Discontent in the ranks of Tory women

The party is losing its traditional hold on the female voter. Would reform of selection procedures halt the slide?

If the Labour Party succeeds in defending itself against the charges of sex discrimination and wins the case brought by two male Labour members against women-only shortlists, then the Conservative Party could, overnight, adopt a more aggressive equal opportunities policy than the loony-left Labour councils of the Eighties.

This might sound far-fetched. After all, I don't know of a single female Conservative MP who is committed to affirmative action or positive discrimination. But this week there has been a shift in emphasis. Sara Biffen, wife of John Biffen MP, who herself recently bid and failed in the first round to be selected as a parliamentary candidate, called on the BBC's Midnight Hour for women to be given a helping hand in the selection process, while simultaneously emphasising her opposition to positive discrimination.

She is one of many women for whom getting selected, let alone elected, is a trying affair. Emma Nicholson MP, who has been involved in the 300 Group, the campaign to get more women into the House of Commons, has fought to make it easier for women to overcome the hurdles of the selection process, which eliminates many women at round one of a three-round process, beginning with the local association's selection committee.

There have long been rumblings of discontent in the female ranks of the Conservative Party and many applicants are quite rightly impatient at biding their time and waiting for gradual change while their Labour counterparts are being actively encouraged through the process.

From their point of view, there is also a new urgency. Most of the candidates for safe Conservative seats have been chosen already, only a few remain; and given the slow pace of change, Conservative women like Sara Biffen are tentatively suggesting that "perhaps", or "maybe", there should be a woman on each final shortlist to speed the process up.

What is more surprising is that earlier this week Conservative Central Office, under the stewardship of the vice-chairman, Dame Angela Rumbold, was reported to be encouraging local associations to look kindly on female candidates. Dame Angela readily acknowledges that "the Conservative Party does need to get the message across that we need more women candidates and we are hoping to get that message across".

Why do the Conservatives now seem to think they need more women in Parliament? After all, it is the Conservative Party that can truly claim to be the women's party. It has proved most effective at articulating and exemplifying women's values - their concerns for reliability and security, stable communities and strong families - and has attracted thousands of women into the party as grassroots activists. Most important of all, the party has monopolised the women's vote. In the last election, there was a 9 per cent gender gap in the Conservative Party's favour, rising to a remarkable 20 per cent lead over Labour among women over 65.

But times are changing, and fast. A slender majority and bad opinion- poll ratings mean Conservative Central Office knows that no vote can be assumed, not even the women's vote. As significant is the fact that the Conservatives' claim to be the party of women looks increasingly shaky.

Women's lives have changed dramatically in the past 20 or 30 years and Labour seems to have better understood these gender shifts in society at large and actively made moves to feminise itself. Quotas are part of this process. Labour has the added advantage that while the Conservatives have always done better with older women, it has proven more successful at gaining support from younger women. Women under 25, for example, were 13 per cent more likely to vote Labour than Conservative at the last election. And under Tony Blair, Labour has been steadily eroding Conservative support among other women. Recent poll evidence by MORI shows that Labour has successfully captured the support of women in the 25- to-34 bracket as well as those under 25.

Energy, too, is being directed at older women, those in their forties, fifties and above. Blair's incursions into enemy territory - law and order, family values and strong communities - are explicit attempts to woo older generations of women. Tessa Jowell, Opposition spokesperson for women, is touring the country, meeting middle-aged and older women and listening to their concerns.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives fear that their female support is ageing. A recent study of the membership found that the average Conservative is 61 and more than half are over 65, while only 5 per cent of its members are under 35. Labour can claim that its membership is becoming younger: the majority of new members in the past year are under 40.

So far as getting more women into Parliament is concerned, there is an additional problem. Poll evidence consistently shows that many olderwomen are deeply traditional in their attitudes and hold strong views about women's roles, and because older women are disproportionately represented in the Conservative Party, when they sit on the selection committees of local Conservative Associations they can be openly hostile to prospective women politicians. As one female candidate told me: "I was asked by a woman why I wanted to go into Parliament and why wasn't I at home looking after my husband?"

It would be naive to suggest that a party that has proven most successful at monopolising the women's vote needs a visible women's presence in Parliament to retain it. It is the party's philosophy, policies and programmes that will ultimately be decisive. But the failure to promote women within the party is indicative of the Conservatives' failure to keep pace with changes in society at large. Women are becoming increasingly impatient, and are generating a new set of demands which the system must respond to.

In the short term it is highly unlikely that the Conservative Party will suddenly decide to change its selection process. Sara Biffen, like many other women aspiring to be selected as parliamentary candidates, acknowledges that change is unlikely this side of a general election, but as she wryly commented: "Everyone is susceptible to market forces. If there are 100 Labour female MPs in the House after the next general election and only 15 Conservatives, something will happen."

That something could happen as a result of the Tories losing the changing women's vote in the Nineties, just as Labour lost its working-class base in the Eighties.