to think it's disgraceful that Labour MPs are condoning gender segregation?

[OTheHugeManatee]

I thought Labour were supposed to be against discrimination. But I'm hearing multiple reports of Labour MPs attending gender segregated rallies around the Olham by-election and uttering not a peep about it.

AIBU to think it's disgraceful that once again women's right to equality is being quietly set aside for other political priorities? And by the party that makes the most noise about equality, no less?

Fucking hypocrites

"How odd, its something you do. You ask a poster a question over and over again. And over again, again. grin. Then when they reply, you dont seem to come back...."

Good Lord, do I? How very annoying of me. And even more so that I can't remember ever doing that at all.........

30 years ago we would have sat the girls in one side of the classroom and boys in the other.

I was at school 30 years ago and that didn't happen. Admittedly I went to a single sex school 11-16. But my primary school and sixth form were properly mixed and gosh, boys could sit next to girls, although generally girls sat next to girls (at primary school). When I was doing my A levels we all sat next to each other. That said, physics and chemistry lessons were split (interestingly not biology or Maths) because it was felt that the girls would learn better without the boys (no mention of the impact on the boys, and whether they would learn better on their own too, or whether that didn't matter).

Another Maybe someone has been time travelling! Victorian schools had boy and girl entrances.

Maybe it's a poshness indicator then!

That said, physics and chemistry lessons were split (interestingly not biology or Maths) because it was felt that the girls would learn better without the boys (no mention of the impact on the boys, and whether they would learn better on their own too, or whether that didn't matter).

This is still a common justification for single sex schools. I don't know what evidence it is based on, but even if there is evidence to support it, the right way of dealing with it would be to address the issues in a mixed classroom. I can't think of any other European country except perhaps Ireland that practices segregation in state schools.

I would still love to know the intellectual justification for being offended by Muslim women choosing to sit next to each other, while simultaneously not being offended by white middle-class parents choosing to send their children to segregated schools.

I was at school in the 80s and am quite sure I remember correctly that the girls very often sat one side of the room and the boys on the other. No reason was ever given and I never thought much of it. It just seemed a way of organising things. I never felt it was in any way discriminating against girls at all.

My first year at high school was completely boy/ girl segregation. Seperate classrooms, dining times, staircases, playground was split down the middle with the staff room right by the middle dividing line. Apart from the one mixed class made up of the odds and ends that were left.

Mistigirl - regarding singles sex schools, I think I've read that girls do better academically when in girl only environment, especially in the sciences.

My ds's school experimented with segregated maths classes and got significantly better results for the girls- the boys' remained unchanged. Parents got very cross and they had to stop. Girls results went down again. But just anecdotage.

Every single person on this thread knows exactly what is going on in the picture of the rallies and knows that it's not really analogous to so many of the issues being discussed here. Every single person knows that feminism is the antithesis of what's going on in this picture. The many and interesting reasons that exist for instances of separation by sex in the West at this time have nothing to do with the separation seen in this picture. As to the actions of politicians -- trying to serve two masters that are, at the core, polar opposites of each other necessitates turning a blind eye to the tenets of the one or of the other from time to time. This has created a dichotomy within liberal/progressive thought that just can't be resolved.

I'd say the OTT reaction of the feminists on this case offers up another excuse for all the anti women folk out there to rubbish the issues that women face day in and day out.

No wonder feminism is such an easy target for those wanting to keep women in their place. There best line of attack is the feminists arguing their point here.

Pity Muslim women aren't so pathetic and feeble that a photo, article or bigoted comments is going to 'put them off from being politically active in the future'.

Lots of people get unwarranted media attention. Lots of people get flak for a whole host of reasons. This idea that muslim women uniquely need to be buffeted and protected from any attention or criticism, even when none is being levelled at them, as in this case, is ludicrous.

Witness the uptake of hijab, niqabs etc after 9/11. It's a big bold statement of confidence and assertion in themselves and their faith, as well as sticking two fingers up to western society.

"I have been to countless meetings of all types alone it simply wouldn't occur to me what the sex of the person sat next to was."

Well, bully for you! Your will full ignorance, nay arrogance and superiority just shows what a arrogant woman you are. I don't care so much if I sit next to a strange man, but if I walk into a room, onto a bus or train or airplane, on my own - I would probably choose and feel slightly more comfortable and safe sitting next to another woman. Fucking shoot me.

Or you could just look at that as a sharing of an experience , not an attempt to denigrate anyone else.

I wouldn't think man or woman and that's because I'm a product of my own experiences. It's interesting to hear others experiences and views.

It has been held up to me since infancy (in the Labour movement) that I ought to be proud to live in a community where women and men stand along side each other. (Sitting doesn't seem to have the same resonances!)
OK the reality is less pretty: scandalous Union behaviour on unequal pay springs to mind.

And I don't get the vitriol agaiinst Feminism - equality of opportunity!