The Green Party

Oh I see, sorry yes I get your point. You would think that the greens would be stepping in over that. But then again I think thats the problem with the greens, there are a few contradictions within their policies as they have quite a wide appeal. Without being outright anticapitalist I'm not entirely sure that they can hope to effectively tackle climate change without penalizing the economical disadvantaged. They attract all sorts if support from misoginist Eco warriors to socialists, in that sense its hard for them to take a very hard line.

Oh, I agree, Fuckup - but I'm crosser at my ostensible friends for shitting on me than my enemies, if you see what I mean. No reasonable person would look towards UKIP for women-friendly policies, but if "socially progressive" is one of your central selling points, as it is with the Greens, then it's fair to look at that.

My point to eileenrose was that there is a constituency out there that would vote Green, but are being actively put off, eg by the likes of Benali Hamdache who actively says he doesn't want women he disapproves of ("TERFs") voting Green, despite the fact that he's the equalities spokesperson.

There's misogynists in every political party, the Tories and ukip especially! Not only are some of the members individually misogynistic, the policies of both parties (in their manifesto) actively promote sexism. I'm thinking of the UKIP maternity pay fracas, and the tory tax break for marriage off the top of my head.

There may well be misogynists in the greens, and that's totally unacceptable, but they are the only party with a female leader, and their only active mp is a strong female. So far I think they are head and shoulders above the other parties on that front.

I don't actually vote green but I've got a lot of time for them atm.

eileenrose, have you seen the other Green Party threads?

here's the one with the Natalie Bennett webchat. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/2322266-Webchat-with-Green-Party-leader-Natalie-Bennett-Weds-March-4th-at-1pm?

And here's a current one discussing the Green proposals on prostitution. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2323538-The-greens-and-prostitutes?pg=1

To cut a long story short, there's a goodly number of women who should be your natural voters, but who are put off your party by some of the policies on women, and some of the pretty misogynist men in the party (like the, uh, equalities spokesperson). What was really interesting in the webchat thread was that a Green activist man came on and told us all off for bothering about policies that affect women, when we should be focusing on more important things. It really did confirm a lot of my fears about the men in the party.

Do you recognise that there's a real problem with sexism in the party? (And I know quite a few brilliant Green women - how do you all stand working with these horrible men without running amok?)

To the people saying you have to be bonkers to vote for greens can you please elaborate as to why?

At this point in time I feel that anyone who votes Tory or UKIP must have sociopathic tendencies. This is because trickle down theory has been completely disproven, therefore there must be an element of 'survival of the fittest' reasoning in wanting policies which syphon money from the poorest in society. In order to turn a blind eye to the suffering caused by inequality and deprivation you must either be completely sheltered or slightly sociopathic. I don't want to think like this, everyone is of course free to vote for who they want, but I'm really struggling with the harsh selfishness of voting Tory when theyve already destroyed so many lives in their last term.

That's because it's easy to be popular when you don't have little things like reality to worry about.

UKIP's policies have been watered down a lot since they have started to have a chance to actually get a few seats.

I'm sure the monster raving loony party policies are wicked!

Its interesting the way people make all these assumptions about the greens, without actually looking at their policies and costings. According to voteforpolicies.org green policies are most popular, and in theory they should be running the country. I think peoples instinctual reactions to a political party, and the reality are quite different. Its like all these people who still think Labour are left wing...

Everybody says they will have a fair taxation system.

It's just that fair is relative.

Free social care for the over 65's, free university education, 500,000 social rented houses and minimum wage of 10 per hour by 2020, oh and renationalising the railways and getting rid of trident, your view of bonkers isnt the same as mine.

After reading about some of their plans this weekend for their manifesto they are obviously absolutely bonkers, anyone who voted for them is erm... Slightly deluded to say the least.

I've been a supporter of the Green party since the early 1980's, I'm naturally a social conservative, but I feel right at home with the greens, the greens are a party commited to protect the enviroment and to create social justice.

The greens are a friendly bunch of people with fresh ideas and a belief in making things better, I would say get in touch with your local party, you might like what they have to say.

I would truly have to lose my mind to vote Green who are a far left party with no experience of Government so will be voting Tory as usual