"The scramble to replace Angela Rayner as deputy leader of the Labour party is well under way. Apparently, it's inevitable the role will go to a candidate with similar claims to Rayner in terms of that much-vaunted quality, authenticity. Whether Bridget Phillipson or Lucy Powell, the next deputy leader will also be a woman from a working-class family from the north of England."
"Those who have pursued these rare routes of social mobility are undoubtedly impressive, but they remain a small minority. I am one of these women, and I am happy to admit it. In any case, representation cannot stand in for meaningful policy change. Working-class women have rarely had it so hard. The two-child benefit cap persists in facilitating child poverty in the UK. It is working-class women who bear this burden."
A scramble is underway to replace Angela Rayner as Labour deputy leader, with expectation the role will go to a woman claiming authenticity. Two likely candidates are women from working-class northern families whose journeys to Westminster via Oxford differ greatly from Rayner's and from most working-class women's lives. Those who achieve such social mobility are a small minority. Representation alone cannot substitute for policy reform. Working-class women face hardship from the two-child benefit cap, unreformed social care, insecure and poorly paid employment, and disproportionate impacts of relative poverty. Migrant, Black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi women are especially overlooked.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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