Is David Cameron a feminist?

In the issue of Red magazine out later this week, a journalist asked David Cameron if he’s a feminist. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was stumped. “Er…” he stammered, and stared out of the window for what the journalist described as “a long time.” You can imagine his panic, desperately wondering where his PR advisors were. “Umm…” he finally came up with something. “I don’t know what I’d call myself… it’s up to others to attach labels. But I believe that men and women should be treated equally.” (We’d have a real problem on our hands if he didn’t.)

“I’m not a feminist but…”—I've heard similar responses often enough before. “I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women,” said Katy Perry when she collected her Women of the Year award in 2012. “I don’t think that I would consider myself a feminist. I think that I certainly believe in equal rights,” said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, in an interview last year. People often seem to make a distinction between believing in equal rights for women and being a feminist, confused about what the terms means or about whether it remains applicable today.

Still, it’s not a good look for a politician who’s desperately trying to capture the female vote, and seeming to stumble at every turn. In a poll conducted just before conference season began, only 29 per cent of Mumsnet users said they would back the Conservatives, compared with 36 per cent three years ago. During that same period, support for the Labour Party rose from 31 per cent to 42 per cent. The Mumsnet poll branded Cameron the most “out of touch” leader with a whopping 46 per cent of the vote, way ahead of Ed Miliband with 13 per cent, and Nick Clegg with 9. Ironically, the interview with Red was timed to appeal to female voters ahead of the Conservative conference this week.

Well aware that the elusive "female vote" has emerged as one of Cameron's true weak spots, his opponents are now quick to capitalise when he makes a mistake, and his moment of uncertainty could cost him. “Oh dear, seems David Cameron is afraid of the f-word,” tweeted Yvette Cooper after details of the interview emerged last week, while Ed Balls could also be found tweeting uncomplimentary musings about the impact of Cameron’s policies on women. Labour MP Chris Bryant produced a column for the Independent entitled, “Cameron’s patronising attitude towards women will cost him the election,” which seemed to be popping up everywhere over the weekend. Ed Miliband made a point of talking about women’s rights during his conference speech (and, incidentally, made this excellent speech to Women in Advertising back in June).

All the parties have some work to do on this front—a depressing 50 per cent of Mumsnet voters thought that none of the party leaders are interested in the concerns and opinions of women. But the other parties do not seem to be faring quite so badly as the Conservatives, and Cameron will have to do better than “Um… I’m not sure” if he’s going to claw back some of those lost female votes before 2015.