Baloney on Equal Pay

I wonder who Kezia Dugdale is talking about the other day when she proclaimed that 'we' need feminists in positions of power, herself perhaps or other members of the Scottish Labour Party.

In a speech to the Labour Party's annual women's conference at the weekend, Kezia declared, without a trace of irony, apparently, that: “Every great leap forward for women in our country has been delivered by a united, radical Labour movement.”

Now this is a load of old baloney if you ask me, because as regular readers know the fight for equal pay over the past 10 years has been led by Action 4 Equality Scotland, often in the face of opposition from big Labour-run councils and their friends in the Labour-supporting trade unions. 

Here are some more extracts from Kezia's speech which is reported in detail by The Scotsman:

"Much has been made of the fact that in Scotland we have all three main parties led by women.

"But, as we struggle for equality, we should remember that while we want equal representation for its own sake, it is also a means to an end. It must be used to deliver equality for all women, not just politicians.

"I get frustrated when I hear people say that having a woman in power is an inspiration, as if that by itself is enough to transform the lives of young women in Scotland.

"Young women are told 'if you are good enough and work hard enough, you can achieve anything'.

"We hear it each time a woman is elected to high office and we hear it again in Scotland today. It just isn't true."

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/kezia-dugdale-we-need-feminists-in-positions-of-power-1-3898990

Now I agree that getting women into positions of influence is a means to an end, not an end in itself, but where has the Scottish Labour party and its leading women figures been for the past years?

I don't, for example, remember Johann Lamont speaking out over the issue of equal pay when she was Scottish Labour leader or her friend Margaret Curran who was shadow Scotland secretary under Ed Miliband's government.

"So what planet are these people living on?" is the question that jumps into my head.

And not just that because it's easy for people to wear their political hearts on their sleeves and call themselves 'feminists', as if a feminist label or badge means that they will speak up and do the right thing when the chips are down.

Because that's not my experience of fighting for equal pay in Scotland over the past 10 years during which times I've come across lots of self-proclaimed feminists who can 'talk the talk', but not 'walk the walk' when it comes to challenging vested interests.