Femocrats and Babes: Women and Power

Australian Feminist Studies

Volumn 16, Issue 35, 2001, Pages 193-208

  Thomson, Michael ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0035633579     PISSN: 08164649     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08164640120076032     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. L. Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Penguin) London, 1998, pp. 71-2.
2. N. Walter, 'Six Months Hard Labour', Observer, 30 November 1997.
3. Walter, 'Six Months Hard Labour'.
4. For a far-ranging discussion of women in British politics in this period see J. Lovenduski and P. Norris (eds), Women in Politics (Oxford University Press) Oxford, 1996.
5. For a comprehensive discussion of measures introduced to increase the number of female representatives see A. Phillips, The Politics of Presence (Clarendon Press) Oxford, 1995.
6. F. Weldon, 'Big Women', Observer, 10 January 1999.
7. For a discussion of the legitimacy of this expectation see P. Norris, 'Women Politicians: Transforming Westminster?' in Lovenduski and Norris (eds), Women in Politics, p. 90.
8. At this point there is value in briefly noting parameters. The focus of this article is central government. I do not want to suggest, however, that other levels of involvement arc unimportant or, equally, unproblematic. Nor do I want to privilege state power at the expense of other sites of power.
9. W. Brown, States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity (Princeton University Press) Princeton, 1995, p. 174.
10. R. Pringle and S. Watson, 'Fathers, Brothers, Mates: the Fraternal State in Australia' in S. Watson (ed.), Playing the State: Australian Feminist Interventions (Verso) London, 1990, p. 239.
11. D. Cooper, Power in Struggle: Feminism, Sexuality and the State (Open University Press) Buckingham, 1995, p. 61.
12. Whilst, like others, I refer to a greater sexual parity in parliament it should be emphasised that women still constitute only approximately 18 per cent of Members of the House of Commons.
13. Pringle and Watson, 'Fathers, Brothers, Mates', p. 234.
14. W. Brown, States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity (Princeton University Press) Princeton, 1995, p. 174.
15. Brown, States of Injury, pp. 187-8.
16. Brown, States of Injury, p. 173.
17. Brown, States of Injury, p. 193.
18. K. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?' in N. Hirschmann and C. Di Stefano (eds), Revisioning the Political: Feminist Reconstructions of Traditional Concepts in Western Political Theory (Westview Press) Boulder, 1996, p. 81.
19. M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison (Routledge) London, 1991.
20. M. Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume One (Penguin) London, 1990, pp. 143-4.
21. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', pp. 82-3.
22. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', p. 83.
23. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', p. 80.
24. M. Weber, Economy and Society: an Outline of Interpretive Sociology, G. Roth and C. Wittich (eds) (University of California Press) Berkeley, 1978, p. 975. Boaventura de Sousa Santos defines bureaucracy as 'a communication form and a decision making strategy based on authoritative impositions through the mobilization of the demonstrative potential of regularized procedures and normative standards'. B. de Sousa Santos, Toward a New Common Sense: Law, Science and Politics in the Paradigmatic Transition (Routledge) London, 1995, p. 112.
25. M. Weber, Economy and Society: an Outline of Interpretive Sociology, G. Roth and C. Wittich (eds) (University of California Press) Berkeley, 1978, p. 975. Boaventura de Sousa Santos defines bureaucracy as 'a communication form and a decision making strategy based on authoritative impositions through the mobilization of the demonstrative potential of regularized procedures and normative standards'. B. de Sousa Santos, Toward a New Common Sense: Law, Science and Politics in the Paradigmatic Transition (Routledge) London, 1995, p. 112.
26. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', p. 81.
27. It should be noted, however, that a survey conducted by the Fawcett Society in the summer of 1997 detailed how 80 per cent of the new women MPs regarded themselves as 'feminist'. A. Perkins, 'Women: So far, So What', Guardian, 29 April 1999.
28. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', p. 180. It should be noted that parliamentarians' attitudes to social issues are more clearly influenced by party allegiance than by gender. See Norris, 'Women Politicians: Transforming Westminster?', p. 103.
29. Jones, 'What is Authority's Gender?', p. 180. It should be noted that parliamentarians' attitudes to social issues are more clearly influenced by party allegiance than by gender. See Norris, 'Women Politicians: Transforming Westminster?', p. 103.
