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Original poster

Conservatives For Women launch today

166 replies

ConservativesForWomen · 05/12/2020 11:41

“If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion...”
Abigail Adams 1744

Here at Conservative Womens Pledge we told you we intended to redouble our efforts to win back single sex spaces for women and girls; well here is what we are doing!

Until today there was not a single group in the Conservative Party who centred the rights of women, so we are proud to announce the launch of 'Conservatives For Women'.

We are a group of Conservative Party members who will campaign within the public sphere, and in the heart of Westminster, to raise awareness of issues which threaten the safety and dignity of women. We will defend science, reason, free speech and the need for open, tolerant debate that underpins our society.

Come and join us! You don't have to be a party member or even a voter, you just have to care about the rights of women and girls.
conservativesforwomen.org/join-us

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/CforWomenUK

and Facebook: www.facebook.com/Conservatives-For-Women-104300591505734

We are working cross party with all the other political women's groups to inform and influence our peers and MPs.

OP posts:
Abitofalark · 05/12/2020 20:52

This is critical because if politicians get away with this, women will not be considered, consulted or listened to on ANY policies or developments, whether it be broad economics, education, children, employment, business, media, health, crime, policing, justice, transport, housing, wages, energy, environment, pensions, tax or the priorities for apportioning the national budget.

We need a powerful surge of women in a substantial, visible and vocal bloc if we are to make a difference in influencing parties and Parliament in all policy areas. We don't have that which is why they get away with so much. The parties have failed to deliver for women and girls and aren't going to unless we organise and exert that pressure because their priorities are totally skewed.

LeftyWoman · 05/12/2020 20:47

@SisterWendyBuckett

I've been a Labour voter all my life but the dismissive and plain ignorant attitude of my male Labour MP, to my concerns over self id and women's rights has made me actively not want to vote for them. So I didn't at the last election.

I will never forget reading an account of what happened to Venice Allen when she was expelled from the party.

I can't forget what happened to Jewish female MPs and Corbyn's pathetic response.

I can't forget Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner's contempt for women's genuine concerns.

So many parts of the Labour Party still seem steeped in sexism and misogyny. In reality how much has really changed for most women within the party since Barbara Castle's time?

So I'm delighted CFW is campaigning to defend and centre the rights of women.

I've signed up and will do what I can to support, despite not being a Conservative.

SisterWendyBuckett hits the nail on the head. The Labour party is completely lost and gives not a shxt about women or the working class for that matter. If Labour were elected, or in a coalition with the Lib Dems and/or the SNP, we would have gender self-id as government policy. And that's the end of single-sex spaces. The Tories are our only hope, currently. So whether we like the Tories or not, and whether we vote Tory or not, it makes no sense not to support what this group is trying to do. If the Tories restore women's rights and it proves popular, the other parties might even shift their position too. And then maybe we can vote Labour, or Lib Dem or SNP. But not till then because as things stand they will destroy our rights.
Floisme · 05/12/2020 20:38

Stonewall and Mermaids have no qualms working with politicians across the political spectrum to lobby for their case. They see the cause as more important than factionalism.
Agree. The TWAW lobby will be working with this government as we speak, and to be fair, they'd be pretty dumb not to when they have an 80-odd seat majority which is quite likely to keep them in power for a decade.

SisterWendyBuckett · 05/12/2020 20:24

I've been a Labour voter all my life but the dismissive and plain ignorant attitude of my male Labour MP, to my concerns over self id and women's rights has made me actively not want to vote for them. So I didn't at the last election.

I will never forget reading an account of what happened to Venice Allen when she was expelled from the party.

I can't forget what happened to Jewish female MPs and Corbyn's pathetic response.

I can't forget Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner's contempt for women's genuine concerns.

So many parts of the Labour Party still seem steeped in sexism and misogyny. In reality how much has really changed for most women within the party since Barbara Castle's time?

So I'm delighted CFW is campaigning to defend and centre the rights of women.

I've signed up and will do what I can to support, despite not being a Conservative.

BlackWaveComing · 05/12/2020 20:01

@ChattyLion

I am happy to see this. I hope you get a lot of traction in the Tory party, raising women’s issues from the inside within the party of government is essential. The cross party working is great and also vital, please do that. I think it’s going to be quite challenging for some non-members and and non-Conservative voters to join a group called Conservatives for Women even if you’re working with other groups cross party. Too big an ask for me but I wish you very well.
This.
Helmetbymidnight · 05/12/2020 20:01

I wouldn't touch this lot of Conservatives with a barge-pole. what Boris, Gove, Patel, Rees-Mogg, etc, are doing to this country sickens me. Their lies, their cronyism, their incompetence absolutely shocking.

In the future? Who knows. Possibly.

I admire Jackie Doyle Price for sticking her neck out.

ImaSababa · 05/12/2020 20:01

I'll chew my own arm off before I vote Tory, but good on you for this.

HecatesCatsInXmasHats · 05/12/2020 19:53

Stonewall and Mermaids have no qualms working with politicians across the political spectrum to lobby for their case. They see the cause as more important than factionalism. Pragmatism will be the key to making women's voices heard and making inroads here.

MedusasBadHairDay · 05/12/2020 19:44

@PerkingFaintly

Right, well, based on this thread I won't be going near this.

I'm happy that your life is such that, FOR YOU, self-ID is the most important political issue, vizt:

"terrible threat to women that self-ID poses. (Thank you JKR!) I joined the Conservative Party, and have found them very receptive and supportive about preserving safe spaces for women - changing rooms, bathrooms, hospital wards, prisons and refuges. This is the most important political issue for me, my elderly mum-in-law, and my teenage daughter"

However it's a long way from most important on my list of political issues.

