Are women seen but not heard?

I couldn't sleep one night, so I switched on the radio and heard the end of ‘Today in Parliament’ – a review of the matters of interest discussed by MPs on that day [3^rd Feb 2012]. I heard female ministers, columnists and commentators discussing if, in the 21^st Century the minority group in parliament –women – felt patronised by the media. 

The majority of the debate focussed on how women were more likely to be reported because of their appearance rather than what they had to say. Take for example, the incident of Lisa Nandy. She was in the House in April 2011 to introduce her ten minute rule bill on exports and human rights, a serious subject worthy of report.

The Daily Mail headline the following day was: The Labour MP Showed a Little Too Much of her Front Bench. It went on: “She probably thought that her choice of outfit would capture male MPs attention …….But Labour MP Lisa Nandy's decision to wear a low cut top showing off a little too much cleavage has done rather more than that.”

There was nothing about her Bill or human rights. 

Back to the late-night radio discussion and Janet Street-Porter [Journalist] waded-in to say that women only had themselves to blame: “Intelligent women being photographed… Caroline Flint for example, who can forget that ridiculous outfit she wore … if she wants to be taken seriously... why oh why!!! What we have to ask is; would a man do the same thing?”

Which was jumped-on by the ‘twice married mother of three’ wearing a ‘leather-fronted £485 Dolce & Gabbana skirt and £271 silk blouse by L’Agence [with] heavy dark eye make-up’ (Daily Mail – again!) woman of the moment on this subject Louise Mensch: “Absolutely yes! The PM appeared on the front page of GQ and Tony Blair on the cover of Men’s Vogue.”

This reminded me of several things. One was a talk I attended at Cass when a female board director of a financial services company spoke about what it takes for a woman to get to the top. One of her pieces of advice was about clothes. She pointed to what she was wearing: “My uniform” (of which she said she had half-a-dozen) - a neat, trendy but grey suit, buttoned to the neck. As Ann McElvoy [Columnist and Commentator] said: “It is dreary, but you do have to think about how you present yourself. I would take the PC line about cleavage and just put it away.” Women do have to think about appearance more than men if they want to be heard.

Then there was the conversation I had with a group of women MBA alumni reminiscing. They were enjoying memories of their Colour me Beautiful session which was an option on their MBA programme. The point, they said in response to my curiosity, was confidence. The session had convinced them that when they were comfortable they were looking their best and expressing something of their personality; they could be the best.

Which takes me back to Laura (didn’t catch the rest of her name) and my midnight radio habit, she said: “We are our own worse enemies. We need to be tougher and not get so upset. Men are not so precious about this. It’s like a muscle I think, the more you do it the more it helps.” Psychologically, women generally do feel hurt and remorse more than men.   

So, what does it take for a woman to be heard? You need the confidence to be yourself. No one respects a shrinking violet. But it is tough out there and harder for women. If we are seen to be dressed like floozies we risk having our words trivialised. Our primary and dominant sense as a human being is visual. It is well to remember this if we want to be heard.


Dr Julie Verity