30. Watson (ed.), Playing the State, p. 9.
31. For a recognition of the historical, political and cultural conditions of possibility and specificity of the emergence of femocracy in Australia see S. Watson, 'The State of Play: an Introduction' in Watson (ed.), Playing the State, p. 1; also in the same collection, L. Ryan, 'Feminism and the Federal Bureaucracy 1972-1983', p. 71.
32. For a recognition of the historical, political and cultural conditions of possibility and specificity of the emergence of femocracy in Australia see S. Watson, 'The State of Play: an Introduction' in Watson (ed.), Playing the State, p. 1; also in the same collection, L. Ryan, 'Feminism and the Federal Bureaucracy 1972-1983', p. 71.
33. C. Johnson, 'Negotiating the Politics of Inclusion: Women and Labor Governments 1983 to 1995', Feminist Review, no. 53, 1996, p. 102.
34. Johnson, 'Negotiating the Politics of Inclusion', pp. 102-3.
35. See, for example, 'In New Zealand they Know How to Appreciate Female Politicians', Independent, 10 September 2000. See also, 'New Zealand's "New-girl Network" at the Top', Christian Science Monitor, no. 92, 2000, p. 7.
36. See, for example, 'In New Zealand they Know How to Appreciate Female Politicians', Independent, 10 September 2000. See also, 'New Zealand's "New-girl Network" at the Top', Christian Science Monitor, no. 92, 2000, p. 7.
37. Carol Shields, Small Ceremonies (Fourth Estate) London, 1995, p. 78.
38. Ryan, 'Feminism and the Federal Bureaucracy', p. 72.
39. Ryan, 'Feminism and the Federal Bureaucracy', p. 81.
40. A.M. Goetz, 'No More Heroes? Feminism and the State in Australia', Social Politics, no. 341, 1994, p. 343.
41. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?'
42. A. Yeatman, Bureaucrats, Technocrats, Femocrats: Essays on the Contemporary Australian State (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1990.
43. See M. Thomson, 'Woman, Medicine and Abortion in the Nineteenth Century', Feminist Legal Studies, no. 3, 1995, p. 159.
44. It should be noted, however, that the 'women and children' budget of March 1998 restored this benefit in another guise.
45. 'The Blair government is spending more on men than women in some of its key social programmes, even though they were intended to be neutral between the genders ... If we look closely ... the very design of the New Deal programmes results in significantly more men taking part'. K. Rake, 'Men First', Guardian, 20 June 2000.
46. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?', p. 349.
47. Walter, 'Six Months Hard Labour'.
48. S. Milne, 'After the May Day Flood', London Review of Books, 5 June 1997, p. 5. Whilst this strategy of inclusion and discipline suggests clear structural similarities there are further similarities in terms of public expectation: The irony of the Australian case is that, unlike the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, this new economic rationality in public administration - in which equity becomes a cost, not a benefit - was presided over by a Labour government elected on a platform of social equity. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?', p. 343.
49. S. Milne, 'After the May Day Flood', London Review of Books, 5 June 1997, p. 5. Whilst this strategy of inclusion and discipline suggests clear structural similarities there are further similarities in terms of public expectation: The irony of the Australian case is that, unlike the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, this new economic rationality in public administration - in which equity becomes a cost, not a benefit - was presided over by a Labour government elected on a platform of social equity. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?', p. 343.
50. See Goetz, 'No More Heroes?'
51. In terms of managing welfare claimants it is clear that this shift dovetails very neatly with the broader New Labour discourse of 'rights and responsibilities': 'Mr Field [then Welfare Reform Minister] declared that a central aim of the New Labour reform was individual responsibility - to restore the Victorian link between welfare and self improvement which the 1949 welfare state eroded.' 'Blair's Mission to Reassure', Guardian, 16 January 1998.
52. It is interesting to note that the 'inevitability' of reform has been exaggerated: 'What's worrying is the way that Labour exaggerates the cost of the system, exaggerates fraud, and exaggerates savings which welfare-to-work will make.' 'New Show, Old Songs: First Get the Principles of Welfare Reform Right', Guardian, 16 January 1998.
