Harriet Harman has defended herself on Woman’s Hour today after a boringly predictable string of attacks all week, culminating in acharacteristically ugly article in today’s Spectator by Rod Liddle. Of course, the attacks are built on primitive sexism, as our leader today demonstrates. But they are also based on a – linked – inability among many in Westminster to see any eye-catching ministerial behaviour outside the prism of the party leadership.
Harriet Harman has been responsible for some of the most progressive legislation – with her Equalities Bill, about which I have repeatedly written – introduced by Labour at a time when the party is dismissed as an ideas-free zone. And on the only substantial element of the “row” about the deputy leader’s views this week – rape – she is absolutely correct. Conviction rates for this grotesque crime – second only to murder in its damaging impact – remain shamefully and disproportionately low. This is partly thanks to a criminal justice system which is literally male-dominated, discriminatory against women and – in the case of rape – weighted in favour of the suspect and against the victim. But it is also partly thanks to a media culture in which the very same outlets that vilify Harman hardest – such as the Daily Mail – disproportionately apologize for male rape suspects, and attack accusers, despite the fact that so few rapists are reported, let alone convicted. These papers scream about accusers, while failing to proportionately cover the shamefully low conviction rates.
Harman is not without flaws. She is perhaps a little too obsessed with women, and in danger of being pigeon-holed when she has so much more to offer. But unlike many ministers – and the majority in the House of Commons – she is at the vanguard of the ongoing struggle for equality. That she will not be cowed – and she won’t, whatever the gossip – is infinitely to her credit.
Content from our partners
Related
