Pauline Bryan One of the real strengths of the Scottish Parliament in its early days was the shared desire amongst those who supported its creation that, unlike Westminster, it would seek equal representation for women. The Scottish Labour Party played its part in pursuing that goal by a combination of all-women shortlists and zipped lists – alternating female and male candidates on the party's regional list.
The assumption was that if women had high levels of representation in the parliament, they would eventually represent the Party at leadership level. As you might have expected, this has only been partially achieved. Of Scottish Labour’s ten leaders since 1999 only three have been women: Wendy Alexander, Johann Lamont and Kezia Dugdale who left office in 2017.
We might all hope that the forthcoming election of a new leader would be fair and open to all candidates equally, but that isn’t necessarily the case. For months there has been talk of Michael Marra as the continuity candidate. This was long before Anas Sarwar actually stood down. Michael has clearly had a team in place ready to go as soon as the whistle blew. In the process he has hoovered up many of the Labour MSPs who could nominate as his supporters. Joe Fagan MSP is also likely to get onto the ballot. He enjoys the support of Neil Bibby MSP, a close ally of the outgoing leader, Anas Sarwar. This will only reinforce the image of continuity Labour.
Party members and trade union affiliates deserve to have a wider selection available to them. Importantly they need to have the choice of a woman leader.
The UK Labour Party has still not had a woman as leader and there is a real danger that Scottish Labour will start backsliding to the time when the leadership was seen as being the preserve of men.
The Scottish Labour Party is not required to have a woman leader, but it should be required to have a woman on the ballot paper, just as we do when selecting candidates for the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments.
As well as Michael Marra MSP and Joe Fagan MSP, Katy Clark MSP and Monica Lennon, have been mentioned as possible contenders.
It is incumbent on all Scottish Labour MSPs, MPs, affiliates and members to ensure that this contest does not become yet another battle of the male, pale and stale. We need to hear women’s voices loud and clear as a matter of course, not as an exception.
Pauline Bryan
We might all hope that the forthcoming election of a new leader would be fair and open to all candidates equally, but that isn’t necessarily the case. For months there has been talk of Michael Marra as the continuity candidate. This was long before Anas Sarwar actually stood down. Michael has clearly had a team in place ready to go as soon as the whistle blew. In the process he has hoovered up many of the Labour MSPs who could nominate as his supporters. Joe Fagan MSP is also likely to get onto the ballot. He enjoys the support of Neil Bibby MSP, a close ally of the outgoing leader, Anas Sarwar. This will only reinforce the image of continuity Labour.
Party members and trade union affiliates deserve to have a wider selection available to them. Importantly they need to have the choice of a woman leader.
The UK Labour Party has still not had a woman as leader and there is a real danger that Scottish Labour will start backsliding to the time when the leadership was seen as being the preserve of men.
The Scottish Labour Party is not required to have a woman leader, but it should be required to have a woman on the ballot paper, just as we do when selecting candidates for the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments.
As well as Michael Marra MSP and Joe Fagan MSP, Katy Clark MSP and Monica Lennon, have been mentioned as possible contenders.
It is incumbent on all Scottish Labour MSPs, MPs, affiliates and members to ensure that this contest does not become yet another battle of the male, pale and stale. We need to hear women’s voices loud and clear as a matter of course, not as an exception.
Pauline Bryan
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