Talent is not a gender issue

My last week in Westminster was dominated by women and their role in their societies and its development. I spent two days at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence think tank, attending a conference devoted to Women in Defence. Presentations were from Admirals and Commodores from the US and Canada to an Air Marshall from the Indian Air force to the Secretary General of the Spanish Intelligence Service. The sessions covered Maritime, Air Power Land warfare, media, Industry, Home Land Security and Intelligence. In each of the areas four speakers from different countries addressed issues from a women’s perspective.

I chaired the first session and was struck by how relatively recently women have had a presence in senior posts within defence. Women did not go to see in the Royal Navy until 1993, much later than the US, Canadian and Norwegian navies. Women were serving on submarines in Norway in 1980, in the US in 2010 but are still not serving on British submarines. Women make up 9% of the Royal Navy.

In contrast women make up 25% of the Royal Air Force but only became pilots in the 1990’s. The British army has only 8% women serving with none in combat roles. The Australian army has women in combat roles.

In 1975 the Spanish civil code limited the rights of women who could not open a bank account in their own name or to hold a passport. The big change came withan understanding that talent is not a matter of gender and that when it comes to defence and security a country cannot rely only on the skills of the male 50% of the population.

The conference took place at a time of high tension in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Region where women’s rights are very limited. Yet women across the Arab world have played a pivotal role in the Arab Spring from protesting, to delivering bullets, caring for the wounded and more recently standing as candidates in elections. Hopefully, the position of women as active participants in society will be cemented by the wave of political change that has swept through the region in the last year.

This week I met two Afghan women who are taking part in the annual international conference in Germany both carrying hopes that they can make a difference to the lives of all Afghans, but particularly women and girls who continue to face poverty, violence and lack of opportunity. The two women stressed the need for the UK to push for women in Afghanistan to have access to roles and responsibilities in defence and security. They saw the military and police forces in particular as vital to opening up and protecting the rights of women. They also talked of their fears for what the future may bring once our forces are withdrawn.

While the position of women in our own society is a million miles from those in Afghanistan, recent legislation on legal aid for victims of domestic violence, budget cuts and this week’s autumn statement reinforce the feeling that women are bearing the brunt of the difficulties we are facing.

Take legal aid as one example. The budget for legal aid is being cut by limiting the types of cases where it can be made available. In cases of domestic violence, victims will only be considered for legal aid if they can provide certain evidence, which crucially does not include statements from a GP or evidence of call-outs or investigations by the police. The inference from this is that victims of domestic violence require a witness. By its very nature, there are no witnesses in domestic violence cases. There is no one else in the room except perhaps children who could find themselves being called to give evidence against a parent.

The economic picture is bleak for everyone, but women are being disproportionately affected. Independent research has shown women are paying more than twice as much as men in tax and benefit changes – not least because of the scale of cuts to family support. Of the £2.37 billion raised from tax credits and public sector pay changes in this Autumn Statement, It has been estimated that 73 per cent (£1.73bn) will be coming from women and 27 per cent (£638m) from men.

According to Aviva, 32,000 women have stopped work in the last year because they cannot afford childcare and women’s unemployment has soared past the 1 million mark to its highest level since 1988. Public sector job cuts, where many women are employed, are largely responsible for this. For those who remain, the imposition of a 1% limit on public pay increases will increase financial hardship.

December 2nd was Carers Rights Day, a day designed to raise awareness of the problems carers face. Carers UK published a survey for the day looking at the financial hardship many carers endure as a result of having to give up work to care for their loved one. Of 4000 carers surveyed, 76% of the respondents were women. 45% of respondents were cutting back on essentials like heating or food and 40% were falling into debt as a result of caring.

This feeling of pessimism seems to be seeping through to younger generations. In an annual survey carried out by the Girlguides, the number of secondary school pupils who are worried about future employment had increased by almost half; up from 44% in 2010 to 62% in 2011.

These are hard times. Women need the role models such as the women I met at the defence and security conference, women who forged paths where none had previously existed and left a trail for others to follow.