Corbyn and feminism - is this guy for real?

[RoyRants]

I'm a leftie but no fan of Corbyn - his ideas seem well out of date, and kind of weak, and as for his stance on feminist issues, they seem a little conservative to me

what do you guys think?
first post by the way

[coffeenowalnuts]

What is his stance on feminist issues?

[RoyRants]

he wants 50/50 MP's to be women/men

he wants to have audits for all companies in the gender gap issue

he wants 'special education' for women in schools regarding social and health issues etc..

[SantasLittleMonkeyButler]

It's a start. But there will only be true equality when people no longer need to audit/think about it.

It's also an odd suggestion as MPs are voted for by the public and the public are more likely to vote on policy than gender surely?

[Quiero]

Corbyn mentions Mumsnet at least twice in his paper about women and equality. That impressed me

He talks about PSHE and its importance in addressing domestic and sexual violence as well as consent.

He also talks about discrimination in the workplace and removing the costs for bringing sex discrimination cases.

There's loads of other stuff as well which I'll go and find. It all looks ok to me. I'm not a fan of quota's for women but sometimes it's the only way to get started. He's getting my vote.

[Quiero]

here it is

[RoyRants]

not 100% sure if it's actual MPs , most likely candidates to be MP, something like that - but what happens if there aren't enough female candidates around, as it seems that more men enter politics in the first place,

and also, how would it be possible to change peoples' thinking re the gender pay gap?

[RoyRants]

suppressing gender pronouns? that's just a gimmick, does absolutely nothing, and is prob counter productive and quite absurd too

[RoyRants]

PSHE - what is it exactly though?

Im voting for Andy Burnham by the way, Corbyn is a joke!

[Quiero]

And you joined MN to discuss this? How utterly original.

[Amethyst24]

I am 100% in favour of AWSs. Women don't enter politics because the lifestyle of being an MP fits incredibly badly with parenthood, and because they have seen that often party membership will choose a weak man over a talented woman, and the process of going for a selection is expensive and time-consuming if you believe you won't be selected because of your sex. I'm no fan of Corbyn, however.

[catsrus]

All I have to contribute to this discussion is the fact that I was a
About party member for around 30yrs and left before the last election to join the greens. Corbyn makes me want to rejoin labour . I fucking agonised for YEARS about leaving labour. I have a strong tribal allegiance to to. I'm a working class (origin) socialist. It really didn't seem to be a socialist party any more, it was more concerned with ticking boxes that it thought would get it elected.

I didn't want it elected if it didn't espouse policies I agreed with!

My friends who stayed with labour are thrilled at what is happening yes I've had a lot of 'I told you so'

I'm fed up with politicians who just want to get elected. For fucks sake tell us what you ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN then I know whether to vote for you or not.

Corbyn is honest. He always has been - I used to live in Islington, when I was young and less jaded - he seems to have managed to skip the jaded bit, well done him!

[catsrus]

Oops that should read Labour Party member! The iPad decided otherwise.

[EElisavetaOfBelsornia]

I can't see anything in that manifesto to object to, and I'm impressed that he has produced it. What exactly is your criticism OP?

[WorzelsCornyBrows]

He has reignited my love of the Labour Party. I'm not 100% in favour of all his policies, but I hope that he can change the debate. I believe that the only effective opposition to a VERY right wing government is a truly left wing opposition. We won't get that from any of the other candidates.

[ApocalypseThen]

If you think his ideas are conservative, what would your manifesto be?

[WorzelsCornyBrows]

I don't think his ideas are conservative at all, I'm just not 100% behind all of them. I can't imagine that anyone would agree completely with anyone's manifesto.

I don't fully support universal state funded childcare, I just ask for childcare costs to be reasonable. I'd far rather pay mine so that those who can't afford it have theirs funded if they want/need to work.

I don't fully support 50% of his cabinet being women, unless the number of his female MPs is approaching 50%. I support quotas as I don't think we'll get fair representation any other way, but take it too far and Labour will be accused of tokenism, which sets us back.

[sausageeggbacon11]

I hate AWS it says I couldn't be here if a man wanted it.

However I note that the sex workers open university support him so that is interesting... how does he balance that support with some of the ideology he quotes.

[LongHardStare]

You're "a leftie" who finds Corbyn "a little conservative" and who is voting for Andy Burnham?

Course you are OP.

[BakingCookiesAndShit]

Do you tweet, OP?

If so, I reckon I know who you might be.

[LassUnparalleled]

I have never been a member of the Labour party but (apart from Holyrood elections where I vote Labour on the candidate secrtion and Conservative on the list section ) I have voted Labour in every election since 1979.

Corbyn will be a disaster.

[NoTechnologicalBreakdown]

Why would Corbyn be a disaster? The current state of politics is a disaster.

We have two right-wing parties, both manned -largely manned, for the reasons Amethyst said - in parliament by rich over-privileged people who know nothing of the realities of peoples' lives and care less. They insist on this idea that no other way of life is possible than this socioeconomic structure that forces inequality of wealth, is forcing it now to extremes not seen for 70-odd years within Britain. They tell us they deserve it and the poor deserve their lot, in direct contradiction of all evidence to the contrary, and so they live the life of riley while the poor can be chucked on the scrapheap before birth. Anyone who doesn't have good luck all their lives necessarily deserves their bad fortune too, or at least no help, and can be safely chucked onto that scrapheap too. After all,they say and absolutely insist, the 6th richest country in the world can afford nothing better. They're forcing every single social divide they can get their hands on open, age, gender, disabilities... They also tell us that the current environmental problems are inexorable and can't be stopped. We have no voice in higher places dissenting with any of this.

Worzels is right, this narrative needs to be blown wide open again. Ifound a blog post which puts it much better than me kittysjones.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/inverted-totalitarianism-and-neoliberalism-oh-dear/

[LassUnparalleled]

What's wrong with Corbyn? It's Michael Foot all over again.

I've actually just joined to vote for Yvette Cooper.

[HowDdo2You]

The 50:50 cabinet idea sounds good to me.

[morall]

He supports decriminalisation of prostitution. This would be a disaster.