to think 44 years after the conservatives elected a female leader labour should as well

[lakemountain]

and 40 years since the general population did this proves conservatives are not sexist the general population is not sexist but the labour party is

Who organisations choose as leaders tells you a great deal about them.
At the moment Labour is telling us that an old Marxist terrorist and anti Semite apologist who clearly has the IQ of a used teabag, but who happens to be make, is a better leader than any of the numerous intelligent women in the party.
I draw my conclusions accordingly.

Neither Theresa May or Margaret Thatcher strike me as being bothered by women’s rights....

And certainly not the Conservative party, who will do nothing to increase female MPs.

Mrs May in fact has been a driving force behind women 2 win, which aims to get more women as conservative candidates.

Well labour brought in all female shortlists, despite initially being found discriminatory and illegal by the courts, they then changed the law so they could.
I don’t agree with this because it doesn’t mean the best people are getting the job, nor does it draw more women to politics.
Just because someone is female doesn’t mean they stand for women’s rights either.
Naz Shah for instance. Is more interested in protecting male predators than female victims.
Some men care far more about women’s rights than some women do IMO.

All women shortlists are the only actual effective way of increasing women’s representation in parliament. So many other measures have been tried and had very little impact due to discrimination in the selection process (women far less likely to be selected to stand, and where they are selected, it’s for an unwinnable seat).

Anyone who thinks that the current process selects the best man for the job obviously has very, very low standards.

Who were you thinking of?

Diane Abbott or Lady Nugee?

The Tories won't elect another woman for a long while, as this whole debacle will be blamed on TM as a woman. As in if a bloke messed up, it wouldn't be blamed on him being a man...

Agreed, they should elect Emily Thornberry.

Harriet Harman is almost exclusively focused on women’s issues which is why I suspect she’s never had a crack at the leadership. I just want a competent Labour leader like other pp, I don’t give a stuff what sex they are.

If they did have a woman it would be Emily Thornberry or the greatly underestimated Margaret Beckett for me.

Yes!! Diane Abbott for Labour leader! That would be a dream for those of us who really don’t want Labour back in government.

In the current state of the LP, with McCluskey, Murphy, Murray and Milne in control of the Leader's office and the party machinery through Jenny Formby, any woman with a mind of her own not totally on board with the Corbyn project has zero chance of being elected.

It's all about the succession now. When Corbyn retires, the people around him calling the shots won't want to give up their power - or their jobs. What they say goes. Which rules out all the talent on the back benches and even some high profile women in the cabinet, like Thornberry, because she's publicly disagreed with Dear Leader.

Emily Thornberry, Amber Rudd and Jo Swinson are the most capable MPs in their respective parties. I hope they are all waiting for the men to f* it up before each takes control of her own party!

And Ruth Davidson. They all wipe the floor with the men.

@Sunshine93

*It's an interesting and false claim. See statistics below.

MP data from 2017 election
Labour MPs 48%female 13%BME 8%LGBT
Con MPs 22%female 6%BME 6%LGBT*

The thread is about leaders of the parties. On the basis Labour at 48% have proportionately more female MP's, I think my point stands. The 2 female candidates in the 2015 Labour leadership elections combined only polled 21% of votes. I would like to believe it was because everyone voted for the 'best qualified' candidate but that's a stretch too far.

The 2015 Leadership election was the first under the new rules. So it was one man/woman, one vote and it only cost £3 to join as a supporter and vote. This opened the door for massive entryism from people from the far left who, naturally, voted for Corbyn. The 2 women candidates, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper were seen as right-wing by comparison.

Under the old regs, Corbyn would have come last. Diane Abbott got only about 5% of the vote, I think, when she stood, representing Corbyn's far left section of the PLP.

I'm afraid it will be the same when Corbyn retires. Members will vote for the candidate approved by the leadership. They might choose a woman for appearances' sake, but she'll be a puppet of the old guard.

The far left hates women. Always has, always will.

@Thymeout They're in the shadow cabinet, hence being sat on the front bench.

@Thymeout Please don't try to speak for the Party membership. The Labour Party is a democracy and members are free to vote for whomever they wish. Also to vote in the leadership elections you had to have been a member for at least six months, so long before anyone knew who was standing for the position.

But don't let facts get in the way, eh?

YANBU. Instead we've got an aging, white, male anti-Semite.

Hold on. Half of Labour MPs are female. Less than a quarter of conservative MPs are.

But Labour are the sexists?

We're through the looking glass here, aren't we?

I care about having the most capable candidate

Are you never even slightly suspicious when the most capable candidate turns out to be 1. Male 2. White ?

In my CLP there is strong support for Thornberry. We're a pretty even split gender wise. There's a great deal of support for Laura Pidcock as a future leader.

There's more likely to be a deputy leadership election than a leadership one soon, Tom Watson is despised.

Actually, I find Labour's current politics and attitudes pretty sexist. Watched a very interesting documentary on the history of women within the emerging Socialist Movement throughout Europe and their strong input versus being sold out and betrayed by the male 'comrades' over and over. Looking at the shameful debacle of their 'women's officer' and widespread mobbing of feminists, nout much changed!

If they’d elected Liz Kendall instead of JC they would be in power now.