Men caused the recession, insists Harman

Published on Monday 3 August 2009 22:04

HARRIET Harman yesterday appeared to suggest that having too many male bankers may be to blame for the depth of the credit crunch and global economic downturn.

Following her claims that Labour will never have an all-male leadership again, Ms Harman has gone on the offensive over a lack of women in senior positions in banks and financial institutions.

When asked in a television interview whether the financial crisis would have arisen if more women had been in senior positions, Ms Harman said: "Somebody did say that if it had been 'Lehman Sisters' rather than Lehman Brothers then there may not have been as much," referring to the US bank whose collapse sparked the turmoil. But she quickly added: "I have to say it was not me that said that."

However, she then said: "Women make up half the workforce of insurance companies and banks. Why shouldn't they have a say on boards as well?"

Her comments drew a terse response from former deputy prime minister John Prescott, who demanded that she "stop complaining".

"Why take away from the party the right to choose its leaders on the basis of ability?" he wrote on his blog.

But Ms Harman – who has been dubbed "Harriet Harperson" for her forthright views on equality – last night refused to back down.

"I basically said you get better decision-making in a team if it's a balanced team with women and men working alongside each other," she said.

And she went on: "When I was first in politics, issues like wanting to have longer maternity leave for women; wanting to be able to work flexibly; making sure that part-time workers, who are mostly women, weren't treated as second-class citizens – those sort of issues didn't get a look-in in politics, when politics was overwhelmingly men."