If Harriet Harman will have achieved anything during her two-week stint in charge of the government, it will be this: she has already increased women's visibility in politics. Her own, especially. There she was at the weekend, on the front page of the Sunday Times, in a news story with the screaming headline "You can't trust men in power". And then again, yesterday, on the cover of London's Evening Standard, beneath the no less incendiary header "Woman running Britain says . . . banks crisis is down to men".
All of which could lead innocent souls to believe that Harman has spent the fortnight going after the patriarchy with all guns – or should I say, all bras – blazing. And she has still got a few days to go. Hurrah! The reality is slightly more muted. At no point in her Sunday Times interview did Harman actually say that she didn't trust men. Instead, she suggested that "men cannot be left to run things on their own . . . In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men just running the show themselves." Seems straightforward. And that tone is echoed in the Standard, where she is quoted saying that "women make up half the workforce of insurance companies and banks. Why shouldn't they have a say on the boards as well?"
Again, this seems fair enough. In fact, it's better than that. Reading Harman's comments I was relieved to see someone at the top of government frankly addressing the dearth of women in power. After all, it is still the case that only 20% of British MPs are women; only a handful of women have ever been chief executives of FTSE 100 companies; and only 18 currently hold executive board positions in that towering group of firms.
There is still a huge gap in power between the sexes – the pay gap has actually increased in recent years – which makes Harman's suggestion that either the leader or deputy leader of her party should always be a woman seem an interesting idea, rather than the raving nonsense it has been depicted as. (John Prescott was moved to blog that Harman's remarks had caused him "real sadness".) And, in addition, there is a growing body of research showing that organisations with a good mix of men and women in their highest echelons perform better than their competitors. Actually, given the mess the country is in just now, I rather wish that Harman had a few more weeks in the spotlight to keep on making her case.
• This article was amended on 4 August 2009. The original sub-headline referred to Harriet Harman as deputy prime minister. This has been corrected.
