:: Kishwar Desai

Tale of two Prime Ministers

Kishwar Desai

June.13 : Topping the gripping drama over the few past weeks has been Gordon Brown’s battle to continue as UK’s Prime Minister despite his opponents (and disastrous local election results) — and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s peculiarly steady popularity, despite himself. Interestingly, their attitude towards women have also been drawn into the discussion, though for vastly different reasons. While Mr Berlusconi has been accused of liking them a little too much, Mr Brown has been accused of quite the opposite. Mr Berlusconi has even been pulled up by his wife publicly for his dalliances. As for Mr Brown’s wife, Sarah Brown, we have no news as yet of her views of her husband being described as "sexist". But given the current media frenzy, no doubt we will see her rushing to his defence.

The strange thing is that Mr Berlusconi’s affair with the women of Italy does not seem to dent his popularity at all. Till recently, even when photographs of half-naked young women cavorting in his home were published, most Italians just shrugged it off with few voices being raised in protest. It may help that Mr Berlusconi also owns large swathes of the media and, therefore, it is possible for him to carefully calibrate his image. Yet, while his very worthy scheme to stack the European Parliament with good-looking women MPs boomeranged for obvious reasons, the recent public scandal of his deep interest in a wannabe weathergirl, Noemi Letizia, whose 18th birthday party he attended, raised a few eyebrows and many more questions. The Prime Minister even gave a £5,300-gold necklace to the young girl, and it did not help either that she calls him "Papi".

Strangely, the girl’s parents don’t seem worried by the fact that the ardent admirer is old enough to be her grandfather and is a married man. Finally his wife, the very attractive Veronica Lario, was forced to speak up that she could not stay with a man who "frequents minors". She added that he was "not well". It was not a comment her very-macho husband was likely to take lying down and the aggressive manner in which he responded was quite in character. In fact, when a newspaper tried to put him on the mat over Ms Letizia, he had responded by jabbing finger angrily at the correspondent and saying, "Shame on you". Besides, he added, "The Italians are with me". By and large the rather tepid public response to his philandering does indicate that the Italians continue to support their Prime Minister. However, the more troubling question is what does this say of the Italian attitude towards their women, especially their young women? And does the lure of a career in show business (that Ms Letizia and others among the Berlusconi babes aspire to) necessarily mean that they can be exploited?

Naturally, the media has been accused of an invasion of Mr Berlusconi’s privacy and he has dismissed most of the criticism as political provocation, insisting that the photographs of topless girls in his villa were taken while they were innocently bathing and taking a shower — by a hostile press. However, politicians routinely now use their families and personal stories to win votes —therefore they can no longer hide behind the fig leaf of privacy-invasion when less-than-salubrious details of their lives are revealed. It is a very sad comment that a democratically-elected leader now believes he has the mandate to treat women however he desires. It is only a matter of time before more damaging statements begin to emerge. Unsurprisingly, he has also recently commented that the Italian Parliament is a "useless" institution which bars him from running the country properly!

The treatment of women, children and minorities remains an important barometer of democratic rights and values. Therefore, it was an equally large shock for most of us to find the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown being accused of being "sexist". This salvo was fired by a particularly attractive member of his Cabinet, Caroline Flint, when she quit. Unlike in Italy, however, this comment has given rise to a furious debate. Is there a possibility that MPs like Ms Flint are being used, as she said, for "window dressing"? Can there really be a cynically-misogynistic environment in the corridors of power? In this she was careful to single out the attitude of the Prime Minister and some of her other male colleagues, complaining also that she was never made a full member of the Cabinet. The last statement has given a fresh frisson to her resignation drama, turning many against her as women can never openly state their ambition.

The unfortunate Ms Flint had posed recently for a women’s magazine in a fetching red dress — and that has further vitiated her case. (How dare women in red dresses accuse people of not taking them seriously?) The hugely misogynistic reportage has included stories of a secret club in Westminster called Wags (Women against Gordon) who had plotted to get rid of him. The truth is that when men meet and plot no one cooks up derogatory names for them, while women are savaged if they buck the system. Importantly, the fact that at least five women ministers have chosen to quit in the past few weeks does mean that there is unhappiness in the ranks.

There is no point stuffing women in the Cabinet if the atmosphere is demoralising and overwhelmingly macho. After all, the MPs have been elected on their own merit (without reservations) and are intelligent, hard working and gutsy. Many had entered in the wave of support for Tony Blair. The fact that the former Prime Minister never had similar accusations hurled at him works in his favour. Though many are trying to denigrate Ms Flint by trying to treat her as a piece of fluff, governments, whether here or in Italy, must realise that perception is key. Are women actually being given the same stature as their male colleagues in the present government? Till that question is examined in a transparent fashion (and not through media spin) the "sexist" slur will, unfortunately, remain next to Mr Brown’s name. And will Mr Berlusconi be able to refrain from misusing his wealth and power to attract young women? Till the Italian electorate understand the importance of choosing a Prime Minister who truly respects women, that problem will also remain unresolved.

The writer can be contacted at kishwardesai@yahoo.com