To wonder how labour can still say they are the progressive, liberal party of equal rights?

[latetothefisting]

After this www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/05/uks-four-great-offices-of-state-may-soon-not-feature-a-white-man-for-first-time

Caveat: I have never voted Tory, am not impressed with Truss as PM and am sure that very few people consider Priti Patel as an ethnic minority success story.

But labour still seem to harp on the old bandwagon that they are the socially progressive party, open to everyone, focus on equal rights, non racist, non sexist etc. Yet they have still never elected a woman leader, despite us making up more than 50% of the population.(I know there were 2 acting female leaders before anyone jumps in). I'm 32 years old and despite not admiring any of them personally I can appreciate that 3 out of the 8 people who have been prime minister since I've been born are women. Yet they've all been bloody Conservative.

Pretty much all the other parties have had multiple female leaders too, for good or bad.

AIBU to think labour need to get their flipping act together and start practicing what they preach?

And now, as a 'woman' we have Eddie Izzard in 'girl mode' standing in Sheffield. Presumably taking a seat from an All Women Shortlist......

It's a fucking joke.

You don't seem to be backing up the point you want to make with actual facts which contradict it?
The most recent election (2019) 4 out of the 8 main parties had female leaders
The one before that (2017) conservatives, snp, lib dems, DUP and plaid cymru all ran with female leaI...

Guess which party is conspicuously missing.....

I typed this out and deleted it hahaha. I bet Eddie is raging Jamie Wallis got in first

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62687966

Fear not, Eddie Izzard is standing for Labour in Sheffield.

Watch this space. The first woman leader of the Labour party is going to be male.

And they'll call it progressive.

What a time to be alive, eh?

<sighs despondently> Still, at least I'm not in Sheffield.

‘"if the Tories are so bad then how come the Labour Party are not scoring goals left right and centre*

To me, that's testament as to how ineffectual the current Labour leadership are. We've had the unending shit show of Brexit and its effects on exports, holiday makers and labour shortages. We've had Covid and Partygate. We've had Boris Johnson as a Prime Minister, for goodness sake. Labour haven't been able to make anything of any of that other than wring their hands from the sidelines, when they should be wiping the floor with them in the polls.’

That’s the real disaster for me.
Having lived through so many active, passionate, focused labour politicians during the Thatcher years; Benn, Callahan, Kinnock, Livingstone Healey, Castle, Smith and the rest, it’s pathetic that however self-serving, indifferent and corrupt the Conservative party and its members are, Labour still can’t mount a half-way adequate defence or offer intelligent opposition. Or be proactive about anything.
They all sit and squabble like a Y9 class, Labour and Conservative alike.

I’m more interested in what those female leaders have actually done for women.

Precious little, from what I can see, compared with their Labour counterparts.

Tokenism is all very well, but the track records speak for themselves.

Most of the women that get into power are not those that want to promote women's rights or care about women's issues. Women like Ann Widdecombe, Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher did not represent women at all. It's like Cressida Dick. They get into positions of authority by not upsetting the apple cart.

If the Conservative party had actually voted in a woman who really cared about other women you might have a point. Even the women and ethnic minorities that get into power in the Tory party patronise women and minorities (cough, Priti Patel).

Oh that's alright then! Nothing to see with males taking seats reserved for women!

Unfortunately women like Rosie Duffield are being silenced by the Labour Party who think that women are no more than a feeling in a man's head.

Others like Jess Philips are toeing the party line but are deeply involved with trying to reduce VAWG.

If you seriously think someone who has girl mode but knows that he's a man when it comes to be taken seriously as an Actor gives a shit about women's rights then you are totally and utterly deluded.

Yes - the leader of the TUC is a woman (Grady), but she is being replaced at the end of this year by a man (Nowak).

Of the 12 biggest TUC affiliated unions, one of them has joint general secretaries until 2023, one man, one woman. Of the other 11, until the start of 2021, the general secretaries were 10 men and 1 woman. Two more women have since been elected. The current situation is 4 women and 9 men despite there being more female union members than male! Equality on the left is improving, but it still has some way to go.

Suella Braverman and Lizz Truss both in high offices is not a price worth paying for the sake of inclusivity.

Yes I suppose that must be why and not because a woman or ethnic minority could possibly be any good! Your racism and misogyny are showing.

Absolutely this. It's all window dressing

Exactly. The minorities that get into the high positions in the Tory party have to out-right wing everybody else to be accepted. They are invariably more extreme and hateful than their colleagues. Patel was unbelievably wicked but they've managed to replace her with somebody even worse. Amazing.

That's never worried the male leaders.

I don't think the Labour party will ever elect a female leader.

I have read views about this which suggest that its easier for women to gain powerful positions when promoting ultra conservative policies, because due to being stereotyped as 'nurturing and caring' if a women is fronting a policy that harms the vulnerable it appears more palatable- even a woman supports it! Whereas a woman promoting liberal policies that advocate financially supporting the vulnerable is more likely to be dismissed as letting emotions rule, not understanding the finacial implications...because y'know, just a woman. I'm not sure I totally agree and I think there are other factors, probably overt discrimination, as to why Lanour have such a lack of diversity, but might be a grain of truth there.

Interesting @scarletandblack13 - I think this might be plausible.

Well, the problem starts with Labour not knowing what a woman is …

Scarlett , I've never thought of it like that before , but that sounds about right!