Childless politicians: is it an issue?

[Chocchops72]

There have been lots of posts popping up on my Twitter feed pointing out that many of the leading politicians in Scotland do not have children. From Nicola Sturgeon to many of the leading Scottish Greens (who seem to be in the news and setting the pace more than other SNP MSPs).

Is this an issue? Do / would childless politicians put different policies in place compared to those with children?

I have two children, my sister has none. While she’s a great aunty and loves them deeply, I’m aware that we don’t have the same priorities in life. Her interests basically extend as far as her and her partner having a good life after they retire. She’s very much of the opinion that ‘you chose to be a parent, don’t expect anyone else to prioritise the things that you do’. An example being inheritance… I’m kind of hoping (but not banking on) an inheritance from my parents that will make my kids life easier (and my parents definitely want that). My sister is totally dismissive of this: she and her partner already have enough for them and that it’s. I totally expect her to leave all her wealth to the cat and dog home tbh, whereas DH and I are very motivated to pass as many assets and advantages as possible onto our own children. And we would favour any tax or other legal policies that support that.

what do you think?

I mean, you did basically say “is this an issue? My sister is childless and only cares about herself whereas I am thinking of other people here!”

Which kinda makes it clear which side of the fence you’re on.

I’m in favour of those who can paying for their own care rather than the state doing so so that they can bequeath hundreds of thousands to their children, thus further entrenching the widening gap between the kids who have and those who don’t, yes. But I’m childless so what do I know.

1. I apologise for using the word childless, rather than childfree: that was clumsy of me.

Being firmly childfree myself, I’d still have been offended at the idea that that stopped me caring about teenage girls being drugged and mutilated because they were caught up in a social contagion.

So you basically think if a woman has a miscarriage she is going to make decisions you dont like but if a woman gives birth to a live baby she will make decisions you do like?

Interesting way to look at politics. Batshit crazy, but interesting I guess. I mean Putin has children but doesnt seem to give a shit about how many families he destroys. But whatever floats your boat.

Personally I would like to see policies that make it easier for female politicians to have families, like proper maternity leave, support around breastfeeding etc. But traditionally its not childfree people who haven't sorted that out, its men, many of them with children.

I do find it interesting that your idea of a selfless mother is to protect as much generation wealth as possible which is known to cause social divide. And your idea of a selfish childfree person is someone wanting to leave their money to charity. What a selfish bitch 🙄

Second thread in two days where childfree women are selfish bitches if they dont conform to social maternal expectations. What postive progress...

Saying you don't think it's an issue and then tying your dislike of the SNP and greens to the fact that some of them don't have children kind of suggests you do think it's an issue.

I apologise for using the word childless, rather than childfree: that was clumsy of me.

No no as a childless person I am equally incredibly offended that you think because I cannot give birth to a live baby that I would be a bad politician because you assume I wouldnt support your families hoarding of wealth.

Your insensitivity is off the scale making you a potentially amazingly self serving policitician much like the family orientated BJ and JRM

Include me in that response.

Yes, they did, but Cameron said “I love the NHS!” then systematically underfunded it - and its staff - for the next 6 years. I’m a retired nurse, I saw the impact, the impact was what forced me to retire 2 years early at great financial cost. It was retire or die of stress and overwork.

He was no lover of the NHS, apart from the help it gave him with his child.

People who don’t have children can make excellent or awful politicians (much like people who do have children).

More generally it is an issue that parents (well really mothers) of young children struggle to be politicians because of the way we structure the system. They are far from the only group of people with barriers to becoming MPs. It’s not fantastic to have huge sections of the population with minimal MPs like them and loads of relatively wealthy, privately educated, white, relatively older men. It would be good to see steps to help the make up of parliament become more diverse in lots of ways. It’s not that easy a thing to do though.

I'm not childless or childfree; I'm an adult woman who doesn't have children. It's not a defining aspect of my personality, politics or general outlook, any more than not being a pig doesn't mean I can't care about welfare standards in food production.

It's pretty bloody depressing that our ever-more-literal age is inching away from the concept of empathy, and the right to care about issues that don't personally impact you.

I wonder if the childless/free Green MPs in Scotland have made a conscious decision to not have children for environmental reasons. Maybe they made the decision because they believe it's best for the planet/society. Not because they're selfish fuckers, eh.

That may well be true, but why so much emphasis on teaching children about sex, asking them about their sex lives, try to cause divisions in families, rather than concentrating on saving the planet.
I don’t have issues with childless politicians except when they act in a dodgy way towArds children, which the current snp/Scot greens are.

I take it England, 14 year olds aren’t asked by the. Government if they’ve had anal sex, and how many sexual partners have they had in the last year? Because that is what the Scottish government wanted to ask Scottish kids.

Given the absolute shower of shit we’ve had as politicians that do have children it clearly makes no difference. If they’re a twat, they’re still a twat whether they have kids or not.

What a silly post. Lots of parents, politicians or otherwise, couldn't care less about children other than their own.

Oh OP - i don't think you meant to come off as offensive as you did, but this is really offensive.

The notion you thought that there was some legitimate debate to be had here really is startling

As PP poster said your logical end point is we can only ever vote for those whove have every lived experience ever - surely you see how absurd that is.

Am I to assume from your post you expect your sister to have a lesser inheritence so your children get more?

I read an article a while ago, pretty sure it was during Johnson’s PMship, that the default position for his Cabinet was MARRIED WITH TWO CHILDREN. Not very representative, surely? And are those marrieds-with-two-children any better off as a result of their overwhelming representation at senior government level?

Genuine question, as I don’t have kids myself and am personally much, much worse off financially.

I have two children, my sister has none. While she’s a great aunty and loves them deeply, I’m aware that we don’t have the same priorities in life. Her interests basically extend as far as her and her partner having a good life after they retire. She’s very much of the opinion that ‘you chose to be a parent, don’t expect anyone else to prioritise the things that you do’. An example being inheritance… I’m kind of hoping (but not banking on) an inheritance from my parents that will make my kids life easier (and my parents definitely want that). My sister is totally dismissive of this: she and her partner already have enough for them.

oh do fuck off with this bigoted nonsense. Just because you’ve reproduced doesn’t make you a better person than your sister, or anyone else without children.

And your stuff about inheritance is awful. Are you waiting for your parents to die??

Well quite.

Any child born in the West uses up 4 times the resources of a child born in the global South. So your two children @Chocchops72 are basically stealing resources from 6 children elsewhere in the world.

I don't think it matters whether they have children. People from all walks of life have and don't have children. What's more important is that they should be of average wealth and of a background where they have an awareness and experience of things like state schools and the NHS and public transport. I don't think someone who is rich enough to just opt out of all state services can make a good PM.

Her interests basically extend as far as her and her partner having a good life after they retire.

Is there something wrong with that? I mean, who actually wants to live in penury when they're old?

This ^

We have to stop defining women by whether or not they have children. They are human beings.

This is an excellent post. ❤️

I’m kind of hoping (but not banking on) an inheritance from my parents that will make my kids life easier (and my parents definitely want that). My sister is totally dismissive of this: she and her partner already have enough for them

So you're waiting for your parents to die so you and your kids can have their money, whilst your sister....isn't?

Yeah, that famous mummy-empathy showing there.

I don't think someone who is rich enough to just opt out of all state services can make a good PM.

I agree with this! Anyone who thinks an MP’s salary is a pittance, and that lucrative “consultancies” are essential for them to meet the demands of their constituents, should be instantly disqualified from MP - never mind PM - candidacy.