Week Nine

Week Nine

(May 9^th)

Women take over UK Politics

Following the recent UK elections, currently every British Political Party with seats in Westminster – except the Conservatives – is run by a woman.

Is this female empowerment at its best; or an emasculation of the Political Spectrum in the UK?

A commentator on the Independent’s website, by the name of Tyler, has stated that “the not-so-subtle implication of this headline is that the Tories are sexist for not following along and also having a female leader”. Let’s not forget that a mere 36 years ago the Conservative Party were run by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Following the resignation of Labour’s Ed Miliband, UKIP’s Nigel Farage and Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg (who suffered the worst defeat for his party since 1957), women have stepped in to take the role as leader of their respective parties.

The current political party leaders for the UK as it stands are as follows:

Conservatives	David Cameron
Green	Natalie Bennett
Labour	Harriet Harman
Liberal Democrats	Sal Brinton
Plaid Cymru	Leanne Wood
Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon
UKIP	Suzanne Evans

Social media networks exploded with comments from the election, and of course the dominance of female political leaders did not go amiss. Many jokes have been made about female leaders and their ability to run a country, while many stubborn users have commented on the over-population of women in political parties and taken jibes at feminists.

Personally, this reporter feels that the presence of so many female leaders is a positive for the country. While women had to once fight for the right to even vote in General elections, now womankind are considered more than capable to run their own political parties, and are encouraged to take an interest in politics.

This is a confident step forward in the empowerment of females in our society, especially as women now have much more opportunity than in earlier history.

However, it is still surely a sad sight that British civilisation fixates on such trivial details like sex or gender. Surely we, as a nation, should be focusing on political campaigns and the effect that the certain political party could have on our system; rather than becoming preoccupied with the gender of said parties.

While comments have arisen of the sexism of the British system and jokes about “breast feeding on every corner” (Tyler, on the Independent’s website); this reporter is feeling optimistic about the women in places of power. Perhaps this may prove to be a vital positive for this country.

A personal favourite, perhaps Mayor of London Boris Johnson could run for office? Just a thought.

Meanwhile, one must not forget the current leader of the United Kingdom is Conservative Party Leader David Cameron, 48, for another 5 years in office.

Although some persons following politics and the general election have claimed it to be rigged and biased towards the Conservatives, one must sit back and experience what Cameron has to offer this country for the next 5 years.

Watch this space, Conservatives, you may well be run by a woman (again) yet.