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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

women who don't vote

144 replies

beepbeepimasheep · 08/06/2017 13:36

Three women who I know have recently said that they have no interest in politics, don't understand politics and can't be bothered to vote.

I can't help but think that they are being a bit pathetic. Were the suffragettes efforts all for nothing? I have never missed voting in any election so I can complain about it when my party don't win as I think it's so important that we all vote.

OP posts:

forceslover · 08/06/2017 20:01

2 hours left! Plenty of time to cast your vote!!

Mysteriouscurle · 08/06/2017 20:03

Everyone has the right not to vote and many have their reasons not to. And if anyone doesnt approve of people not voting its a bit sexist to only disapprove of women for not voting.

Eolian · 08/06/2017 20:07

Anyone who says they have no interest in politics clearly doesn't really understand what politics is, or at least they are defining it in an inaccurately narrow way. Pretty much everything we do is affected by politics.

hippyhippyshake · 08/06/2017 20:09

8 million women didn't vote today

Maybe they're not home from work yet

VelvetSpoon · 08/06/2017 20:15

My dad fought in ww2 (he was almost 50 when I was born). He used to get seriously pissed off with people banging on about how people died in the war for our right to vote .

His view was he fought for, amongst other things, the right to live in a democracy, and to choose to vote.

He chose not to do so. He said ultimately it made little difference who was in power, because little changed. And the older I get I see how right he was.

I haven't voted since 1994. Other than in the EU referendum. I may well never vote again. None of the major parties agree with my views to any extent, and I refuse to vote for the sake of it.

Beerwench · 08/06/2017 20:17

"It's immature anqd a cop out to say "None of them precisely represent me, so I'm not voting" - we all have a responsibility to make the best choice available, even if we can't get on board with everything they stand for."

I disagree. There were 3 I could vote for, I strongly disagreed with at least one of their policies each. I am not voting for something I strongly disagree with. That isn't immature, or a cop out. I wasn't going to vote at one point because it seemed so overwhelming, but I educated myself on the policies.
But the consensus of opinion is that you are lazy, disrespectful, immature and 'cop out' by saying you don't want to vote for something you don't believe in. I find that a strange view, to say someone like me should vote for a party that has things I strongly disagree with just because.

SeanSpicer · 08/06/2017 20:20

To be fair Velvet the biggest change in our lifetime is leaving the EU and that came about from voting (obviously a different system, but still).

timeisnotaline · 08/06/2017 20:21

I don't think I respect the right not to vote. It seems to me like the right to be a victim and the right to stand in the highway and get hit by a car. I have no respect for apathy - even if you genuinely think you don't care, it should be obvious it affects other people. Very happy to be Australian and have compulsory voting.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 08/06/2017 20:24

Good for you, timeisnotaline but this is a UK vote and its the voices of UK citizens that matter.

I don't give 'that' for people who don't have respect for other people's choices.

timeisnotaline · 08/06/2017 20:26

I'm also a uk citizen so have just voted

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 08/06/2017 20:28

Touche!

VestalVirgin · 08/06/2017 20:28

YABU.

If they have no interest in politics, it is better they don't vote. Voting is not just some hobby (as many mumsnetters seem to think) it has actual consequences.

Such as women losing rights, for example, if too many stupid women happily sign away their bodily autonomy, just for example.

If you want those politically clueless women to vote, you should put in the effort to educate them about politics thoroughly enough so that they can make an informed choice.

Otherwise, it is better if they don't vote.

(There's of course many men who also shouldn't vote. I really wish there were important football matches scheduled on voting days, so that only the people who are actually interested in politics would vote.)

Nanny0gg · 08/06/2017 20:29

Everyone has the right not to vote and many have their reasons not to. And if anyone doesn't approve of people not voting its a bit sexist to only disapprove of women for not voting.

While there are still people in this world who aren't allowed to vote, those that can, absolutely have a duty to.

BartholinsSister · 08/06/2017 20:45

There are some people in the world who are not allowed to gamble. Does that mean the rest of us have a duty to?

NapQueen · 08/06/2017 20:48

Id rather the people who couldnt be arsed to read up on the parties didnt vote tbh than just randomly ticked a box because they had to.

VestalVirgin · 08/06/2017 21:00

While there are still people in this world who aren't allowed to vote, those that can, absolutely have a duty to.

The mere act of voting does not make it any more likely for other people to get the right to vote.

In fact, people who know nothing about politics voting can make it less likely that other people get the vote, because people with no clue might vote for antidemocratic parties.
Or parties that plan to start a war in an area of the world where women currently have voting rights but will lose them when patriarchal religious extremists gain power.

Voting, in itself, is neutral, it is not automatically good.

Id rather the people who couldnt be arsed to read up on the parties didnt vote tbh than just randomly ticked a box because they had to.

This.

forceslover · 08/06/2017 21:26

Those people who say " I don't do politics", I take it that they don't use schools, hospitals, bins, roads or public transport etc as all the decisions about who gets what are made in a political environment.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 08/06/2017 21:53

forceslover well they pay for the privilege of using all those things anyway so are you saying that if they abdicate responsibility for active voting then they shouldn't have to pay?

It was a stupid advert and the point not at all well made. What needs to be done is to get people to vote of their own volition. What is going to achieve that? Bullying and hectoring is never going to get it done because this is a people that values and treasures its freedom - and rightly so.

Nanny0gg · 08/06/2017 23:19

The mere act of voting does not make it any more likely for other people to get the right to vote.

No it doesn't. But those of us who can shouldn't squander the opportunity. There is no good reason for not voting.

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