53. It is also worth noting that this gendered division of labour is evident at a general parliamentary level. As Virginia Shapiro notes: 'Once women are in office, their committee assignments, initiation of legislation and the topics on which they speak tend to reflect traditional women's concerns ... Research ... show[s] that perceptions of women among the politically elite are shaped in part by stereotypes, and that sexism plays a role in elite recruitment and promotion.' V. Shapiro, 'When are Interests Interesting? The Problem of Political Representation of Women' in A. Phillips (ed.), Feminism and Politics (Oxford University Press) Oxford, 1998, p. 181.
54. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?', p. 345.
55. Goetz, 'No More Heroes?', p. 351.
56. Jowell's involvement in 'Tobaccogate' was seen as clearly contradictory: It is ironic that Jowell should have to carry the can for Tony Blair's decision to exempt Formula One from the ban on tobacco advertising when nobody hearing her anti-smoking fervour could doubt that she supports a total ban ... But Blairite discipline required that she take the rap, and discipline is almost as important to Jowell as being a Blairite. 'A Blot on the Perfect Blair Babe - Profile: Tessa Jowell', The Sunday Times, 23 November 1997. Shirley Williams, in giving an 'end-of-term report' to the new league of 'Blair's Babes', puts a slightly different spin on this episode. Williams, bringing together her own experience, the early experience of Margaret Thatcher and the current Labour women, claims that women in politics are often used as scapegoats. S. Williams, 'Doing the Dirty Work', Guardian, 15 December 1997.
57. Jowell's involvement in 'Tobaccogate' was seen as clearly contradictory: It is ironic that Jowell should have to carry the can for Tony Blair's decision to exempt Formula One from the ban on tobacco advertising when nobody hearing her anti-smoking fervour could doubt that she supports a total ban ... But Blairite discipline required that she take the rap, and discipline is almost as important to Jowell as being a Blairite. 'A Blot on the Perfect Blair Babe - Profile: Tessa Jowell', The Sunday Times, 23 November 1997. Shirley Williams, in giving an 'end-of-term report' to the new league of 'Blair's Babes', puts a slightly different spin on this episode. Williams, bringing together her own experience, the early experience of Margaret Thatcher and the current Labour women, claims that women in politics are often used as scapegoats. S. Williams, 'Doing the Dirty Work', Guardian, 15 December 1997.
58. Johnson, 'Negotiating the Politics of Inclusion', p. 102.
59. L. McDougall, 'House and Home', The Times, 17 January 1998.
60. Walter, 'Six Months Hard Labour'.
61. N. Walter, 'Drowning in a Sea of Suits', Observer, 4 October 1998.
62. Margaret Thatcher appointed only one woman to her Cabinet in 10 years, and then she lasted only 18 months. When John Major appointed his Cabinet in 1990, after having filled all the Cabinet seats he realised he had included no women. Gillian Shepard was hastily appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. L. Ward, 'Women on Top', Guardian, 29 July 1998.
63. N. Walter, 'Drowning in a Sea of Suits', Observer, 4 October 1998.
64. 'Ms Mowlam was summoned home ... [not] to any great department of state, but to the cabinet office, as minister without portfolio - and, it later became evident, without authority to do much more than tidy up the corners of policy ... that were already being looked after neatly by others.' Bagehot, 'The Lady Vanishes', The Economist, 9 September 2000, p. 70.
65. See L. McDougall, 'Blair's Fallen Star', The Times, 5 May 2000; Bagehot, 'Mo and Mo', The Economist, 9 April 1999, p. 58.
66. See L. McDougall, 'Blair's Fallen Star', The Times, 5 May 2000; Bagehot, 'Mo and Mo', The Economist, 9 April 1999, p. 58.
67. J. Carr-Brown, 'Labour Culls its Women Candidates' The Sunday Times, 25 June 2000; 'Minister for Women Fears a Return to Male Dominated, Macho Political Culture', Independent, 10 April 2000; A. McSmith, 'Labour Fails to Add to Blair's Babes', Telegraph, 31 July 2000; N. Watt, 'Labour Scorned for Failing to Select Women', Guardian, 16 October 2000.
68. J. Carr-Brown, 'Labour Culls its Women Candidates' The Sunday Times, 25 June 2000; 'Minister for Women Fears a Return to Male Dominated, Macho Political Culture', Independent, 10 April 2000; A. McSmith, 'Labour Fails to Add to Blair's Babes', Telegraph, 31 July 2000; N. Watt, 'Labour Scorned for Failing to Select Women', Guardian, 16 October 2000.
