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Original poster

A reminder that Labour has a long history of not supporting women only services and the legacy is hurting women still

30 replies

IwantToRetire · 15/02/2023 00:40

Much of the dialogue on FWR is the attack on women only services by trans ideology.

However long before this became dominant, women's services were being closed or amalgamated into generic services by funders / local councils who did not think women warrented special support.

Another tactic much favoured by Blairites was giving housing associations(*) the opportunity to expand their base of income (rents) by taking over women's refuges.

This news story illustrates how completely inappropriate that was and still is.

There are calls for all women's refuges to ban access by men following the abuse of a woman in Shropshire at the hands of a male worker.

After fleeing a violent ex-partner, the 21-year-old sought help from the Shropshire Domestic Violence service.

She was subject to repeated serious sexual assaults by Stephen Russell, who arranged accommodation and claimed to carry out maintenance for the refuge, which at the time was owned and managed by the Shropshire Housing Group.

Russell had full access to all parts of the refuge, including the woman's bedroom and her personal file.

^planetradio.co.uk/free/local/news/calls-for-womens-safe-spaces-to-be-male-free/^

There is a real danger that at the end of March councils will be looking at ways to make savings as they will have to cut budgets and women's services will be vulnerable. They have never been valued by politicians(^) and it is something that maybe we should all be keeping an eye out for, particularly if your local authority puts proposed cuts out to consultation, as even to the public at large women will come lower in priority to other vulnerable groups. Or to the expansion of the lowest form of support exempted / unregulated housing used by some councils committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/43346/html/

(*) I never understood why Blair thought Housing Associations were sufficienlty "community based" to be allowed to expand their work not only in running refuges, but also special needs housing, support etc.. It was partly this political decision that led to HAs becoming bloated corporate organisations that ceased to be a source of affordable housing. Although on that score Labour could have reversed the right to buy, or at least allowed Councils to use the money from the sale of housing stock in to create new council housing.

(^) It wasn't until Boris Johnson as Mayor of London gave money to fund 4 rape crisis centres in London, that rape crisis centres were recognised as being a service that authorities should support. And it wasn't until this year that there was funding for a National Rape Crisis Helpline, as the one run from south London Rape Crisis relied on funding from a trust. Such a political embarrassment that someone like Boris Johnson was more willing to support women than Labour ever had done.

OP posts:
Xoxoxoxoxoxox · 15/02/2023 15:09

At a very basic level, which is how I view this, I'd rather have action on climate change, the NHS, and refuges which may admit transwomen than a burning planet, no NHS, and no refuges, with zero transwomen admitted.
I know this is oversimplifying

Well there is quite a lot the Conservatives are doing for climate change, Teresa May brought in the 2030 deadline for phasing out petrol and diesel cars. Wind farms have proliferated. The NHS is going to be a very long job to sort out.

When Labour bring in Self ID will be very hard or impossible to roll back.
I wouldn't vote Tory but I am not voting Labour because of this.

BacktoSlack · 15/02/2023 12:44

CrikeyO · 15/02/2023 05:15

If the Tories had actually spent the last decade doing things to protect and safeguard women and children, I would be more likely to lend them my support. They have done nothing of the sort. I am completely bewildered as to how so many women seem to believe the Tories are our friends, and the protectors of our children. They are demonstrably no such thing.

Under the Tories, the DfE has utterly failed to provide science/evidence-based frameworks for PSHE provision and ensure schools are held accountable for teaching children about gender ideology. Kids are still being taught the “wrong body” nonsense, because there is no system in place to prevent that, just some guidance that plenty of schools choose to ignore.

Our safety is such a low priority that women are being raped daily and murdered weekly; we even now have girls being raped on school grounds because the current government is so dire on protection for women and children. We are prey for predators, and nobody in our Tory government is doing anything to stop that. Indeed, the last decade, when they have led government, has seen the worst erosion of our rights in my lifetime.

Male sex offenders have been put into women’s prisons under the Tories. The Tory-run Home Office is failing not only to sort out rotten policing but to meaningfully integrate people (men) from deeply misogynistic societies, who may themselves be fleeing persecution but still have no right to persecute women and girls here. It’s the Tories who have overseen the last decade of dismantling our hard-won protections. Some individual Tories may talk a good talk about restoring single-sex spaces and sports, etc. - credit of course to Kemi Badenoch, Miriam Cates, and some peers for continuing to talk.

But talk is all that has happened. None of the government has actually done anything meaningful. It’s all talk and no walk. Legislation still has loopholes, policy is still vague and waffly or, where it isn’t, isn’t enforced - no public sector organisations are being penalised for not following the little guidance that has been produced. There is no government support for ordinary people to bring court action against service providers, employers, etc. who discriminate against women on the basis of sex or gender beliefs, hence all the crowdfunded cases. If the Tories meant what they’ve said, they have had a massive majority for a few years now and could have easily done something about it. But they haven’t bothered because they don’t really care.

