In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duke of Sussex spoke about his concern around history “repeating itself” as he recalled his mother Princess Diana’s untimely demise while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris. He worried the similar could have happened to the Duchess of Sussex as they complained about the British tabloids’ treatment of Meghan Markle.
For long social media and some pockets of media as well have become echo chambers of vilification, slander and horrific abuse particularly targeted towards women leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds. There is no accurate dataset that quantifies or explains the degree of abuse or slander that female politicians like Priti Patel, Rushanara Ali, or Tulip Siddiq continue to receive every day. But, despite the challenges of the job, some are determined to keep their head down, mute those tweets and try and make a difference to their community.
“I have received death threats, racially charged or misogynistic abuse. It is quite shocking to go through with that as a new politician. But the best advice that I have been given is to discover the mute button on social media. “I would advise all female politicians to do that because most often they may not even be real people, they may be bots and often enough they are not your constituents. We must focus on our day job of dealing with the concerns of our constituents and follow through with the processes of government,” said Claire Coutinho, Conservative MP for East Surrey. Working with the Chancellor Claire was never intent on becoming a politician. Her story and journey in one way or another is quite similar to that of Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Elected MP for East Surrey in 2019, Claire graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Maths and Philosophy. Experienced in working with emerging markets in the City, she next ventured to work in social justice policy. Here, she covered a range of issues, from education to financial inclusion to the regeneration of Britain’s most deprived communities. After five years, she became a Special Adviser to then-Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak and is now working as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to HM Treasury. She also sits on the Advisory Board of the think tank Onward and is a member of Policy Exchange’s Indo-Pacific Commission.Speaking about the experience of working with the Chancellor, she explains, “It has been brilliant to work with the Chancellor. It is amazing to see how well he has done and how quickly he has scaled up the unprecedented economic support for the country.. I think his journey is reflective in that the barriers particularly those that people of colour in politics faced have reduced dramatically if not completely broken.” Over half of ethnic minority MPs are women After the 2019 General Election, over half (37) of the 65 minority ethnic MPs are women. Overall, a total of 220 female MPs were elected in the 2019 General Elections, witnessing 12 more than the previous record of 208 in the 2017 General Elections. This was also the first time that both the Liberal Democrats and Labour have more women MPs than men in Parliament. Does that, therefore, indicate that Westminster has become more receptive of female leaders?“As a new female BAME politician, I can easily talk to cabinet ministers and senior civil servants. There aren’t, in my view, any traces left of that degree of prejudice within the government. Inside the party, I have only ever had positive interactions with the members of the government and our party. Perhaps, that’s a testament of how civil and cordial the atmosphere of Parliament is today versus a couple of years ago.” Pandemic has demonstrated women are better leaders What barriers continue to exist might further be broken down in light of emerging research studies that highlight that females make better leaders. Detailed in their paper, Leading the Fight Against the Pandemic: Does Gender ‘Really’ Matter? data confirmed that Covid-19 outcomes are better in female-led countries. Professors Supriya Garikipati and Uma Kambhampati drew a comparative analysis between female-led countries and those with male leaders based on Covid-relevant social and demographic variables. Empathy, greater communication skills and efficient multi-tasking had in the initial phases of coronavirus helped countries such as New Zealand and Germany to mitigate the initial impact of coronavirus. Does that mean that “soft skills” which were typically seen to be a disadvantage for female leaders will now be perceived as their greatest asset in a post-pandemic world? Discussing the various qualities that female leaders must possess, Claire said, “I think it is really important that we don’t expect all female leaders to bring the same qualities. Each of them is unique in their own set of skills and qualities. It is up to the public to decide if that is the type of leader that they want. But We need to make sure that female leaders have equal access and equal opportunities to serve. They have demonstrated that women can do the job just as well if not better than men.”But while the pandemic has drawn attention to plenty of female success stories, challenges abound. In her view, “We need not have a particular view of what a female leader should look like. I think we need to address those sectors which have not been particularly accepting of women. Often enough the bigger challenges that women face in most industries today is around career progression. Women may constitute 50% of the workforce but are not necessarily making it to the top.”The question remains what are we doing about it?