Race, gender, class in the "Mother of Parliaments"

Recently I went to a late afternoon event in the House of Commons then afterwards had a drink (or three) with a colleague in a nearby pub.

The pub and road outside became full with drinkers enjoying the end of the workday and the glorious sunshine.

The picture right was taken later but there was probably around 100 people at its peak.

My colleague had worked in and around Parliament for many years and was very entertaining about the various MPs, Lords, journalists, lobbyists and party hacks who passed us by while we enjoyed our beers. Some of whom greeted him warmly. Some didn't. The vast majority of drinkers had some direct or indirect connection with Government.

I must admit that the lack of of diversity was pretty damn obvious. At a peak I only saw about 5 black men and no black women. I wonder how many of the 100  (or so) were working class from state schools? I suspect very few.

We still have a long, long way to go to making our society fairer and more inclusive.

  

"Unison has done so much for working women"

UNISON's President Wendy Nichols has responded below to a bizarre (and "untrue") attack on the union in the Guardian last week. 

When I think of all the very strong and influential women in UNISON the idea that they are being "side lined" is frankly laughable.  

"Women do indeed make up three-quarters of Unison’s membership, but far from being a union whose “upper echelons continue to be dominated by men” (The Labour movement sidelines women all the time, 12 September), women play an active part, including throughout its top tier. Three out of the five assistant general secretaries are women. Two-thirds of Unison’s presidential team are female, as they are every year, because of rules steered through by Dave Prentis, when he was deputy general secretary at the time of the union’s creation. 

Two-thirds of the NEC, Unison’s governing body, are women, as they are on all the other committees that shape the direction of the union. Similarly, eight out of Unison’s 12 regions are headed by women. 

Not bad going for a union whose leader apparently sees gender issues as “divisive”.

Unison has always stood up for women, not only those who are members, but women in wider society too. For example, it’s Unison that is challenging the government’s employment tribunal fees, which have led to a virtual collapse in sex and maternity discrimination claims. The union is now taking its fight to the supreme court to make sure that all women are able to confront workplace injustice.

Given the insidious rise in sexism and misogyny in our society, Deborah Orr might have been better placed speaking to someone like myself who knows just how much Unison has done for working women. Then she might have been able to mention the positive measures that have been promoted by Unison under Dave Prentis’s leadership, instead of denigrating them.

Wendy Nichols
President, Unison"

Update: Check out this Unisonactive post http://unisonactive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/women-in-unison.html for more stuff on Women in Unison