69. J. Carr-Brown, 'Labour Culls its Women Candidates' The Sunday Times, 25 June 2000; 'Minister for Women Fears a Return to Male Dominated, Macho Political Culture', Independent, 10 April 2000; A. McSmith, 'Labour Fails to Add to Blair's Babes', Telegraph, 31 July 2000; N. Watt, 'Labour Scorned for Failing to Select Women', Guardian, 16 October 2000.
70. J. Carr-Brown, 'Labour Culls its Women Candidates' The Sunday Times, 25 June 2000; 'Minister for Women Fears a Return to Male Dominated, Macho Political Culture', Independent, 10 April 2000; A. McSmith, 'Labour Fails to Add to Blair's Babes', Telegraph, 31 July 2000; N. Watt, 'Labour Scorned for Failing to Select Women', Guardian, 16 October 2000.
71. P. Toynbee, 'Labour in Brighton: Time for a Sex Change', Guardian, 29 September 2000.
72. Z. Brennan, 'It's Still a Man's Commons, Say Blair Babes', The Sunday Times, 5 March 2000.
73. J. Ashley, 'Britain's Worst Employer?', New Statesman, 3 June 2000, p. 11.
74. M. Kite, 'Blair Babes Threaten to Quit the Commons', The Times, 3 April 2000; L. Ward, 'It's Just a Boys Club, Says Quitting Labour MP', Guardian, 20 May 2000.
75. M. Kite, 'Blair Babes Threaten to Quit the Commons', The Times, 3 April 2000; L. Ward, 'It's Just a Boys Club, Says Quitting Labour MP', Guardian, 20 May 2000.
76. K. Ahmed, 'Women Lose Patience with Labour', Observer, 18 June 2000; C. Bennett, 'Why Tony's No Ladies' Man', Guardian, 13 April 2000; J. Murphy, 'Harman Joins Labour Revolt Against Blair', Telegraph, 18 June 2000.
77. K. Ahmed, 'Women Lose Patience with Labour', Observer, 18 June 2000; C. Bennett, 'Why Tony's No Ladies' Man', Guardian, 13 April 2000; J. Murphy, 'Harman Joins Labour Revolt Against Blair', Telegraph, 18 June 2000.
78. K. Ahmed, 'Women Lose Patience with Labour', Observer, 18 June 2000; C. Bennett, 'Why Tony's No Ladies' Man', Guardian, 13 April 2000; J. Murphy, 'Harman Joins Labour Revolt Against Blair', Telegraph, 18 June 2000.
79. Shapiro, 'When are Interests Interesting?', p. 179.
80. Brown, States of Injury, p. 173.
81. S. Franzway, 'With Problems of heir Own: Femocrats and the Welfare State', Australian Feminist Studies, no. 3, 1986.
82. C. Longrigg, 'Babe Watch', 27 April 1998.
83. F. Mactaggart, Women in Parliament: Their Contribution to Labour's First 1000 Days (Fabian Society) London, 2000, available at: 〈http://www.fabian-society.org.uk/publications/extracts/womeninparliament. html〉.
84. Mactaggart, Women in Parliament.
85. Ryan, 'Feminism and the Federal Bureaucracy', p. 83.
86. Cooper, Power in Struggle, p. 119.
87. Cooper, Power in Struggle, p. 65.
88. Ward, 'Women on Top'.
89. Cooper, Power in Struggle, p. 64.
90. Brown, States of Injury, p. 193.
91. Brown, States of Injury, p. 194.
92. H. Wilkinson, 'Faced with Labour's Lads, I Feel Like a Lover Who has Been Abandoned', Guardian, 6 August 1998. See also E. MacAskill, '"New Lads" of Labour Attacked', Guardian, 6 August 1998.
93. H. Wilkinson, 'Faced with Labour's Lads, I Feel Like a Lover Who has Been Abandoned', Guardian, 6 August 1998. See also E. MacAskill, '"New Lads" of Labour Attacked', Guardian, 6 August 1998.
94. A. Coote, 'It's Lads on Top at Number Ten', Guardian, 11 May 1999.
95. M. White, 'Survey Gives Lie to New Labour "Yuppie" Image', Guardian, 4 June 1998.
96. Coote, 'It's Lads on Top at Number Ten'.
97. Coote, 'It's Lads on Top at Number Ten'.
98. Ward, 'Women on Top'.