“You have to be a remarkable woman to get to the top … average men get there all the time”, says MP Jess Phillips

The World Economic Forum’s latest study showed that the biggest gender equality progress is being made in politics, but despite this, MP Jess Phillips still thinks it is harder for women to rise to the top in the Labour party. 

She was speaking to The Guardian about the furore over Jeremy Corbyn’s choice of ‘top’ cabinet members. She took him to task about it in his first parliamentary Labour party meeting, but was shut down by Diane Abbot. Phillips replied by telling Abbot to “**** off.”

“She was basically telling me I didn’t have any right to be upset," Phillips continued. "And that’s not right. There’s something wrong with the Labour party. There’s something wrong with the fact that women never rise to the top. It’s not the case in the SNP; it’s not the case in the Tories.

“If I knew the answer I would be cracking on with the solution. It’s not like they weren’t democratically elected because they are. You have to be a remarkable and amazing woman to rise to the top, whereas average men get there all the time. It’s really, really depressing.”