My life is at actual risk from austerity. The way Universal Credit has been set up directly threatens the very existence of the women's refuges you want to support. The rolling back of employment rights has affected women. And IIRC the figures are now starting to emerge that women are bearing the brunt of lockdown job losses.

So for me, those issues are very much more important than trans issues.

I'm not planning to lend you my support while you or anyone else discusses what a woman is, because the Tories didn't wait to say what a woman was before oppressing me.

In fact, by headlining trans issues as "the most important political issue for you", in the face of all that's going on at the moment, you boost the impression the Tories are hoping trans issues will be a cheap win for recruiting women without giving away anything they actually care about.

That said, I agree with ChattyLion that it's important to have groups working for women's rights within political parties. I hope that regardless of whether the group was founded on opportunism or for more sincere reasons, it does end up working for women's rights across more areas, not merely being against trans.

I look forward to seeing what you achieve.

All of this. I can't support anything Tory related, because too much harm has been caused by their policies. However the more women on all sides of the political divide fighting for women's rights the better, I did cheer a little for a Conservative MP pulled Johnson up on women's representation during one of the earlier covid Q&A's.
youkiddingme · 05/12/2020 19:43

It's good to see this but I wonder how much headway can be made via social media. Women know this will get jumped on by those who disagree and many will be deterred. Opponents will then claim there's no appetite for it.

persistentwoman · 05/12/2020 19:25

Yet another woman politically homeless and utterly fed up with all the politicians throwing away women's rights.
I wish this group well - cross party collaboration is essential if we are to get men to understand that our rights are not theirs to give away - nor is the safeguarding of children.

Original poster
ConservativesForWomen · 05/12/2020 19:19

@Hayeahnobut

I wonder how this group is planning to campaign with not one person willing to put their name to it. Is that the point of this thread, to recruit people whilst you hide in the background?

Please be cautious. We have no idea of who these people are, what their backgrounds are or what their overall aims are.

Of course people should be cautious, which is why we don't intend to publish our names on Mumsnet today. You wouldn't know most of us from Adam (or Eve) anyway, we are ordinary women, most of whom have been involved in this fight for years, in other groups and in an individual capacity.

Nobody is forcing anyone to join us, we are just letting you know that we are here, we have the ear of some MPs and hope to have more if we can make the party aware that women are at the end of their tether with this assault on our rights.

Thank you to those who have been supportive. We have always tried to show support to all the other political groups and it is good to see it reciprocated.

ALL women need to work together on this, from multiple angles; we are just another small part of that.

OP posts:
Hayeahnobut · 05/12/2020 19:09

I wonder how this group is planning to campaign with not one person willing to put their name to it. Is that the point of this thread, to recruit people whilst you hide in the background?

Please be cautious. We have no idea of who these people are, what their backgrounds are or what their overall aims are.

justanotherneighinparadise · 05/12/2020 19:01

Labour have been eating themselves for a long time. They can’t even agree on a definition for woman. Until they sort out the issues within their party they are unelectable.

thinkingaboutLangCleg · 05/12/2020 18:55

the Tories are hoping trans issues will be a cheap win for recruiting women without giving away anything they actually care about

Yes, these Tories have seen that the trans lobby is demolishing women’s long-held rights, and they support the women. I may disagree with their other policies and beliefs, but I am with them on this.

If it’s a ‘cheap win’, ie if they get widespread support, maybe other parties could learn something about democracy from this.

HecatesCatsInXmasHats · 05/12/2020 18:43

@Floisme

I didn't read it as Conservatives for Women being a cross part group - as you say, the clue is in the name. I understood it to mean that they are open to working cross party with other groups where there is common interest.
I read it this way too
Quillink · 05/12/2020 18:42

I'm another homeless leftie wishing you all the very best. Thank you for doing this. Sending you a warm wave across the political divide.

Floisme · 05/12/2020 18:41

In fact that's pretty much what the op says in their opening post.

Floisme · 05/12/2020 18:40

I didn't read it as Conservatives for Women being a cross part group - as you say, the clue is in the name. I understood it to mean that they are open to working cross party with other groups where there is common interest.

Willfiasco · 05/12/2020 18:26

@Tanith

"Cross-party group working with other women's group sounds perfect - exactly what we need. I'm in too."

How can it be considered cross party when it's called the Conservatives For Women?

This^ I mean good for you, Tories and all that, but you actually have Conservative in your name! How can you be cross party? 🤷🏻‍♀️
KeepPrisonsSingleSex · 05/12/2020 18:22

@PerkingFaintly

I agree strongly about the importance of cross-party working.
Absolutely.

If a group have forged links with MPs and Peers from their party and offer to lend a hand with a campaign as far as I am concerned that is all to the good!

LWD, C4W and the cross party group worked their socks off!

dyslek · 05/12/2020 18:12

To be honest, Im done with the left. The left used to stand for fairness in society and working class people.

The left are a joke now and seem to have frankly gone insane. I cant see Labour ever winning an election, I would vote Tory before voting Labour again, and I was brought up to be a Marxist.

dyslek · 05/12/2020 18:08

Im a life long lefties and Labour party member who campaigned for Corbin.

In all honesty I support you more than any faction in the Labour party. The Labour party activly suppresses womens rights and despises feminist women.

I hope you can get further with the Conservatives that women have with Labour.

I support what you are doing.

PerkingFaintly · 05/12/2020 17:59

I agree strongly about the importance of cross-party working.

LurkingLeaver · 05/12/2020 17:58

I'm in! I do vote conservative, but not a member. Very willing to be much more active 'in the party' on this issue. Might even join if I can do it as one of 'your' conservatives.