Blog: Who holds the seats of power?
This week has seen a flood of headlines from around the world about antiquated British views. It doesn’t matter what you personally think of Meghan Markle or the monarchy, for many international observers this affects their perception of the UK.
Blog by Susan Murray, David Hume Institute
March 2021
The last few weeks have seen a flood of headlines from around the world about antiquated British views. It doesn’t matter what you personally think of Meghan Markle or the monarchy, for many international observers this affects their perception of the UK as a progressive, fair and diverse country.
This matters. Our global reputation has a direct impact on vital parts of our economy, particularly trade and tourism. And, at a time when the economy is facing the biggest recession on record, we should all be worrying about diversity.
Diversity matters, not only for our economy, but for the strength of our decision making.
Last year, our Team Scotland research investigated diversity in the top leaders in Scotland; and power featured consistently in our latest research, What’s your action?. Who has it, who needs it and who needs to cede it, in order for more, and faster, progress to be made?
As we move on from another outpouring of vocal support for equality and diversity after International Women’s Day, some will be sticking their heads firmly in the sand for another year on the antiquated tradition of primogeniture for the House of Lords. While it’s good news that No.10 is now looking at this issue, its proposals – and that’s all they are at this stage – come ten years after the monarchy embraced equal rights before the birth of Prince George.
Today, there are 92 men in the House of Lords because of hereditary titles. Eleven of these are resident in Scotland. Women cannot hold these seats when families still operate primogeniture for titles.
The debate has been deflected to encourage more women into non-hereditary seats but this ignores the core issue of men gaining significant position of power based on their gender. Currently there are 223 female peers in total – 28% of the Members of the House of Lords.
The House of Lords has increased significantly in size since the turn of the millennium taking the overall size of the Lords to over 800 members - well above the 600-member cap, and larger than the House of Commons' 650 elected members.
Although hereditary Lords now have less influence than they used to, with one eighth of the chamber reserved for them, they still have influence.
This interview with Charlotte Carew Pole who founded the campaign Daughter’s Rights unpicks the inequality at the heart of this issue.
The David Hume Institute listened to over 4,500 people across Scotland. All of them wanted their voices to be heard. Power came up again and again in the research, What’s your action? - who has it, who needs it and who needs to cede it, in order for more progress to be made?
Primogeniture is a clear example of structural inequality that needs to be urgently addressed. The UK cannot class itself as a modern country while this historic male preference continues. Brexit means constitutional changes are back on the table. Weeding out structural inequality should be the first item on the agenda.
If the UK wants to avoid being seen as an antiquated northern backwater, we need to embrace the full benefits of gender diversity or the economy, and society, will suffer.
Is rational economic man dead?
Susan Murray reflects Professor Linda Scott book, The Double X Economy and what it means for who gets heard in economic debate.
Blog by Susan Murray, David Hume Institute
25th February 2021
Put simply, yes.
For the much more detailed answer, read Professor Linda Scott’s The Double X Economy. The book is a whistle stop tour of anthropology, history, science and economics. It firmly positions economics as a social science and shows how interpretation can vary depending on your personal experience. Professor Scott’s much longer answer is that rational economic man never existed other than as a concept in textbooks.
The Double X Economy does for economics what Caroline Criado Perez’s book Invisible Women did for data. It brings together research from many sources and systematically debunks myth after myth relating to economics.
It is no wonder that the book is being shortlisted for business and science writing prizes, and in 2021 is being translated into 40 languages.
The Double X Economy discusses the historic origins of the myth about women’s inability to manage money. And how this is connected to the lack of women’s voices being heard in economic debates or taken seriously as academic economists. For too long only a limited number of voices have been heard when it comes to our economy.
I’ve heard many of the myths mentioned in relation to business in Scotland. For instance to explain away the stark differences in who receives venture capital funding “Women just don’t start the kind of businesses that scale.”
Linda examines this self-perpetuating funding cycle, that male-led businesses receive more funding and so they are more able to grow, so are deemed to be more successful, and the cycle goes on. Although there have been some in-roads in terms of new angel investors targeting women-led businesses, the majority of VC funding is still received by a narrow group of people.
The data clearly shows the volume of missed opportunity from an unequal economy - not just in terms of starting and growing businesses, but also in terms of managing and governing them. By not valuing diversity of thought in business we are failing to allow organisations to benefit from a wide range of experience that can make organisations stronger - as well as risking group-think. As the David Hume Institute found in our 2020 analysis of Scotland’s top leaders, almost every sector in Scotland suffers because it lacks diversity, but business suffers the most. Just 5% of Scotland’s top business leaders are women.
If we want a thriving economy it is time to stop wasting talent. We must value diversity in all its forms and all work harder to achieve it.
If you missed the event with Professor Linda Scott and Rachel Statham or would like to watch again, the recording is available here. Subtitles are available through YouTube.
If you are interested in diversity of thought in economics, join the David Hume Institute in conversation with Dr Arun Advani and Mairi Spowage on 23rd March to discuss Arun’s latest research on diversity in economics. Register here.