According to Resham Kotecha from ‘Women2Win;’ an organization campaigning to elect more conservative women to the UK parliament, the change is just beginning, because only about 30% of the candidates to join the Conservative Party at least, are women.
“…the interview process generally favors men. If you have to stand out and speak in front of a room full of people, it helps to be bigger and taller and have a loud voice. So it’s about encouraging women to come forward… I think a big part of this is the extra scrutiny they [women] get on what they wear, what shoes they wear, how they do their hair, whether they have kids or not, and that’s something a lot of women don't like the idea of, and understandably so. I think it’s fantastic that we now have a female prime minister and other women at the top of the British politics, so young women will look at them and think – I could do that one day.”
To the question: “if we had more women in politics, as it seems we are about to, how will it change the mud-mudslinging we see in the house such as during Prime Minister’s Question Time?” Resham replied:
“During PMQ there is a huge amount of adrenaline, it’s an incredible half an hour. It’s aggressive because these are 650 people who really care about what they do, who are genuinely passionate about the future of their country. They just disagree about the best way to do that. Women are some of the loudest hecklers in the chamber, so I don’t think that having more women will necessarily change it, I know that people say it will, but I’m not too sure, because by nature, you have that adrenaline running through you when you are in the chamber… I think it is very important to stress that this isn’t about being better than men, it isn’t about putting men down, this is about working together, recognizing that as a democracy, as a country, we are stronger when we are ALL represented. This is about the best person getting the job whether it is a man or a woman, and equal opportunities.”
To the question: “We see a new ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of May, Mekel and possibly Clinton, will things change for ever? Will males ever get a chance again?” Resham answered: “Well they’ve had hundreds of years in power, so I’m not sure it’s a bad thing if we get a couple of years of being in power.”
