Feminism and the Labour Left: a perfect political union?
| Author | Proudman, Charlotte |
Socialist and feminist politics have sometimes had a difficult relationship in the past, but an intersectional approach can move past these issues. This article looks at the importance of culture and policy, and sets out four ways feminist policies should feature in Labour's programme for 2018 and beyond.
Socialist politics has sometimes had a difficult relationship with issues of gender inequality and feminism, but, since at least the 1980s, the Labour Party has committed itself to championing gender equality alongside issues of class and economic equality. This article examines the relationship between socialism, Labour, the Labour Left and feminism historically, before turning to key feminist policies and debates in the present, in order to suggest how gender should feature in Labour's programme for 2018 and beyond.
Socialism and feminism have the potential to be reconciled. The theory of 'intersectionality', an idea coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in the 1980s, offers a way forward. Applying an intersectional approach involves identifying the different strands of people's experiences and vectors of identity and oppression stemming from gender, race, class, disability, religion and immigration status. This has yet to become mainstream within political parties, but it is vital for Labour to take intersectionality seriously if we are to deal effectively with all the facets of inequality in twenty-first century Britain.
Socialism and feminism in history
Marxism and feminism have often occupied a tense and uncomfortable position alongside each other in politics. Some feminists contend that marxism is inherently masculine, pursuing the interests of the white, male working class and focusing on class inequality to the exclusion of gender inequality. According to lawyer and feminist legal scholar Catherine MacKinnon, marxism focused on how the state manifests class power and inequality and how a class-based society can be transformed. (1) It offers little space for thinking about gender as a distinct axis of inequality and oppression. MacKinnon succinctly sums up the divergence between feminism and marxism: 'sexuality is to feminism what work is to marxism: that which is most one's own yet most taken away.' (2) Feminism and marxism, in this reading, have fundamentally different priorities.
Women were also generally marginalised from radical and liberal politics in the nineteenth century. The Chartists famously demanded universal manhood suffrage in the 1840s. And MacKinnon highlighted the fact that liberal thinker John Stuart Mill's famous petition in Parliament in 1866 for women's suffrage was partially justified on the basis that 'the majority of women of any class are not likely to differ in political opinion from the majority of men in the same class.' (3) The class of a woman's husband often determined her position in society. Gender inequality has not always been at the heart of left politics.
The traditional focus of the Labour Party in the early and mid-twentieth century was often on 'labourist' issues, neglecting women's and ethnic minorities' roles in society. Men and class were prioritised over women, gender and other vectors of inequality. This stemmed partly from the socialist ideologies that shaped the early Labour Party, and, even more so, from the significance of trade unionism to the party. The trade union movement has historically represented a particular sub-section of society: broadly, white working-class men who are union members, and who are particularly likely to be in stable, skilled or semi-skilled manual work. The visibility of women at the top of trade unions is woefully lacking, even though we now have our first female TUC general secretary, Frances O'Grady. In the many years she has worked for the TUC, O'Grady has consistently aimed to challenge the 'male, pale and stale' stereotype and shift the movement 'to a profile that better fits a six million plus membership that is now 50:50 men and women'. (4) Trade unions are, however, still largely controlled and dominated by white men. The lack of women in leadership roles will inevitably impact upon the prioritisation of women's workplace issues, such as gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
It took collective action from women within the Labour Party and labour movement more broadly from the 1960s to the 1990s to demand that gender inequality was put firmly on the Party's agenda. Eventually all-women shortlists were introduced at the 1993 Labour Party conference, and a record number of Labour women MPs were elected in 1997 under Tony Blair's leadership. This initiative was a move from the centre of the Party. Yet many on the Labour Left had also championed gender equality and the representation of women in politics in the 1980s: in local government, Labour in places like Sheffield and the Greater London Council created women's committees, gave grants to feminist organisations, and fought for gender equality. This inheritance must be built on today.
Prostitution: a flashpoint issue
In recent years, the leadership of the Labour Party and some trade unions have championed the full decriminalisation of prostitution. This would allow men the right to use their capital to buy women's bodies; those bodies would become just another mode of production in the free market. Prostitution is a gendered issue: approximately 80,000 people, mostly women, are prostitutes in Britain, and the majority of buyers are men. (5) The gendered dynamic of prostitution is lost on Aslef, however, a British trade union for train drivers, whose membership base comprises of 20,287 men and 1,067 women, and which backed a motion for the decriminalisation of prostitution, which was put to a vote at the TUC Congress. (6) Former deputy Labour leader and feminist Harriet Harman intervened in the debate and condemned the move arguing it would 'legitimise their exploitation'. (7) Delegates voted overwhelmingly against the motion.
Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have both also supported decriminalisation; both have a long history of supporting the English Collective of Prostitutes, a campaign group that seeks the decriminalisation of prostitution. At Goldsmiths University in 2016, Corbyn said, 'I am in favour of decriminalising the sex industry. I don't want people to be criminalised. I want to be [in] a society where we don't automatically criminalise people. Let's do things a bit differently and in a bit more civilised way'. (8) He does not support the criminalisation of men who buy sex (the 'Sex Buyer Law') either.
While the criminalisation of women who work as prostitutes further victimises them, calls for full decriminalisation imply that the purchase of women's bodies can be civilised. This is a highly questionable claim: statistics show over 50 per cent of prostituted women in the UK started being paid for sex acts before they were 18 (9); over 50 per cent prostituted women have been raped and/sexually assaulted; (10) 9 of 10 prostituted women report wanting to exit prostitution but feel unable to. (11) In Germany, where prostitution is legal, the consequence is increased demand and soaring supply. Prostitutes can be hired in a similar way to hiring an uber and 99 euros buys access to King...
To continue reading
Request your trialCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