On top of all that, wider social policy - or the lack of it - under the Tory government has led to increases in poverty for children in single-parent households, most of which are headed up by single mothers. The CMS system is not fit for purpose, further entrenching poverty for those families. Universal Credit has fundamental flaws for women with abusive partners. Health and care services are harder and harder to access, and the burden of family care for poor health falls on women.

I could go on but it’s 5am and just writing this little post has been depressing enough.

If the Tories had done anything meaningful for us in recent years, then I would be more open to hearing about how dreadful Labour are. But it’s now 2023, and it couldn’t be clearer how little the Tories really care about women. I do not know whether Labour really would be worse for us at this stage. At least they’re doing some serious groundwork on sensible childcare strategies and reforms to ensure people have access to healthcare. Those things alone would be better for a great many women and children than what they’re getting now.

I couldn't agree more. I think it absolutely reeks of narrow world view and privilege when women state that they will vote for the Tories over Laboir due to what they percieve as Keir's stance on self id.

At a very basic level, which is how I view this, I'd rather have action on climate change, the NHS, and refuges which may admit transwomen than a burning planet, no NHS, and no refuges, with zero transwomen admitted.

I know this is oversimplifying but it's the basic choice in my mind. It's a shitty shitty choice but tories cutting everything to the bone is worse than labour allowing tw access to resources.

And yes, ALL the last 12 years has happened under Tory rule, so let's not pretend they've done nothing to get us to where we are now

CrikeyO · 15/02/2023 05:15

If the Tories had actually spent the last decade doing things to protect and safeguard women and children, I would be more likely to lend them my support. They have done nothing of the sort. I am completely bewildered as to how so many women seem to believe the Tories are our friends, and the protectors of our children. They are demonstrably no such thing.

Under the Tories, the DfE has utterly failed to provide science/evidence-based frameworks for PSHE provision and ensure schools are held accountable for teaching children about gender ideology. Kids are still being taught the “wrong body” nonsense, because there is no system in place to prevent that, just some guidance that plenty of schools choose to ignore.

Our safety is such a low priority that women are being raped daily and murdered weekly; we even now have girls being raped on school grounds because the current government is so dire on protection for women and children. We are prey for predators, and nobody in our Tory government is doing anything to stop that. Indeed, the last decade, when they have led government, has seen the worst erosion of our rights in my lifetime.

Male sex offenders have been put into women’s prisons under the Tories. The Tory-run Home Office is failing not only to sort out rotten policing but to meaningfully integrate people (men) from deeply misogynistic societies, who may themselves be fleeing persecution but still have no right to persecute women and girls here. It’s the Tories who have overseen the last decade of dismantling our hard-won protections. Some individual Tories may talk a good talk about restoring single-sex spaces and sports, etc. - credit of course to Kemi Badenoch, Miriam Cates, and some peers for continuing to talk.

But talk is all that has happened. None of the government has actually done anything meaningful. It’s all talk and no walk. Legislation still has loopholes, policy is still vague and waffly or, where it isn’t, isn’t enforced - no public sector organisations are being penalised for not following the little guidance that has been produced. There is no government support for ordinary people to bring court action against service providers, employers, etc. who discriminate against women on the basis of sex or gender beliefs, hence all the crowdfunded cases. If the Tories meant what they’ve said, they have had a massive majority for a few years now and could have easily done something about it. But they haven’t bothered because they don’t really care.

On top of all that, wider social policy - or the lack of it - under the Tory government has led to increases in poverty for children in single-parent households, most of which are headed up by single mothers. The CMS system is not fit for purpose, further entrenching poverty for those families. Universal Credit has fundamental flaws for women with abusive partners. Health and care services are harder and harder to access, and the burden of family care for poor health falls on women.

I could go on but it’s 5am and just writing this little post has been depressing enough.

If the Tories had done anything meaningful for us in recent years, then I would be more open to hearing about how dreadful Labour are. But it’s now 2023, and it couldn’t be clearer how little the Tories really care about women. I do not know whether Labour really would be worse for us at this stage. At least they’re doing some serious groundwork on sensible childcare strategies and reforms to ensure people have access to healthcare. Those things alone would be better for a great many women and children than what they’re getting now.

MrsDoyle351 · 15/02/2023 04:44

Boris Johnson was more willing to support women than Labour ever had done

Grin Grin

And I'll just remind you that the Tory party have a long (13 years now) history of totally fucking up this country to the point where everything is broken.

Cheekymaw · 15/02/2023 04:17

Did he aye?