Mary Ann Sieghart has a fantastic column in the Independent today, laying out the huge significance of the lack of women in the Lobby (the body of journalists that report on the House of Commons.) Some of the stats are truly woeful – only one in five political national political journalists are women, with all male political teams on The Independent and The Mirror.
Sieghart says that no political websites have lobby accredited women, which is no true given that Spectator CoffeeHouse Editor Isabel Hardman is definitely lobby accredited and definitely female. However, odd exceptions are really not what we should be clinging on to.
The lobby is a mirror image of the Parliament it reports on. Neither mirror the country.
The paucity of women covering politics affects the way the country is run and the way politics is seen by the outside world.
Mary Ann Sieghart - Let more women report how the country is run (The Independent)
Update:
@charlotteahenry love that you’ve put I’m *definitely* a woman. But reason I’m not on political websites is I’m under magazine category.
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) January 17, 2013
@charlotteahenry Thanks! Btw Isabel Hardman is the one lobby-accredited woman in the magazine section (ie Speccie)
— Mary Ann Sieghart (@MASieghart) January 17, 2013
