There's "nothing inspirational" here

Tuesday 06 September 2022

Guernsey's campaign group for women in public life has given the appointment of Liz Truss as UK Prime Minister an extremely muted welcome, describing it as "not groundbreaking".

Ms Truss was elected as Leader of Conservative Party yesterday, following a vote between herself and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, which she was long-expected to win.

The final vote, between Conservative party members which selected the party leader and therefore Prime Minister, saw Ms Truss receive 81,000 votes, or 57%, compared to Mr Sunak's 60,000.

Pictured: Shelaine Green (r) with Jackie Weaver (l), Patron of Guernsey based campaign group Women in Public Life.

Chair of Women in Public Life, Shelaine Green, speaking shortly after the election results were announced summed the event up as "nothing inspirational".

"It’s not something we’ll be making a fuss about," said Ms Green. "Liz Truss is the third female leader of the Conservatives so it’s not a groundbreaking appointment.

"When we celebrate female leadership in other jurisdictions, we’re looking for role models. We focus on women like Jacinda Ardern who inspire other women to consider representing their community. Sad to say, there’s been nothing inspirational about this particular leadership election."

Pictured: Jersey elected its first female Chief Minister this year, with Kristina Moore being appointed.

Ms Green also shone a light on the fact that England, Scotland, and Jersey all currently have female leaders while Guernsey doesn’t, and nor has it previously.

She believes that it is likely to happen here too soon but she said there remains a need to encourage more women to stand for public office in the first place.

"With so many female committee presidents and vice-presidents, we trust it’s just a matter of time before Guernsey has a woman as our senior politician. Deputy Heidi Soulsby, for example, already has considerable responsibility as Vice President of P&R and as lead for the Government Work Plan. 

"More concerning is the lack of women overall. With only eight women in the States, there are too few to ensure each committee is balanced. Take the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, that’s all male. Health and Social Care, Home Affairs and Economic Development each only have one female Deputy out of five."

Pictured: Guernsey's most senior female politician, Deputy Heidi Soulsby.

Ms Green encouraged any woman considering standing for public office to contact their group for advice and support.

"When women stand, they are elected and gain senior roles," said Ms Green. "But not enough women stand in the first place - which is something Women in
Public Life is keen to help change."

Deputy Soulsby agreed that more needs to be done to encourage women to enter politics, so she welcomed Ms Truss' election to Conservative Party Leader and said she hopes it will have a positive wider impact.

"Yes, I believe Guernsey will have a female Chief Minister at some point and I look forward to the time when it's not seen as something out of the ordinary. 

"Women make up half the population but only 20% of the Assembly and that is something we need to address. The last few years have seen many more women elected to leadership positions around the world and I would hope that having such role models can only help encourage more women to stand for public office." 

Pictured top: Liz Truss was confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party, and UK Prime Minister yesterday.