By Jo Ellis and Kathy Newnam
ADELAIDE — It was a shoulder-padded affair when 400 people gathered at the University of SA on September 17 to hear Glenda Jackson speak on women, power and politics. A former actor, Jackson is now secretary for transport in the British Labour government.
Jackson argued that women could achieve full rights in society by holding half the seats in parliament. She stated that "no country could afford to waste this national and natural resource".
Jackson said that the "cash barrier" to women being preselected for parliament was being addressed in Britain by the Labour Party's quota system and by Emily's List, a fund that assists women financially to be preselected.
The event, billed as "an insider's view", made the elitist assumption that only women in parliament know about "power" and "politics". Jackson's definition of "politics" seemed restricted to elections and parliament, ignoring the fact that women have won their rights, including to vote, through mass organisation and struggle.
Jackson said she was "proud to be the product of a socialist dream that became a social reality in the form of the welfare state". She did not mention that the Blair Labour government is cutting social welfare services viciously, and that this impacts most heavily on women.
Despite such gaps, the audience of "femocrats" and Labor party figures hung on Jackson's every word. Green Left Weekly sellers and women handing out anti-GST leaflets were made to leave the building because they made the event "look too political".