Woman's Place UK meeting in London, 27 Feb

Some really good points made here and yes, mustn't forget to be grateful to WPUK for getting us this far.

Patodp I'm very grateful to the women who set up WPUK and am in no way criticising them as exclusionary. It's a new movement. Women will shape it as needed.

I think it's a little bit out of order to criticise WPUK that was set up by Labour women, mainly socialists, as being exclusionary of tories at this stage.

They've only had, what 2 or 3 meets? This was the biggest by far with less than 400 attendees. It's only the beginning.

I would recommend Tory women in support, contact WPUK and let them know they should invite a Tory speaker next time so Tory women can be more open about going and spread the word, and they will have support from the right. Which is very much needed.

Totally agree with everyone who says that this is a cross party issue. I'm left wing but feel a greater loyalty to right wing women than the Labour party. I want us all to work together.

I'm so grateful to all the women who got this movement started. Also to the transwomen who are finding themselves exiled from the 'T' for speaking out. Thank you.

Janice Turner has done a write up in today's Times - specifically mentioning WEP.

Have just read this thread - phew!
New to Mumsnet.... newish to the whole transgender issue.. fairly new to protest although I have been involved in antifracking for 3 or 4 years now.
I suppose my thoughts on this are that the important issue is the erosion of women's rights if trans ideology is allowed to flourish unchallenged.

What I have learned through my environmental activism is that we can all work together for a common cause regardless of our politics, religion, race or sex.

I would like to thank those who have used this forum to bring this issue out in the open and to challenge the current thinking of all the political parties who seem to discount the impact of proposed changes to the GRA on women. It is so important that we get this out into the mainstream and your voices are being heard.

PencilsInSpace I don't agree. WPUK was set up mainly if not exclusively for Labour party woman, and that's fine. Now the issue of the GRA is spreading cross party lines to all woman. However, I fully accept that at the moment it is still majority Labour woman who attend and speak at the meetings. Again this is fine as right of centre woman are only now really becoming involved too. I'm sure WPUK will find a little space for us all, after all a Lib Dem spoke last night. I'm not remotely upset at the way things are at the moment, it will take time to get right wing woman involved in attending and speaking, and that's ok too. I would rather it took a little longer and was right that rush and make a hash of it. WPUK can be totally politically inclusive, of that I'm sure.

It would be good if conservatives could start something too.

Woman's place seems inclusive to me as a slightly left of centre floating voter but the women who have worked so hard to make it happen are socialists so it's probably always going to be a bit lefty and that's fine.

WPUK can't be everything to everyone opposed to the TRA agenda. labour, conservative, libdem, greens, religious, feminist, trans, lesbian, parents, ... WPUK can't do all of this alone. We need a coalition of different viewpoints so we can campaign on areas we agree while still allowing for differences.

Excellent post Pencils. Thank you

ToryFeminist I'm also a Tory voter who would like to see more right wing involvement. Woman's place does feel very Laboury Copyright on my made up word at the moment, but it's quite new so it needs time to attract more woman like us. It's also up to us, where we can to spread the word to other Tories, right wing woman who may not have heard of WPUK yet. From small acorns and all that.

Datun sorry

Makes sense Datton.

One thing I've learnt from this mess is to listen to a range of points of view though. So hopefully the different groups can connect and cross-pollinate.

Bit of a rant, sorry:

I agree with what ArcheryAnnie, vaginafetishist and Mouthandtrousersall said about Miranda, Julia etc.

These people have been at the absolute vanguard of this debate for years now and everywhere they go there is a bunch of misguided children yelling at them and waving sparkly placards in their faces. They are targeted relentlessly on and off line. Humour is a very valid, non-violent response to this shit.

Meanwhile there are reports that one of the protesters committed assault last night. The person identified is someone I recognise from speakers corner last September and who was later leading the chants of 'burn it down' outside the venue. It's all OK though because she was only shouting 'burn it down' about a building full of women (and some men) and not about one of owen jones' books which would obviously have been actual fascism.

The posting of photos and videos is really important because it shows how tiny and misguided this group are. If this was a movement with genuine popular support there would have been rather a lot more than 8 protesters. If this was a movement that genuinely spoke for the people it purports to speak for, there would have been more trans people outside than inside the venue. People need to see these images so they will be less afraid to speak up.

I do understand it can feel intimidating if you're new to these sorts of events. This is an actual real fight though. Women and children are being actually harmed by this agenda right now, not in the future, and if we don't kick up about this now, we will lose the right to kick up in the future. Woman will mean fuck all and we won't even have the language to describe the rights we have lost.

While there were only 8 protesters at this event, there are some very powerful people and groups pushing this dangerous nonsense, including all major political parties. We need everybody joining in at whatever level they feel safe with and in whatever way they can.

If the women getting up off their arses and fighting this TRA nonsense are not to your political liking or are not conducting their resistance in they way you would prefer then get up off your own arse and start something. Happy to form alliances with women across the political spectrum using all sorts of tactics from polite letters to non-violent direct action. Not happy seeing people slagging off the efforts of others when all they've done themselves is attend a meeting which somehow didn't meet their requirements.

The issue is cross party.

The reason why Labour supporters are coming to the fore, is because, firstly the issue, and secondly Jeremy Corbyn is insisting that all women shortlists are open to men. He's forcing the issue within his own party.

They've got to address what's happening in their party.

Like Jennifer James, the speakers last night thought that they were addressing mostly Labour supporters. It was an erroneous perception.

I don't think they meant to get across the suggestion that this is only affecting Labour supporting women.

But you don't have to be a Labour supporter, to back their campaign.

There are several women's groups all tackling the same problem. And there is, quite naturally, disagreements sometimes about the effectiveness of each other's tactics.

There is absolutely nothing to be done about that.

You can't police other women's strategies. Either practically, or in a way that doesn't fuel counter-productive accusations of infighting.

All these separate groups are making headway. It's just different strands of the same cohort - women.

Reported myself for my error.

Apologies, that should be dead cops.

have been campaigning for years, much longer than those of you criticising them here

Not sure what the point is here. How do you know how long I have been campaigning? If it is longer than the TIMs am I allowed to say what I think? Julia Long has been campaigning for women for a very long time. Is she allowed to make her point?

This is a matter of cross-party interest but the way the Labour Party are going they’re not going to last the year.

I didn’t organise the David Davies meeting, it was organised and coordinated by a woman.

The sooner this cesspit Maria Miller taken over by everyone else is cleared up the better, all responsible parties should help in the clean up!

We are stronger together, see what WPUK say to your Tory speakers, helpers suggestions?

I think the issue is cross party. But I'm not sure A Woman's Place is. Or has to be.

Fair enough - I was led to believe (on MN and by their own publicity) that AWP is/was cross-party.

I think it would be good to keep it cross-party. This is such an important battle to win, I think we would do better with all hands, and all viewpoints, on deck. I agree that those keen to involve others from other parties should involve themselves in suggesting and approaching connections though