Women MPs must man up. We need more battleaxes, fewer shrinking violets | Melissa Kite

Laura Sandys has joined the exodus of female MPs. How much is macho posturing in the Commons to blame?

As yet another female Tory MP announces she is to stand down, the soul-searching has begun about why women still find life in the Commons so unbearable. Laura Sandys says she is leaving politics because of "family demands". But the impression given is she is part of a growing exodus of recently elected women; "rising stars" forced out tragically early by the macho posturing in parliament.

Sarah Wollaston, Conservative MP for Totnes, complained that some women hardly ever spoke in the chamber for fear of being ridiculed for their high-pitched voices. "One of my colleagues was mocked because, for some women, your voice starts to rise in pitch," she explained. "Everyone was deriding her because her voice got higher and higher. It was so unkind and it's very off-putting."

I do not doubt that. We have all witnessed those bear-pit moments at prime minister's questions. "Calm down dear," David Cameron told Angela Eagle, because she was shouting as loud as the men. This sort of sexist intimidation is wrong, of course. But I would argue that, rather than wait for the utopian day when men stop being misogynistic, female MPs should toughen up.

If women are not to be driven out of politics altogether, the new generation of female MPs needs to stand firm. The problem is not that male politicians can be childish and offensive, but that today's female politicians don't seem to know how to handle them.

Among the intake now complaining of sexism, none I can think of is worthy of that most auspicious term: "battleaxe". Battleaxes used to be a feature of parliament, and they did a better job of holding their own than the current shrinking violets. Would Ann Widdecombe, Gwyneth Dunwoody, Shirley Williams, Barbara Castle or indeed Margaret Thatcher have been silenced by taunts about their voices?

Mo Mowlam was lampooned for looking like a Geordie trucker before she revealed that she had put on weight because of treatment for a brain tumour (she died in 2005). Instead of whingeing about the ridicule she endured, the Northern Ireland secretary whipped off her wig during meetings with po-faced Ulstermen to lighten the mood.

Many other veteran female MPs deserve mention. Margaret Beckett and Dawn Primarolo never capsized under the weight of some pretty awful taunts. Harriet Harman and Tessa Jowell always put a brave face on things, despite constantly fighting men who sought to put women back in their box. On the Conservative side, Theresa May is consistently tough and uncomplaining in the face of personal abuse.

If you believe in public service, you see, you believe that any inconvenience you suffer as an individual is par for the course. But this is a concept the new generation do not understand. Louise Mensch gave the impression that the tragedy of her resignation was how politics had failed her, not how she might have failed politics.

Perhaps the selection procedures that gave us women who resigned after a few years have a lot to answer for. I sometimes doubt whether Gwyneth, Mo, Shirley and Barbara would be given a seat now. Would Cameron's A-list have singled out Ann Widdecombe? I'm not convinced. I have a horrible suspicion that someone at Conservative HQ would have decided the young Margaret Hilda didn't have the wow factor, or the ability to reach out to the ethnic vote. But when you select people for their ability to tick boxes, they don't always have what it takes to survive.

Ultimately, politics requires women with hides like rhinos, women who are sufficiently on fire with conviction to stand up and fight. Of the younger crowd, there are fledgling possibilities. Charlotte Leslie for the Tories, and Gloria De Piero and Mary Creagh for Labour show promising signs of being as tough as old boots. And I hope they will take that as a compliment. We need more like them. For if female MPs turn around and retreat, it delivers to those men who would hold women back precisely the victory they seek.

Contributor

Melissa Kite

The GuardianTramp

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