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Labour conference - Party must look beyond gender to be truly equal

The Labour party has finally found its feminist voice. And it has been roaring at the party's Deputy Leader and MP for West Bromwich East, Tom Watson, writes Tangwen Roberts.

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Alongside the weekend-breakers, the metal detectors and the stag-dos 1,300 Labour women descended on Brighton's sea front to discuss the 'new politics' that has swept Jeremy Corbyn into leadership following the biggest internal party election in British history.

But it has also been a fortnight of accusations that Mr Corbyn's victory means a form of 'brocialism', with disappointment about the lack of women in the top four posts of his cabinet, shadowing the great offices of state.

As the only man in the room for the open mic session led by party members on the floor, vociferous and eloquent women calling each other 'sister', Mr Watson appeared all too aware of his minority status.

He said it was clear that 'politicians need to listen more' to the problems and solutions put forward by everyday party members. Of course one statistic about the shadow cabinet gets overlooked. More than half of its members are women.

As Jo Stevens, Private Parliamentary Secretary to Tom Watson and MP for Cardiff Central, put it over tea and a biscuit: "If you think about what affects our lives everyday it's about education, health, the economy and we have some really brilliant women in those jobs."

And it's true. The resurgent feminist politics (which these women were so proud to be a part of) is about reappraising the traditional hierarchies of a political landscape designed by men and dominated by a shadow leader, deputy, chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary.

With women making up 43 per cent of their MPs, Labour can claim to be by far the most gender neutral party in Parliament. But in a parliament where women are still outnumbered by paintings of horses hanging from the walls, there is still a way to go.

If Labour wants to lay any value on its claim to being 'the party of equality' it must look beyond gender.

And as the diverse turn out of women from all backgrounds (including Tory) and ages testified, the Labour movement must be about breaking down all the barriers of inequality across gender, disability, ethnicity and age.

It was with unfortunate irony that one delegate in a wheelchair had so much trouble accessing the conference and as was pointed out by another speaker, the heartfelt video tribute to former deputy leader Harriet Harman featured no women of black, Asian or minority ethnicity.

Here then lies the challenge for the self-declared party of equality: now that the women members have spoken, senior figures in the party must listen, and incorporate a new party constitution by which these women's voices can actually influence party politics and the conference that follows.

*Tangwen Roberts is a freelance journalist with an MA in women's studies, specialising in gender politics.

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