Pembrokeshire Question Time: highlights on the women's issues debate

Panellists were Bernadine Rees OBE, Chair of the Hywel Dda Health Board; Sharron Lusher, Principal of Pembrokeshire College; Bethany Roberts, Chair of the Pembrokeshire Youth Assembly; Sue Leonard, Chief Officer of PAVS, and Cllr Pat Davies, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulatory Services.

L-R: Kim Puhl from the Elections team, Sue Leonard, Cllr Tessa Hodgson, Bernadine Rees, Bethany Roberts, Cllr Paul Hughes, Pat Davies, Sharron Lusher, and Oonagh Cassidy from the Elections team. PICTURE: Martin Cavaney.

The full Pembrokeshire Question Time is available via webcast, but here are some of the topics the panel discussed…

Alison Cavanagh asked: How can you provide meaningful choice to our girls and young women throughout their education and adult lives to enable them to have fulfilling careers and prevent penalising them throughout motherhood?

Cllr Pat Davies: To be honest I don’t think we should really differentiate between opportunities and encouragement between boys and girls.

One of our questions later asks us who we think is a good role model. I would think a good role model is one who chooses a path to balance their live so then can have a family, they can work, they can care for their family and at the same time have a career.

Sharron Lusher: I think from my perspective there are three things we need to do to look at the choices our girls and young women – and our young men – have throughout their education.

The first is information. We need to make sure they get equal access to information about careers that are available to them.

The second is providing meaningful choices – we need employers to be in on this is a real way which means women can have the choices they wish to have and employers are flexible.

The third is perhaps realising we don’t need to do everything at once. It is not absolutely necessary to do everything in a straight order or that we try to do it all at the same time.

Cllr Jacob Williams asked: What are the panel’s views on positive discrimination?

Bernardine Rees: Well I think it is on competence and competency.

I genuinely believe – and that may be my career path – that really it’s the right person for the job so I don’t want to get into a debate about positive discrimination.

But I think it does a disservice to us as women.

Sue Leonard: I just have a gut instinct I don’t like the idea of positive discrimination and all-women shortlists.

I think women and men should be appointed on merit.

I think we do need to see an end to panels of all-men. It is people applying. It the panels that are representative. If you have a panel of all men of a certain age they will relate really well to the candidate that looks just like them.

It [positive discrimination] is a really blunt instrument but it does have some degree of success, but we don’t do anyone any service [by using it].

Cllr Phil Baker asked: Does the panel think Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May are role models? Who would they suggest as female role models?

Bethany Roberts: I don’t consider them as role models just because they are female prime ministers. I don’t necessarily agree with their views when it comes to other minorities as well.

When it comes to my role model I know it sounds a bit cheesy but it’s my mum.

Sharron Lusher: I see it slightly differently in that they are role models in that they have achieved what they wanted to achieve.

They are role models in the ambition they have had and that they have achieved their goals.

One of [my role models] was a lovely lady in Marks and Spencer [Sharon used to work for M&S logistics in Europe] called Cathy Ryan, who demonstrated to me that being a leader in the business world didn’t mean you had to behave in a certain way.

You could be yourself. You could be gentle. You could be kind.

Bernardine Rees: The question I would ask is does Theresa May see Margaret Thatcher as a role model, because she did break a glass ceiling.

I see people all the time that are role models. They are men as well as women.

You take the best from what you see and that makes you the person you want to be.

The Pembrokeshire Youth Assembly asked: Do you agree that the arguments that were used to prevent women getting the vote are the same against votes at 16?

Bethany Roberts: I don’t think the campaign is anywhere near as similar as it was for women. There are some of the same arguments.

I have been faced with the maturity argument and they are quite similar to the ones we hear about suffragettes.

The UK Youth Parliament has been running for two years. We are still facing the same issues there.

Sharron Lusher: I think some of the arguments are the same but I think there are a number of differences.

If you think of the suffragettes, women at the time were viewed as socially inferior to men, so fortunately we have moved on from then.

If Bethany was working now she would be paying taxes, so I think the argument is: if she is paying into that structure why can’t she have a say one what it is being spent on?

The Pembrokeshire Youth Assembly asked: Do you think men and women will ever be truly equal?

Cllr Pat Davies: In my mind we already are.

Sue Leonard: I think there will be a time when there will be equality of opportunity for men and women.

Sharron Lusher: We are 100 years on and women have got a vote. I will be optimistic that in 1oo years’ time men and women will have a greater degree of equality than we have now.