Catherine Bennett in the Guardian today has a very good piece exploring the relationship between Tony Blair’s conference mother-in-law jokes (so c. 1950), and the fact that no woman is being even mentioned as a possible candidate to stand against Gordon Brown. (Despite the fact that all of the research shows that electorates warm more easily to women candidates.)
But if that’s a bit depressing, there’s also a profile of Ségolène Royal, who is a very serious candidate for the French presidency.
Let’s see … Germany has a female chancellor, France could have a female president … Britain has a … Foreign Secretary I suppose would be the highest Cabinet-ranked woman. Not what you’d call spectacular.
And rounding out the good news, in China, it has been decided to officially recognise female descendants of Confucius. Not perhaps likely to have much practical effect, but an important symbol of giving importance to females, and perhaps girl-children in particular.
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