Conservative landslide - how are we feeling as feminists?

The thing that struck me when reading the manifesto, is it mentions the role of carers a couple of times and each time clarifies 'a role disproportionately carried out by women' but doesnt mention anything useful about changing that. one propsal is increasing unpaid carers leave to a week.

The Tories will be looking for a few ‘easy’ things to bring in that don’t cost the government much financially, to allow them to appear socially liberal and ‘kind’
I agree but I don't think they will see self ID as a quick, feel-good win any more, not when even the BBC is allowing debate now.

But I'm sure the TRA lobby will have considered this. My guess is that what we'll see instead will be an even harder push to bring it in through the back door, and in some ways, that will be even harder to fight cos it won't be out in the open.

Women told you so?? I hope the left learned from this but I'm sure they're going to need it hammered into their thick skulls with emails and phone calls that this was a reason women didn't vote for them. That pandering to 0.6% of the population at the expense of 50% is bad math. As for the Tories, people are going to have to keep agitating them and doing activist work to get services or funding, per usual. Having a relationship with your MP really helps. Let them know your concerns and contact them regularly. They work for you.

Agree chattylion

It's homophobic sexist nonsense which puts women back in their box which has a certain appeal to many.

However I caver that by saying that small town mentality is very much against regulatory capture and thought policing. It plays into the whole Rotherham scandal and the idea that no one cares about the daughters of certain communities. They are just woke collateral damage.

The Tories will be looking for a few ‘easy’ things to bring in that don’t cost the government much financially, to allow them to appear socially liberal and ‘kind’ on

Chatty
I agree. The lobby are well organized and relentless and they clearly have influential allies in all parties. Also exploiting opportunities such as Brexit is a tactic. I am hoping that Swinson’s loss will highlight the GC issue as pivotal, but I think Johnson is quite capable of capitulating to this lobby for the reasons you cite. We need to lobby too to ensure this doesn’t happen

I think the posters saying we need to crack on with providing sunlight and more sunlight are spot on.

We can’t let up or relax over the next 5 years. Self ID is not off the table with this government even if they are not talking about it now.

Wokeness is tribal, it will not quietly slink off to lick its wounds. They will be raging. Regulatory capture will be their way of pressing ahead with the agenda and demanding loyalty is shown from allies.

The Tories will be looking for a few ‘easy’ things to bring in that don’t cost the government much financially, to allow them to appear socially liberal and ‘kind’ on.
Those are usually policies that advantage men and harm women. Self ID could well be one of them.

Liz Kendall I think would be a real outsider. Again from previous administrations. Bombed last time she stood for leadership.

Kinder gentler politics is a luxury for those whose lives are not under threat by the current regime.

Instead of appealing to women’s socially conditioned sex role stereotyping to try and guilt us into being nice and kind in the face of our own erasure what we need is actual politics. We can discuss politics as aggressively as needed without calling everyone names. There’s no need to demand we be nice if it’s expected that the issues will be discussed not just insults hurled around.

There was no realistic outcome for this election I wanted.

I loathe Boris and most of what he stands for and feel embarrassed that the narcissistic, sociopathic, misogynist is our PM. However I think Corbyn with McDonnell pulling the strings would have been a disaster.

I was going to vote Lib Dem but simply couldn’t given how far they centred trans issues in their campaign. So in the end I very reluctantly held my nose and voted labour even though my household would have been hit quite hard by their policies and they aren’t much better on trans rights.

I fear for the Union and worry the SNP will get their way for another indyref.

The only consolation I can take from the outcome is that if Boris has to be PM, there is something to be said for him having a comfortable majority. That way he is not constantly at the mercy of small factions in his party such as the ERG nor can be bullied as easily by Sturgeon on indyref.

I am hoping against hope that Boris will put his big boy pants on, rise to the occasion and become the PM the country needs.

Sarah

Give me a Labour party worthy of my vote, and I'll vote for it. But that has to be one which recognises the legal rights of women and girls.

I speak as a lifelong Labour voter and former party member (and no, I didn't vote Tory yesterday).

