The Change Agenda: Women 2 Win?
Women work half as hard as men - They get it right the first time!!!
A weird situation at a recent planning meeting for a London branch. A discussion about how to hold a membership event aimed at attracting that vital group of young career women who we need to change the face of the party.
Weird in that all but one of those present were men, but that's the current situation we find ourselves faced with. This needs to change..
Labour fixed the problem by introducing all-women short lists. It worked in making their party more electable, but discrimination runs against Conservative instincts, so the A-List is plugging the gap. However, as James Cleverly pointed out, stretching a minority of the candidates so thinly is not a sustainable solution.
If CF was wondering what innovative useful function it could fill in the next decade, recruiting and retaining talented female candidates must be up there.
Not that CF is to blame. I predict that Karen Allen, a virtual unknown, will finish in the top three of the NME elections. CF members already recognise the need to change the membership for the better, witness the success of talented young women in reaching responsible positions within branches, despite being a much smaller proportion of the membership.
However, recruitment is too slow, and retaining talent, as with all things CF, is a chronic failing.
Recruitment: Targetted events in conjunction with Women 2 Win. Held on a regional basis. The aim is to get a critical mass of women attending the event and being enthused by the number of other young women in their position. The social aspect is a key part of CF and acts as an informal, but very powerful mentoring system.
Retainment: To maintain interest in involvement, CF must (as with all its members - more tomorrow) provide a logical path for career progression within politics. This is partly achieved by regionalisation and binding CF-age members to the senior party's planning at a local and regional level.
More importantly, CF must start offering a serious improvement in its training. One central conference per year is a shockingly poor track record. Regional one-day training events can help inspire our volunteers as well as equipping them with real skills. With so few opportunities to hone these skills, the ability of CF to provide them is a big plus which could effect a permanent change in attracting and developing our membership.
A weird situation at a recent planning meeting for a London branch. A discussion about how to hold a membership event aimed at attracting that vital group of young career women who we need to change the face of the party.
Weird in that all but one of those present were men, but that's the current situation we find ourselves faced with. This needs to change..
Labour fixed the problem by introducing all-women short lists. It worked in making their party more electable, but discrimination runs against Conservative instincts, so the A-List is plugging the gap. However, as James Cleverly pointed out, stretching a minority of the candidates so thinly is not a sustainable solution.
If CF was wondering what innovative useful function it could fill in the next decade, recruiting and retaining talented female candidates must be up there.
Not that CF is to blame. I predict that Karen Allen, a virtual unknown, will finish in the top three of the NME elections. CF members already recognise the need to change the membership for the better, witness the success of talented young women in reaching responsible positions within branches, despite being a much smaller proportion of the membership.
However, recruitment is too slow, and retaining talent, as with all things CF, is a chronic failing.
Recruitment: Targetted events in conjunction with Women 2 Win. Held on a regional basis. The aim is to get a critical mass of women attending the event and being enthused by the number of other young women in their position. The social aspect is a key part of CF and acts as an informal, but very powerful mentoring system.
Retainment: To maintain interest in involvement, CF must (as with all its members - more tomorrow) provide a logical path for career progression within politics. This is partly achieved by regionalisation and binding CF-age members to the senior party's planning at a local and regional level.
More importantly, CF must start offering a serious improvement in its training. One central conference per year is a shockingly poor track record. Regional one-day training events can help inspire our volunteers as well as equipping them with real skills. With so few opportunities to hone these skills, the ability of CF to provide them is a big plus which could effect a permanent change in attracting and developing our membership.
posted by Andrew Young at 5:47 AM
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