In these last few days before voting day, 4 July 2024, exploring the election communication leaflets for the Skipton and Ripon constituency – which has eight candidates, all male – is interesting. With few exceptions, these communications seem to be really only aimed at the male population. The leaflet photos themselves help to give some insight, as smiles abound on the faces of the candidates sharing details about themselves and what they do or have done.
Conservative leaflet exemplifies male bias
In the case of Julian Smith (former Skipton and Ripon MP, now Conservative candidate), it seems important to be seen with grey-haired men, often in high visibility jackets. Out of 13 photos across two different leaflets, there are 20 such men, and three photos of a smiling Smith (all in the same pose).
There are four identical photos in the leaflets: maybe the party was very short on photographic evidence of a range of constituency activities? Then there is one photo of the back of the head of a person with long blond hair, no face visible, and one photo where there is what appears to be a woman, almost obscured, in an under-exposed photo taken on a wintry day.
Smith appears so keen to promote images of men, that he even includes a photo of Keir Starmer in one leaflet. This contains a threat about Starmer taking more in tax that, one must assume, is only addressed to men. Could women reflecting on this Conservative leaflet, its gender bias and its image choice of Starmer with the threatening tax message, get the idea that women would not need to pay the tax increases promised by the Tories for a Labour government?
It is so sad that in 2024, after 14 years as an MP, Smith fails to acknowledge the existence of female voters in Skipton and Ripon except as the back of a head.
The other parties don’t fare much better
Exploring the other candidates’ leaflets showed a similar bias, especially within the Heritage Party, where Guy Phoenix and David Kurten (the party leader) are pictured in the leaflet, as are green fields, abbey ruins and the Houses of Parliament. There are no other people, including the diverse electorate of men or women.
The Reform leaflet offers more men in suits, with the focus on Richard Tice and Nigel Farage. Candidate Simon Garvey is perhaps too shy to share the limelight? So here again, there is no look-in for women in the electorate at all. The Yorkshire Party leaflet shows candidate Ryan Kett’s ID photo and a sunset, or maybe sunrise, over Yorkshire. And the Independent candidate Keith Tordoff just shows a picture of himself. Once again there is nothing of note for women.
The search goes on, with an exploration of the Liberal Democrat election communication leaflet. Candidate Andrew Murday has three photos of himself, and an out-of-focus crowd of people waving placards, some of whom look like women. But his leaflet does include a photo of … Liz Truss. Umm.
Some progress is seen with the Green Party leaflet. Candidate Andy Brown shares three pictures of himself, along with a photo of the party’s co-leaders – Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey – and various supporters, including a partial image of another woman. At last – representation!
Finally, there is the leaflet of Malcolm Birks of the Labour Party. Here he shows two photos of himself, and includes a nice, posed photo of a woman, along with details of her experience of Birks’s community work. So, here a woman has been included and has expressed her views: representation and contribution.
How can a candidate represent you if they don’t even include you?
Perhaps this visual content, posted through the letter box, will assist voters in making their election choice. Do you feel seen and represented? It makes you think twice about the real value and focus of the candidates: is it all about the power of the job, or a willingness to be people-centred and be inclusive of people of all genders in our very diverse world?
I did vote once for the Tories, in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher was my MP, as I lived 100 yards up the road from her shabby constituency office. She was female and she might make a difference in an unequal world for women, I mused then. Three female prime ministers later and it seems to have made little difference to the male perspective of inclusivity in the electoral communications in 2024.
