8 - The absolute boy versus magic grandpa: Jeremy Corbyn and gender politics

Summary

The relationship between politics and gender has been extensively studied in the UK context but, for obvious historical reasons, tends to focus primarily on how political institutions and processes work to exclude or marginalize women as well as on proposing mechanisms to correct these forms of discrimination. In this chapter, we take a broader view of the gendered nature of politics in order to discuss Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership via a gendered lens. Therefore, as well as assessing the extent to which Corbyn and his politics are compatible with increased gender equality, we will also consider Corbyn as a gendered figure. We will furthermore discuss how his supporters and detractors recognized and made use of his gendered performances to both champion and vilify his leadership.

Factors that impact on women's recruitment into politics include systematic factors (such as the legal, electoral and party systems and structures that set the broad context for women's representation), how parties are organized (their rules and ideological positions) and individual factors, such as the resources and motivations of aspiring candidates and the attitudes of party selectors (Norris & Lovenduski 1995). Women have also been found to suffer from direct discrimination from party selectors where negative judgements are made based on perceived characteristics of their group, or indirect discrimination that occurs when ideas of what constitutes a “good” representative count against women (Childs 2008). Since the 1980s, the Labour Party has led other mainstream political parties in recruiting and promoting women politicians. The introduction of all-women shortlists in the 1997 election resulted in a record number of women MPs being elected to parliament (Childs 2008). Since then, they have consistently returned more women candidates than other parties at all subsequent general elections. The Labour Party, however, has (at the time of writing) failed to elect a female leader, which is a matter of concern for many within the party.

Recent scholarship has emphasized the importance of performing masculinity for effective political leadership (Conroy 2015; Katz 2016; Harmer, Savigny & Ward 2017). Conroy (2015: 75) argues that the perception of manliness is important when voting for a politician.