Ruth Davidson’s decision to step down as leader of the Scottish Conservatives featured heavily in the weekend’s opinion pages. Davidson announced her resignation in a tearful speech on Thursday, citing both personal (she recently became a mother) and political reasons. Here is what columnists had to say about her departure.

 

Scotland on Sunday
Dani Garavelli lamented that Davidson’s resignation means there is now one less role model for women at the top of politics.
“Though never one for female solidarity, she was part of a bright, new political landscape in which women were, at last, to the fore,” she wrote. “Like Kezia Dugdale, she has been pushed out by the political manoeuvrings of a man less able than she is and is likely to be replaced by the same. And who knows if Nicola Sturgeon will survive another year. 
“At the last Holyrood election, three of the five main parties were led by women; by 2021, it could be none. 
“No visible female role models at the top of politics will make it less likely women will come forward to stand as MPs, MSPs or councillors.”
However, she added: “There is the potential, though, for her resignation to drive change. 
“Last week, it opened up a fresh conversation about work and family life; about how women can be helped to stay in top jobs (if they so wish) and how the cultural shift from ‘motherhood’ to ‘parenthood’, currently little more than a hope, can become a widespread reality.”

 

The Observer
Columnist Gaby Hinsliff argued that the decision to change career or stop working after having a child is up to each individual woman.
She wrote: “The inconvenient truth is that some women genuinely don’t feel the same about work after babies, while others can’t wait to get back. But for many, ambition doesn’t die so much as evolve. Work comes to feel in some senses more important, not less. 
“If you’re going to be away from the kids, then it had damn well better be worth it.”
Ms Hinsliff added that the public “would do well to accept that one woman’s choice is just that; hers and hers alone, not the standard by which all must be judged”.
She went on: “Davidson has been operating for months at the extremes of professional pressure and since suffering from depression in her teens she has learned to beware pushing herself over the edge again.
“If she didn’t feel she could do this job and be the mother she wanted to be, that’s not to say another woman couldn’t manage it perfectly well, merely that she has done what was right for her.”

 

Mail on Sunday
In the Mail on Sunday, Davidson herself wrote that when she fell pregnant, she was determined to return as leader and not “throw women under a bus by suggesting that the mere fact of having a baby meant someone could no longer do their job”.
She added: “There was no way I was going to set the precedent – as the first UK political leader to give birth in office – that babies meant automatically giving up the job. 
“And in April, it was a case of coming back with a bang. With a party conference in Aberdeen followed by the European elections, my first ‘week’ back was actually 19 days straight before I had a day off.
“That was followed by another 12-day ‘week’. This is not an appeal for sympathy, it’s just the job. But, my word, it is hard on our families.”
She said that her “conflict” over Brexit and the “genuine dread at the idea of two election campaigns in 20 months, prompting hundreds of hours on the road away from my young family” eventually led to her decision to resign.

 

The Sunday Post
Meanwhile, commentator Chris Deerin questioned whether Davidson would have made the same decision had the Tory party voted for a different candidate to be Prime Minister.
“It’s difficult to avoid the suspicion that Davidson sniffed the air, examined the odds, and came to the conclusion that the battle, if not unwinnable, simply demanded more than she was able to give,” he wrote.
“Sure, she wants to spend more time with her baby son Finn and partner Jen. Like many women, she found the return to work following maternity leave, and the strain of balancing home and work life, hugely difficult. The 24/7 demands and pressure on a political leader are particularly acute.
“But had, say, Amber Rudd or Rory Stewart won the contest to be Prime Minister, would Davidson still have walked away? No-one knows but her. However, I hope she’ll forgive me for saying I entertain doubts.”