to agree with Farage?

[Sallyingforth]

UKIP's policies and their candidates are generally revolting, but I had to agree with him when he said.
"This is wholly unacceptable in a civilised society"

The Labour party held a sexually segregated election rally, and with more seats for men than for women.

//www.order-order.com/2015/05/02/everydaysexualsegregation

[Kewcumber]

Did Labour insist that men and women sat separately or did they just not insist everyone got up and moved to satisfy Nigel Farage?

[TwinkieTwinkle]

YABU to ever agree with Farage. All he is doing is jumping on an issue that people have a problem with (sexual inequality) and trying to use it to make himself more appealing.

[Buxhoeveden]

YANBU

I've agreed with him three times on minor points recently. It's a disconcerting feeling, but it passes

[ltk]

Did the organisers segregate the meeting - looks a bit doubtful with a woman on the stage, or did the audience members sit where they felt most comfortable? If it is the latter, should the organisers force everyone to move?

I find UKIP and Farage revolting, but I think it is inevitable he will occasionally say things I agree with. For example, I like beer, and so does he. Common ground.

[pointythings]

A broken clock is still right twice a day...

[Kewcumber]

It looks like the meeting was held at an Islamic community centre. So it may well have been common practice for people to sit by sex as they do at mosque. Does anyone know if there was actually a rule that you couldn't sit with the opposite sex?

If the option is not to engage muslim women in the political process, would you prefer that?

I'm not sure you can judge without knowing the details.

I don;t like it myself but I would rather make politics accessible to everyone and hope that they become braver about challenging everyday sexism as a results.

And yes YABU to agree with Farage - many people have commented on it - you don't have to choose him particularly as his party is hardly a shining beacon of womens rights.

[VivienScott]

He said something once about tampons that I agreed with, about how classing them as a luxury item and the VAT that was paid on them was ridiculous, then he babbled on about the EU. But he did say something once that I agreed with.

[Trapper]

He said the traffic was bad on the motorway the other day and I agreed with him. Then he blamed it on immigrants and reminded me what a xenophobic divisive cunt he truly is.

[OrangeVase]

It is right to admit that you agree with policies rather than personalities.

The creation of parties/ personalites/ factions and tribes has damaged politics. We need to study the issues and what is best for society.

We also cannot defend something like sexual segregation in politics because we want to engage a group that believes in it. What else do we allow in that case?

[Sallyingforth]

The woman on the stage was one of the speakers - the only one, unfortunately, but that's another issue.
The hall was not divided equally, five seats on the women's side and seven on the mens'. That can't be right whatever the reason for it.

[ltk]

Two minutes of in depth research later... the Labour candidates were invited to speak to this group of people, who seated themselves. I am curious as to how else a guest invited to speak should behave. It is really not up to the Labour party to dictate how this group of people seated themselves. I have spoken to groups.of teenagers who had self-segregated by race. It is sad and I hope those schools do more to combat it, but it had nothing to do with the sexual health talk I was giving, and I thought they still.deserved to know about STDs.

So if any UKIP candidates have set foot in a Catholic church, are they sexist for appearing in a church that says women should never be priests?

[teddybears]

I would be very surprised if the Labour party made the audience sit like that. What were they going to do, insist they all move?

[ltk]

The hall was not divided equally... Maybe the reason is that more men showed up at the meeting so they shifted the chairs about? Maybe it's always like that b/c they are favouring the men.

[OrangeVase]

Fair enough if they self-segregated - and the Labour Party cannot do much about it. But did the group self-segregate because they wanted to or because they had to? And is that ok in our society?

[hackmum]

""This is wholly unacceptable in a civilised society"

Oh, ffs, Farage trying to take the moral high ground is what's unacceptable. Since when did he care one jot about sexual equality?

teddybears is right in any case. Complete non-story.

[SaucyJack]

It's one thing to take issue with gender segregation, but only a complete idiot would look at the supplied photographs and assume it was the doing of the guest Labour speakers rather than the community that they were speaking to.

[Sallyingforth]

Since when did he care one jot about sexual equality?
Never, I'd guess. Which is why I queried having to agree with him on this occasion.

[ltk]

OP, what would you as a political candidate do in this situation? You want to reach out to this community but you don't agree with the segregation. But the community segregates in mosques and apparently in the community centre. Do you refuse to speak to them? Tell them they have to change their custom to suit you? Speak to them but tell them from the stage how strongly you disagree with their religious beliefs?

[scatteroflight]

YANBU

Absolutely horrifying.

The meeting was organised by Labour party activists. Additionally it wasn't a spontaneous self-segregation (as if that would make it ok?). The pre-meeting promotion mentions a "women's section" being organised.

Labour decided a long time ago that they would pander to tribal politics. No other party would speak at an event like this, let alone go about organising one.

[teddybears]

'Pandering to tribal politics' or facilitating others beliefs? (whether you agree with them or not)

[PlanningMyFuture]

Trapper

[Sallyingforth]

That's a fair question ltk, and a difficult one.

To start with, I would make sure that the party's speakers set an example of equality instead of the one-sided group at the table.

And as a candidate there I would stress my abhorrence of discrimination in all its forms, and for whatever reason.

[AuntieStella]

Well, I think the publicity material referring to a women's section does mean that it's a deliberate action by this Labour constituency officials.

And, just like in having the end of VAT on sanpro as a manifesto pledge, there are things that UKIP espouses that people like and support.

For all parties, it's finding the one that is offering the best balance between things you support and things you don't.

[ltk]

The way I read the poster, someone was organising a women's section so that women would be encouraged to attend.

[JassyRadlett]

YABU to use Guido as source material for anything.

I'm in two minds of this. I hate the way many religions treat women and relationships between the sexes - I think religion of all kinds is damaging (think Farage would disagree with me there).

But then there is the question of whether these women would have felt able to participate at all if the event wasn't set up to cater to their beliefs and practices, no matter how screwed up I think those practices may be. And if it then enables more women to participate/have a say/be heard and represented as individuals, then that to me is a positive. Just because they come from a religious sect that treats women appallingly isn't a good reason to set things up on a way that further excludes the women, and only the women.