, only seven were women and three of those were on the “how to win amongst women” panel. That’s some spectacular not getting it right there. Victory is harder to achieve when you ignore half the population.

Labour – on the other hand – seems to be doing significantly better, despite the problems with Open selections that Mark identified this morning. The allocation of the All Women Shortlists in target seats tells a really interesting story of a real confidence in women as campaigners. Seats with a more than a wafer-thin majority used to be ones where the party was nervous of AWS – that’s clearly no longer true. AWS seats are being fought against key marginal but also in seats where the fight will be tougher. A new confidence not just in the electorate to elect women, but also in women candidates to be just as capable of fighting these seats has emerged.

There is an incredible roster of women candidates already selected about whom I’m really excited. Not because they’re women, but because they are formidable campaigners. They are taking the fight to the Tories every single day. Our Parliament will be symbolically richer for their being elected and our Party will be significantly stronger for having them playing leading roles. These women embody true merit, and ensure that our Party does so too.

We have some way to go before we can say we have a politics that is truly representative. The Tories and the Lib Dems have a lot further to go than we do. But I feel genuinely positive about the path we are on and our ability to tread it confidently.