To think it's time for a woman to be Prime Minister

[Cinnamon77]

It doesn't look like Starmer is going to be PM for much longer but all the favourites to replace him are men.

Every female PM we've had has been Conservative - no woman has ever led the Labour Party before.

Wouldn't it be an improvement to have a left wing woman running the country, like we've seen elsewhere? There are many good female MPs in Labour like Raynor, Mahmood, Huq, Phillips, Siddiq, Leadbeater, Thornberry, Dodds, Kendall, Haigh, Butler and Reeves (Ellie, not Rachel).

Why aren't any of them contenders and wouldn't we be doing better if one of them was in charge?

No states person would respect her after her lies
Could not care less about her background

England is a shitshow at the moment nd it is due to selfish men at the top, making selfishness get into the culture everywhere. There is no empathy or kindness.

Countries with female leaders have a lot more kindness, empathy and respect for both men and women.

Your breath is easily taken away!

I'd be fascinated to know why paying respect to a woman from a disadvantaged background who gets to be Deputy PM is classism. Seriously - I'd love to try and explain that one! Angela Rayner herself has spoken frequently of her difficult start in life and how hard she worked to achieve.

So back up your accusation of sexism and classism, please.

Or are you someone who dishes it out but then runs away?

To suggest a female PM would do a better job means you think gender matters in a role. That feels like very dodgy ground to me. If I posted that my employer wanted to replace a female boss with a male, because the previous women had been ineffective, MN would quite rightly be up in arms.
Its the right person for the job that matters, not the right gender.

Yes, of course gender matters in leadership roles.

That is why several countires have introduced gender quotas into politics. To help more women get into politics.

Men kept keeping women out of politics.

In the Republic of Ireland for example, government parties wouldnt even nominate many women for poliitical roles.

They had to introduce a gender quota - that said a certain percentage of nominated candidtates must be women. I think its 30 per cent

All of the countries with ongoing wars - have male leaders. Men are more aggressive in general than women are.

I think the shining example is Angela Merkel. She exuded strength and integrity and showed she didn’t care what idiots like Trump thought of her. But people like that are rare. I can’t see anyone in UK politics with that stature at the moment.

Female leaders are important to improve things for women and children in the country.

If we had a female leader in the UK, I bet we would have better childcare, better parental leave. We would have reproductive leave, where you can take days off for periods, perimenopause, menopause.

Other countries already have menstrual leave. We are behind!

The Welsh First Minister is a woman.

Hmm….you’d think.

But Margaret Thatcher didn’t do that. I think her attitude was ‘I’ve competed with men, and women shouldn’t need special treatment’. She was an incredibly tough person,tougher than nearly all the men she led.

Barbara Castle in the 60s and 70s was also notorious for not being supportive of other women in politics.

(But I realise you’re talking about women in general, not politics, which is different.)

Which countries? Are they comparable to the UK in population and GDP terms?

Margaret Thatcher was a very manly woman.

She definitely felt she had to become like a man- to be a leader.

We need a feminine woman as leader.

A woman that is not afraid to be feminine.

Checked with Dr Google. Interesting. Not always paid though. And a Dr’s note is required so that might be an issue - it’s hard enough to get a GP appointment these days!

No thanks with this take

You don't want a feminine woman as leader?

Yes, if there were to be a female Labour PM, Yvette Cooper would be the best choice in my opinion too.

I see it in workplaces a lot.

Female bosses start acting like men, as they think that's how they have to be , to have power.
They don't show their feminine qualities.

Margaret Thatcher was the same

Too sexist for me tbf

Thatcher took us into the Falklands War, so that definitely isn’t always the case!

How is me saying thay we need a female leader, sexist.

It's not.

Im saying that many women as bossses act like men, because society is sexist and tells us that men are better than women. So when women get into power at work a lot of them start acting like men.

But we’d need to define those terms. In outward appearance, Mrs Thatcher was extremely feminine. Angela Merkel always dressed in the same uniform to prevent her clothes becoming a distraction and to gain parity with men who can just wear a boring suit and not be criticised for it. Good for her.

Despite this, I think Mrs Thatcher could be hard as nails and Ms Merkel was probably more sympathetic in many ways!

I think feminine is a difficult concept nowadays.

Thatcher was a long time ago.

Surely it is time for another female leader

Women don’t have to fit with some narrow definition on how to act or what policies to bring in.

Women are not even getting into Government Leader roles in the UK at the moment.

You do know that Ellie Reeves is Rachel Reeves sister. Having either of them as PM is a big fat NO from me.

Mahmood as PM and Lammy as Deputy PM. 👍