women and men working in partnership

A liberal Lady for London

by Lesley Abdela
First published in Executive Woman www.execwoman.com
May/June 2000

Interview with Susan Kramer (Candidate for London Mayor)

"As Mayor, I'd be Mayor for everybody, but as a woman you do bring your own perspective". Lesley Abdela discovers what Susan Kramer will do to solve our capital's problems.

The race for mayor of one of the world's great cities would daunt anyone. Yet Susan Kramer, 49, is remarkably self-confident about the future of women in public life. A severe bout of 'tube rage', after getting stuck in Piccadilly for the third time, propelled her into throwing her hat into the ring as candidate for Mayor of London. As a Liberal Democrat and the only woman candidate from the three main parties, I wanted to know about her ideas on making London a better city for women. "As Mayor, I'd be Mayor for everybody, but as a woman you do bring your own perspective", she says, fully aware that policies made by politicians often affect women's lives differently from men. "It is vital that there is a woman in the race for Mayor of London, and I'm delighted that Susan has decided to stand", agrees broadcaster and columnist Anna Raeburn. Women's needs demand a different pattern of investment in job development, explains Susan.

As a woman, she understands the real need to bring jobs near to where people live. When she was working, it was important for her to be within 20 minutes travel time of her children.

The election for Mayor of London will be on May 4. To help fight for a more realistic London pay weighting, Susan wants to use the London Resource Centre to provide statistics. This would help other mothers who want to live within a reasonable distance of their work. "The London pay top-up paid to most workers is outdated and insufficient", she argues. "A significant number of women work in the public sector in jobs, like nursing and teaching. It's hard to be able to afford to live in London on a nurse's or teacher's salary."

Susan is neither a veteran nor a novice in politics. She became active seven years ago after she and American husband, John, returned from US to live in London. "I had the chance to vote in local elections and I called all three main parties for information." Attending her first Party Conference was the next step. "I thought it would be dry. It was fun, welcoming and exciting," she says. "There were workshops which made you feel it was not out of reach to become a candidate. WLD - the Women's wing of the Liberal Democrats - held a conference to encourage women to get involved. It gave me a great sense of the possibility." She became a local election candidate in Dulwich and West Norwood in 1997 and a Euro-Candidate on last year's Liberal Democrat London List.

Susan and John are partners in their own consultancy, Kramer Associates, advising on infrastructure projects in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Austria. A former Vice President in Citibank Chicago, she has an MBA from University of Illinois. She decided to put her business and transport expertise to use in solving London's transport problems. Susan feels a deep mission to bring practical solutions to London's problems.

Around 60% of people who use public transport are women. Susan's policy is to keep transport in public hands. "We don't need to wait for money. We could raise finance now though bonds which are issued in the markets." To cut down traffic congestion she would issue travel-cards. These could be used on public transport or to 'buy driving time for cars in working hours'. "You would pay for road space in the same way you pay for the bus or train."

Susan is full of innovative ideas. A favourite is The Walking School Bus, which she first saw in Chicago, where she lived for a number of years with her American husband. She's helping pioneer a walking bus to take children to school in Mortlake, near her home in Barnes. The Walking School Bus has an identified route with its own bus stops. Adult monitors walk with a push-cart from 'bus stop' to 'bus stop' like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, gathering children. Each child puts their school bag in the hand-cart, gets issued a bright coloured vest and joins the walking train. The Walking Bus could help reduce rush-hour traffic congestion and would also reduce stress on mothers (and some fathers) caused by the dreaded school-run. "Parents drive children to school and then drive onwards to work.

If it weren't for the school-run quite often they might not use the car in the first place", says Susan, adding:
"Childcare dominating the lives of every working mother has a resonance with me. I would ensure childcare facilities are built into every regeneration project."

Susan is the type of woman I imagine reads Executive Woman. An energetic businesswoman with a social conscience, she seems someone readers might aspire to become. She has a daughter and a son, both in their twenties. Twenty five-year-old Jonathan has taken leave from the University of Chicago to help in his Mother's election campaign.

As part of a series of discussions with different groups of people living in London she consults groups representing women's interests. "I want to consult with women who work on domestic violence. You need cooperation between the boroughs to deal with this issue. A woman being attacked in one borough may be safer in a refuge in another."

On the issue of safety, Susan says men may be vulnerable too, but women often feel more aware of the dangers. We constantly hear and read that people's lives are undermined by low-level crime, just the type of crime the Met aren't dealing with.

Her plans include setting up a Community Safety Constabulary to nip low-level crime in the bud. One of their roles would be to patrol streets near the railway station in the evenings, when women are walking home in the dark. The new Community Constabulary would be trained and uniformed and report to local boroughs and the Mayor and would be in radio contact with the police.

Susan wants to make health services more accessible to women. As Mayor, she would not be directly involved in health service delivery, but would use her position to encourage new ideas for bringing health services within easier reach of people who need to use them. She plans to appoint a Chief Medical Adviser on Health Issues and to use the London Research Centre as a resource body. "The London Resource Centre can produce statistics that will help us to get a grip on a number of issues such as health differentials. It can help us identify groups of people not successfully accessing health services", she says.

Educated at St Paul's School, Hammersmith, Susan read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Hilda's College Oxford, and became only the second woman to be President of the Oxford Union. She returned there last January to take part in a debate in which she proposed the motion 'Women will control the 21st Century'. Her opposition was author Germaine Greer. Susan thought the argument redundant, "It's elementary, my dear Ms Greer," she said, "Women are already in control of the 21st Century."

lesley.abdela@shevolution.com

Copyright © 2001 Eyecatcher Associates. All rights reserved. Revised: April 30, 2001. Shevolution™ is a registered trademark of Eyecatcher Associates.

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