So this week I had the amazing opportunity to visit the beautiful Portcullis House (part of the Houses of Parliament) to listen to a panel hosted by
Parliament Week and brought together by
Cosmopolitan magazine to discuss the main issues at the forefront of young women's minds going into next years General Election.
The panel consisted of Cosmo's Editor-in-chief Louise Court, Margot James MP, journalist and author Bryony Gordon, presenter Gemma Cairney, Baroness Lolsa Young and singer Eliza Doolittle.
I studied Politics at college and so have always been interested in how our country is run so this was an unmissable opportunity to see all of the things I'd learnt at college to be applied to our real lives.
The main topics of conversation was what exactly it is that we want/ need to change to make things better for millennials. There was a general consensus that the current situation is not good enough for young people in this country with many feeling ignored and let down especially regarding tuition-fee gate.
Many of the panelists agreed that the government and the opposition need to do more to connect with young people on a meaningful level rather than trying to 'get down with the kids' by having a twitter account. Which, in the case of David Cameron appears to just be an extension of the necessary 'white, middle class, middle aged' personality needed to become prime minister in this country rather than giving a glimpse of who he really is. As I type this post the number one trend on Twitter is #Cameronmustgo, surely this is a key sign that politicans need to do more to fully represent the public and encourage them to engage with politics.
Another issue was the seemingly archaic way in which we actually vote and how that may put young people off. Some argued that the way that we have to register and then go to a particular polling station is confusing to many people. It was suggested that the whole system of how we actually make our voices heard needs to be changed. One thing that worries me about this argument is that if we were to eventually allow people to vote online, it would trivialise the whole process. People place votes online all the time on various entertainment sites, so surely this could lead to the public not really caring as much about who they're voting for as they may just treat it like another
BuzzFeed quiz.
The lack of female politicians was an unavoidable topic.The whole panel agreed that we do need more women in politics to fully represent issues that are exclusive to women as well as increasing diversity in a system that appears to be populated mainly by only one type of person. However, one audience member disagreed by arguing that she would prefer a fair meritocracy over a quota system. It was noted that heavy media scrutiny puts women off being involved in politics because, as seen in the
Daily Mail, we know that whilst men tend to be judged on their competence, women tend to be judged on their outfit choices.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2693563/Now-win-election-PM-tells-new-girls-including-Esther-McVey-queen-Downing-Street-catwalk.html
This blatant sexism belittles the successes of these women and treats them like they are there purely to look pretty.
On the whole it was agreed that politicians of opposing partied need to dress back the theatricals and not be afraid to say when they agree with each other to make them seem more human, because as it was said in the talks, we all know that they'd be best friends if they didn't happen to lead opposing parties.
What do you think needs to change?
