THE BRITISH Party has an historic opportunity in the coming EEC elections. A 'gender reversal' has taken place voting patterns. tionally, women have been more likely than men to vote Conservative. women are more likey to vote against the Tories. In the 1983 general election, 56 of women, pared to only 54 per cent of men, cast votes against the Tory Party, according to Gallup Poll.
looks at women's patterns in America, and how the effects of the recession and women's changing position in society account for their shifts in attitude. In a future issue, we will look at how the fight to transform the Party of Labour men into a Party of Labour and men should be conducted.
Amidst the doom and gloom that followed 1983 defeat, there has been stoney silence on the positive feature of women's voting patterns. Between 1945 and 1974, men favoured Labour in nine out of 10 elections, while favoured the Conservatives in seven out of 10. In 1945, 1966 and 1974 -when Labour won - more women voted Labour than Conservative.
The pattern was clear. won the vote under a Tory government. In general women favoured the Conservatives since. In 1979 something changed.
Even with the first woman prime minister, the number of women and men voting was the same. In June '83 this trend was confirmed. This time less women than men voted for a Thatcher government. Fiftyfour per cent of men and 56 per cent of women voted against her. The antimajority reveals just undemocratic the first-past-the-post system is, because it puts a minority government in power.
The reason for Labour's silence voting pattern course, that there's bad news as well as good in these figures. Many women decided against Thatcher but didn't vote Labour. There was a 21 per cent swing to the SDP/Liberat Alliance, 12.8 per cent from Labour. The Guardian figures showed women's votes split equally between the Alliance and The 'newscaster feminism' of the Alliance appealled to women. They fielded 64 women candidates. pared to the Labour Party's 70 and the lories' 30 - a high proportion relative to their size. This indicates an awareness of positive discrimination, something Labour still resists.
Ironically no were remined o parlamell. there are ten Labour and 13 Conservative women MPs. Out of a grand total of 650 members, 23 are women and one Tory MP is black. So much for representing the people!
Across the Atlantic, voting patterns reveal a similar gender differentiation. Women under 45 are more likely than men to go out and niental greater hostility American men. Between February '81 and '82, Reagan's popularity dropped 15 per cent among women, but only egul per cent among men.
in TradiToday, comwomen women Women have CyCl Photo: SHEILA of anti-Reaganism.
Is, Republicanism.
tions, were per cent of men's.
Republican Dole and Margaret Heckler, Dosts In ministration.
women But there has thirty years.
recession, American CADICS.
than home. Women are consigned to part-time and low paid jobs WA British and American women oppose the war-mongering policies of the Thatcher and Reagan administrations.
This simply can't be dismissed as antiIn 1978 a majority (53 per cent) of women were voting Democrat, compared to men (49 per cent). In the 1982 congressional elec58 per cent of women's votes Democrat, compared with 52 fears prompted Reagan to give two women, Elizabeth cabinet 83. He also ap pointed his feminist daughter to advise on how to 'create a dialogue between women and the Republican ad.
An analysis of women's position in society provides the explanation for the changes in traditiona voting patterns. Both in Britain and America, been a dramatic rise in women's employment over the last In Britain, under the impact of the women's unemployment has been rising more rapidly than men's since the mid-70s; and their pay has been declining since 1977. single and married women have clung to their paid work as far as possible, preferring low pay, worse conditions and cuts in hours to no job outside the Although female unemployment declined by two per cent overall betin welfare benefit. ween 1978 and 1981, part-time female employment two per cent. The tendency to hold onto any sort of job is explained by several factors.
1945 +8 1950 +8 1951 +6/4 1955 +8 1964 +5 1966 +7 Conservative Liberal/SDP An increasing number of women - 500,000 — are the sole source of household income, because 'typical male jobs have been disappearing rapidly. Only 18 per cent of all men in the labour force now provide sole financial support for their family. Women are turning to their trade unions for answers to the problems of low pay, declining employment and cuts Textiles Railways Metal & Engineering construction Local Govt & Education Health Banking & Insurance Distribution Misc Services Public Sector Manufacturing Private Services Manual White-Collar Male Female Total One in three marriages today are expected to break down. In addition, the late age at which some women are starting to 'illegitimately', implies a conscious 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 Voting by sex in 1979 and 1983. (The Guardian)
Men 1979 1983 1979 choice of single motherhood. In 1979, 12 per cent of all dependent children were from single parent families. The reality of women's lives explains their attitudes behaviour.
In Britain and America, the maEmployment and Union Membership (Thousands), 1948 1948 Emp TU 3514 1914 1241 2089 2001 4637 3278 3720 4578 14027 7056 6243 2062 13485 7468 6785 1650 20270 9118 Source: George Sayers Bain and Robert Price, 'Union growth: dimensions, determinants and destiny' in Bain, ed., Industrial Relations in Britain, Blackwell 1983.
have children opposition to documented.
+2 +4 -3 Women 1983 01 an women. voting 1979 Emp TU 3809 3034 2880 2232 lOIC 2872 6297 5190 4138 7284 1215 12035 7577 11652 5125 13979 8866 9708 3837 23687 12702 jority of women are critical of the political priorities of the Thatcher and administrations. cruise missiles is well In America, over the Korean war, the Vietnamese war, and now the war in El Salvador, women critical of American militarism. In March '82, 65 per cent of women, compared with 61 per cent of men, opposed American intervention in El Salvador.
Consigned to low-paid jobs, and bearing the brunt of welfare cuts, women can see that war-mongering l paid for by cuts in community and social services. British and American women have turned to their trade unions for answers to these problems.
In Britain, the Labour Party based on the trade unions - has a unique opportunity to offer women a political focus for their demands. To do this, old attitudes and hostilities to If Labour's new leaders set their teeth against positive discrimination they will lose this opportunity. If they repeat Labour's mistake on women's suffrage, they will lose the allegiance entire new generation Coming soon: The Forward March of
Socialist Action 27 January 1984
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voting Photo:
Percentages of more (+), or less (-), women than men voting for the Tory Party. (Gallup Poll)