to think that the tories really do dislike women....

[prettywhiteguitar]

thats it really.

And with every policy it just confirms it fo me that they think we are second class citizens.

suzikettles: reading MN before the General Election, no, a good many people believed the Tories had changed.

It is monkey see, monkey do - we allow it and it is across the board ..What do you propose we do about it??

LaPrune - don't be rude for one. You might disagree but be polite about it please. I do not admire Thatcher, I am a socialist. However in an environment where men have ruled the roost for hundreds of years, at a time when there were hardly any female MPs at all, she overcame the blatant sexism by not only the rest of the male MPs but also the country. She might have provided their rusty, vile ideas with a voice, but it was a female voice and that would have rankled with a fair few who I'm sure would have rather have moved to the Labour party than had a woman as a leader.

Plus don't forget she was voted in by this country, a country that was still embedded in sexism at that time and where women still, more often than not, stayed at home with the children.

So her policies were crap, but I still think she did well to get to where she did.

That point wasn't my main argument anyway, I was largely saying that the government in general is sexist.

This is an interesting story

Why on earth would having women on the board restrain pay? Whichever way you look at it, this is at best a pretty odd thing to assert. At worst, it is misogynistic.

yes it isn't just the tories although they seem to be able to make these 'difficcult choices' for women very easily

I think it is stupid to suggest that the Tories hate women. Do Labour love women more than men? Because their public spending splurge certainly seemed to benefit women a lot more than men.

There are a lot of men suffering now far more than most women. Homeless, in prison, being killed in the armed forces.

When private sector firms cut jobs, that tends to have more of an impact on men than women, but I don't hear people complaining about them "hating men".

i think that is the crux of my arguement

inbuilt misogyny

If you look deeply into the Tory party they believe in a straight, Christian family with two hetereosexual parents and 2.5 children. The man goes to work and the woman stays at home. This is what they believe to be the ideal scenario and all of their policies back this up. It has always been thus so, which is why I was so surprised that so many Mumsnetters before the election came on to say they were voting for them as they had 'changed'. My arse! They just said what people wanted to hear to get votes.

The Tory party discriminates. Why is that such a revelation?

Rhubarb:

"Plus don't forget she was voted in by this country, a country that was still embedded in sexism at that time and where women still, more often than not, stayed at home with the children."

Actually, we vote the party in, not the leader.

YES !!!! THANK YOU RUBARB

I remember an article in the guardian about 2006....the new face of the tories

exactly... the new face

old policies

Well put, suzikettles

As an uneconomic unit (by choice, until ds2 starts schools) I feel distinctly got at even though my only 'sin' economically is not spending as much money as I apparently should to boost the economy .

HitTheRoadJack - true but she was party leader and the sexism was so rife that people would have simply not voted or switched sides rather than vote for a woman PM.
Look at Obama. It's much the same. For some people this wasn't a question of their policies but the fact that Thatcher was a woman and Obama was black. That he got into the White House stunned the world as we assumed that normal Americans would never want a black man in the White House.

Agree with Rhubarb re Tory ideology,to the extent of "so why is anyone surprised"

Re Women Haterz Cuts though, there are other cuts going on too and the Social Services budget is ultimately unaffordable.

But each area to be cut has its own strident defenders so - IMO - women would be best served by becoming strident defenders of cuts that impact them the most.

JLK2, I find it difficult to believe that there are more homeless men than women. That would be a complete reversal of the usual situation.

As for private companies, unlike the Government, they are not elected and we have little say in what they do. I don't expect them to put the wellbeing of the employees before profit so I see no point in saying how badly they have behaved.

Although I do think that people on MN were generally quite nasty about job cuts, constantly trivialising it into being some bankers losing their jobs, when in reality it was mostly ordinary people on ordinary wages. I think the public's attitude on those job cuts paved the way to a lot of people in the private sector having little sympathy in return when public sector cuts came in.

The sad thing was that at the last election, as now, really, Labour were nowhere. Clegg pulled a blinder then colluded. I blame him rather a lot. If Labour don't pull their fingers out we're going to get a Tory majority (nobody will vote LibDem, and Labour haven't atoned, what's the alternative?) and then we're toast.

Also re women on boards I think they would be sensible enogh to say "bollocks to paying that, I know we could get a perfectly decent new XXX at half the price". And they should know, we've all spent our lives being underpaid for doing better work.

It's possibly not deliberate in the sense of irrational prejudice, but sexism isn't caused (mainly) by prejudice, it's caused by economic/social structures. Obviously, all single parents will lose (eg) the benefits premium when Universal Credit comes in and will all have to pay to use the CSA - but most single parents are women, so it affects women more. Women are giving up jobs now childcare costs are only 70%, not 80%. Logical because women are paid less than men, so they're the parent who gives up. Services women use, like Women's Aid refuges, are closing. So cuts affect women more. Fawcettsociety.co.uk have day of action on 19th November. If you want to defend women, support a political party that won't cut.

Trouble is, as LaPrune says, no party is up to the job now. I really don't think Labour want to get in at the next election as they are afraid of tackling the deficit. What are their policies? What have they had to say about all of this and why aren't they providing more vocal opposition? Because they are clueless as to what to do, so either way we're fucked.

Labour handed out too freely, the Tories are snatching back too harshly. I used to think the Lib Dems were in the middle but after this betrayal I doubt anyone will trust them again.

There really is no-one left to vote for so I won't be voting. I have no confidence in any political party.

Unless someone has the balls to take on the large companies and banks that are making huge profits at our expense, then we are all pretty much fucked and if we make a fuss and complain, we are dragged off just like the protesters will be outside St Pauls.

So many people are losing their jobs, losing their benefits, losing their houses, their pensions, everything they have worked so very hard for. And yet the country seems to be wearily resigned to it all, so when the news reveals yet more huge profits for energy companies, more bonuses for the top dogs, more expense scandals; it barely registers anymore. I think the people feel helpless, betrayed and without hope. I know I certainly do.

Articles today in Grauniad about City of London Corporation (about time too). Nothing will be done about the hold the banks have over govt.

I would like a 'none of the above' box on my voting slip, and for those non-votes to be counted.

nless someone has the balls to take on the large companies and banks that are making huge profits at our expense, then we are all pretty much fucked and if we make a fuss and complain, we are dragged off just like the protesters will be outside St Pauls

That is the nub of it. And by defnition no career politician today has the balls, as its their careers on the line and they have nothing to fall back on.

JLK2, I find it difficult to believe that there are more homeless men than women. That would be a complete reversal of the usual situation.
Really? I hardly ever see homeless women.

How would it a be a "complete reversal of the usual situation"?

How would you know if somebody was homeless by looking at them?

People who sleep on the streets are a tiny minority of homeless people.

MillyR Around 75% of homeless people in Western societies are men. Source

No-one is jumping up and down saying housing services are sexist, though, are they?

i dont care if my MP is a male or female, just that they do a good job, to the best of their ability

i think that goes for every job actually.

Haven't read thread but I agree with the OP. Although fairer probably to say they dislike people who aren't rich, and like to keep the money where it is, which is to say mostly in the hands of rich white men.