It is no mystery that women are in a more difficult position than men at the Oxford Union. A lot of people have commented ‘how great it is to have a female President’ but I actually think it’s a disgrace that out of 600 Presidents I’m the 21st woman to hold office. I don’t think the fact that I’m a woman should even be remarked upon!
So why do we have so few female Presidents and our committees are male-dominated? One reason would be the misleading perception of the Union as an aggressive, male-dominated political institution, which may discourage some from participation. I would like to categorically dispel certain assertions people might have about the Union – and encourage all girls out there to join our Women’s Initiative and attend our ‘Get Involved’ sessions.
Myth 1: The only way for a woman to win an election is to sleep her way to the top.
Unfortunately, ‘sleeping one’s way to the top’ is an empty phrase used to imply somehow that any woman who has entered into liaisons with a male member of committee is given an electoral advantage. Surely the opposite is true; you just have to look at gossip columns relating to such alleged ‘affairs’ and see how disparaging they are towards women. Men can sleep around as much as they like and will never be criticised for doing so whereas women who have entered into relationships are damned for doing so. But perhaps this has come to light as a result of there being so few women in the Union? Homosexual relationships – of which there are many more than heterosexual relationships – rarely receive any mention (nor should they do) – but still it seems that the attention is focused solely on female candidates.
The aim of the Women’s Initiative this term is to encourage women to find out about the election process and to stand themselves. Merely talking about the problems facing women may only reaffirm perceptions that women are somehow ‘handicapped’ and unable to be elected alone.
Myth 2: The Oxford Union is a misogynistic society; men do not tolerate women in high positions.
It’s true that throughout my time on committee there have been those who automatically deem women to be less competent. But rather than allowing them to have any sort of justification for their irrational beliefs, my outlook was to force them to change their pre-judgements about me via the visible results of my actions and aims. It’s incredibly frustrating at times that on competence men are innocent until anyone can be bothered to prove them guilty whereas women are immediately condemned until they go to such efforts to overturn accusations. I found that if you want the respect of your male colleagues it’s vital that you challenge them on their own turf; asking people to feel sorry for you purely by virtue of being female is no way to be held in high esteem by your peers. The key is to retain composure and be professional even in painfully difficult situations.
Myth 3: For a woman to win an election, she has to be good-looking.
This is one of the most damaging perceptions of the Society. To win an election, you need a whole range of skills and looks, although admittedly might sometimes be helpful, are by no means important. The nature of any political society is that you will be challenged in an aggressive manner, compelled to organise various events and deal with unpredictable situations.
By taking all these myths to task, I just hope that more women continue to step up to the challenges that are part of leadership offered by societies across Oxford. The more who do so, the less ‘unusual’ it will become for men to see women in roles of authority. From this will follow the culture-change that will dilute and eventually erase the ridiculous prejudices that continue to face women.
