My first thought on reading the deputy party leader's open and honest piece relayed by Mark Pack was that she was too hard on herself. At the time of the initial complaints against Chris Rennard, the more just and humane mechanism for dealing with such sensitive matters which the Liberal Democrats now possess did not exist. Nor would recourse to law have been effective, as the Nigel Evans case was later to show. On reflection, there should have been more discussion with the wronged women after the initial decision had been made, and the defects in the complaints procedure should have been addressed straight away. However, Jo's position in the party was not quite as high then as it is now.
She says there are still things to be done, but at least one taboo has been broken. Breaking the Harvey Weinstein affair open has empowered women to say "no". Weinstein was only encouraged to persist in his behaviour because some of his targets felt powerless to resist (or, let's face it, driven by ambition to accede to) his sexual propositions. Now, because the climate of public opinion has clearly shifted, it will be more easy for sex pests from Hollywood producers down to local party bigwigs to be resisted.
No comments:
Post a Comment