Councillor Julia Cambridge
Liberal Democrat Councillor for East Sheen, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Vice Chair of the Campaign for Gender BalanceCouncillor Julia Cambridge discusses the motivations and aims of the Campaign for Gender Balance (CGB) in Richmond.
To win a Liberal Democrat by-election, the running joke goes, you’ve got to be called Sarah – think Sarah Green or Sarah Dyke or, years before, the famous by-election that propelled Sarah Olney into the Conservative safe seat in Richmond.
Yet despite the perception of an overabundance of women in our parliamentary party, the average gender split is 35 per cent to 65 per cent across council candidates to PPCs. Figures that clearly don’t reflect society – and need to.
What Does the Campaign for Gender Balance Do?
I’ve had many roles in the Liberal Democrats, from target seat candidate, fundraising and events local party officer, Councillor, and even local Mayor, but one has remained consistent – Vice Chair of the Campaign for Gender Balance (CGB). Let me tell you a little bit about our work.
CGB aims to mentor, inspire, train and support women in their journey towards elected office under Chair Candy Piercy. We do this in many ways, including our flagship Future Women MP Weekend and training at party conferences. Often, while a raucous debate or fringe is happening above, below, in windowless training rooms, we’ll be listening to skilled women talking about everything from battling imposter syndrome to dreaming of representing their communities.
Intersectionality should always be top of mind for any organisation working under a feminist lens, so we regularly collaborate with like-minded cross-party organisations like 50:50 Parliament, and with internal bodies like the Racial Diversity Campaign.
Striving for Equal Representation
Measuring success isn’t an exact science for CGB, but we do have some clear markers of progress. For example, we can see increased representation in the Parliamentary Party, a past majority women-based MEP cohort, and the leadership and example of our by-election winners. Right now though, we have only just scratched the surface, and that personally drives me to do more.
Thinking back five Liberal Democrat leaders ago, to when I strode confidently into my first local party executive with the intention to make myself known in the room, I was struck by one thing, that I was the only woman. I’m happy to report that over time, this changed.
As the years followed, it was invariably women who made a difference in my journey. This included the late Barbara Pearce, a powerhouse who in 1989 had herself fought another famous ‘Richmond by-election’ – this time in Yorkshire against a young William Hague; Baroness Susan Kramer, who pushed me to stand and, when I wavered, told me that “You’re never too old to make a difference.”; and the late Shirley Williams, a woman I truly consider to be utterly extraordinary, and a source of great personal inspiration.
That’s what the CGB mission means to me – inspiring women that inspire women. Whether you’re a Sarah or a non-Sarah, there’s a place for us in politics – and if we can’t find one, then we’ll roll up our sleeves and get to work making one ourselves, under the support and guidance of the CGB team.
