Is the blokefest in the Labour Leader’s Office the problem?

A Labour Party activist commented to me the other day that they thought the Willie Jackson fiasco would have never happened if Andrew Little had any women in senior roles in his office.  She said that a woman would have known instinctively that promising a high list place to a candidate who rape shamed a teenage victim on air would go down like cold sick with many women, especially Labour women.

I was surprised to hear the assertion that a party that prides itself on equality has no women in senior roles in the leader’s office. Surely this is not the case. So I checked, and she was right.

The senior staff for Little are:

• Chief of Staff – bloke
• Deputy Chief of Staff – bloke
• Chief Press Secretary – bloke
• Director of Research and Policy – bloke
• Director of Engagement – bloke

It seems there are no women good enough to hold a senior role in Little’s office. Or maybe no women applied?

By contrast the National Leader’s Office has always had a number of women in senior roles (and all absolutely on merit).