Wes Streeting used to work for Stonewall which will surprise no-one.

Red - a prescient tweet from July:

2019 upside-down politics

- Labour party slowly goes through a process of embourgeoisement as the Conservative party slowly becomes more proletarianised

- Liberals are becoming reactionaries i.e longing for a mythical harmonious past as reactionaries become revolutionaries.

twitter.com/post_liberal/status/1151419340845199360

I would rejoin Labour just to vote against Wes Streeting as leader.

Wes Streeting MP@wesstreeting
There are many things that need to change in the Labour Party. Let’s start with something simple: there are no ‘right wingers’, ‘neo cons’, or ‘Tories’ in the Labour Party. Nor are there ‘slugs’ or ‘melts’. Let’s deliver kinder, gentler politics for real this time.

So does this mean that people who call others Terfs or try and restrict discussion of gender issues need to be pulled up on it then Wes?

[https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3144285-Labour-Against-Transphobia-Facebook-group?pg=1&order=]]
You know like those who were part of the infamous Labour Against Transphobia Facebook group?

I think we need to hold you to this pledge...

Just read that Liz Truss might be for the chop in a cabinet reshuffle and Penny Mordaunt tipped for a return. That might not be good news for the women and equalities brief.

To be fair they’re doing a good job at turning off the university educated too.

I think you are completely right, Red

Corbyn and Momentum seem to be like marmite to working class people. And most of the Labour activists or canvassers I know have at least one university degree ...

Lass is a Tory isn’t she? Or at least right leaning iirc. And she didn’t agree with most people on the importance of self ID at all. And yet she is a massive miss to the board.

Talking of OJ et al and class etc, do you remember when WPUK or FPFW went campaigning in Moss Side? Shon Faye’s reaction said it all.

Sometimes it looks to me like there has been a sort of flip.

Yes there has been a political realignment.

I've talked about it before.

It's why both the Conservatives and the Labour Party have had something of an extenstional crisis.

The Labour Partys core support is now middle class university educational professionals and young people primarily in cities.

And the Tories have moved away from business being their core principle to much more social Conservativism which appeals more to blue collar workers.

The FT did an analysis of last nights results and found that the biggest driver of seat changes was the blue collar vote. Not Brexit and not education.

It looks on the basis of that, very much a backlash against wokism.

This should have been obvious to Labour and LD political strategists: Brexit was a symptom of wider political issues not the cause of issues. The US voting in Trump and the culture war that has developed there and has increasingly raged here was the other big clue. It wasn't a trend restricted to the UK. Its in the US and Europe too.

Having missed the somewhat hyperbolic temper tanty can I add my voice to those thanking those who regularly take time to actually digest and respond in a mutually respectful manner even when diametrically opposed.

I had no idea who I would vote for, stood in my cubicle pondering. That I had had some quite heated, prolonged yet respectful debates here was far more helpful than all the bile and shaming I have read.

This has been both the best and the worst of MN... and looking at those making up the worst is quite eye opening.

YY, I think that's true, just.

Sometimes it looks to me like there has been a sort of flip Goosefoot

Agree! Labour now being a party of the educated, urban middle classes....and the Tory party being the party of the left behind and generally abandoned working classes in smaller towns and cities Justhad

That’s a very interesting analysis

Otherwise we end up with more of the same - a Labour party so busy telling itself it's dead right-on and woke and couldn't possibly be anti-semitic or complacent ... and so it's slow to apologise and even slower to change

Unfortunately I think there will be a big resistance to change and to accepting responsibility. People who were sure they were on 'the right side of history'. This has already been discussed by the now emerging critical voices with Labour ranks: Lucy Powell; Lisa Nandy etc

And there's you, a Tory, who understands what my politics actually are! Not fools berating me for what they think they must be because they don't have any depth of understanding whatsoever

Thank you! I think social media has really exacerbated tribal politics. The idea that you understand and respect someone’s position seems to be over in many forums. That’s one reason why this place is special

Sarah yes Labour should look at what they did wrong, absolutely. This is missing right now. The sooner they do this the better.