AIBU to wonder if a stay-at-home mum could become an MP?

[Questionsssss]

Do you think a degree educated, middle class 30 year old SAHM without any notable work history would ever have a chance at becoming a local councillor or MP? I feel like most MPs have either a local council or highly skilled professional background (law, finance etc). I’ve googled and I can’t find a single MP who has a SAHM background.

Not getting into your politics, I think you’d find it difficult if you were going to do it properly after a long time as a SAHM. I have a relation who is a long standing councillor. It’s more hours than a full time job and a lot of evenings and weekends - by the time you add in the surgeries, full council, constituency case work, committee meetings, campaigning…

Yes she is hated for being a young mum* The comments about her have shown a lot of people really hate young mums, it explains a lot tbh most of these people don’t go around saying these things but are thinking them.
*

• even before her tax scandal

Fewer children and adults.

What exactly did you do in publishing?!

Go for it. Reform is full of sexist twats who have zero idea about the complexity of public policy, the economy or anything else of value. You’ll fit right in.

So to summarise with a case study:

• A non-working mum in a relationship gets tax cuts based on her husband's salary.
• A non-working mum not in a relationship gets her benefits capped and cut.

What incentives do you think this will create?

One thing to bear in mind is that being a local councillor takes up a huge amount of time (unpaid) often in the evenings. Make sure you've got plenty of assistance with childcare.

The most likely way of being elected is by belonging to a party. Independents very rarely win elections.
So do you belong to a party?
There is also no shortage of people wanting to run, so you usually have to be actively involved and known. So you need to start volunteering, going to events and getting your points known.
Then they will review your CV. It doesn’t have to be work, but is usually (depending on party) a blend of work, community volunteering and party involvement. You might not have the work, but can you frame something in the other areas? As a SAHP can you show you are involved with your child’s school for example?

The government provides free nursery hours and breakfast clubs so that parents go out to work - why not provide more funding so that children can have their parent stay at home and look after them instead?
I don't want to be rude but if you have to ask that question, you might not have the required level of intelligence to make a good politician.

If you need an answer though....

• the main reason to fund nursery is so that children can be socialised and taught kids elemental skills that sadly parents fail to teach their children before they start school
• because working women are good for the economy.
• because our economy is at its worse it's been for many decades. There is no extra pots of funding and what would be saved from a few children not attending nursery would not come close to the costs of women not in work
• again...just under half of marriages break down. That's many single mums left to have to claim some form of benefits. That cost millions more than a couple of years of nursery funded places.
• being a sahm as a choice is a PRIVILEGE.
• it's leaving women to be dependent, be on a mum or the state in the majority. Dependence comes with many emotional, physical, financial and psychological concerns.
• and finally, there is no sound evidence that children raised by sahm fare better in life.

Have you reported them for benefit fraud?

Well you wouldn't be getting my vote, that is such a minority issue. you will alienate the majority of families where both parents work by suggesting that parents who both work are disadvantage their children. MPs have significant experience in another sector first for example the former CEO of a large charity I used to work out is now an MP.

This is the biggest issue that OPs going to face.

She doesn’t want to work and she feels not working has lots of benefits for her DC and society - but then is choosing to work.

She won’t be a SAHP if she’s working and so her arguments become less valid.
She also won’t be doing it because she needs the money, further invalidating her arguments.

I guess the best way to overcome this would be to wait until her DCs are grown up and then run.

I believe it’s a net benefit to the country to have more parents at home with their young children. As opposed to paying £££ to strangers to look after your children so that you can go to work to pay for the nursery!

I don’t believe it’s a net benefit to pay people with the majority of mental health issues to stay at home instead of working. Same with claiming DLA for kids who don’t really need it.

While your politics is not my politics, the fact that you are not immediately caving on this thread implies that you have the potential to go into politics. I do think you would have to start at the local level where you won’t have any effect on the things that you want to.

Also I find you tax cuts for SAHM concerning. We don’t need to gender this.

And a non-working mum looking after her disabled child gets told that her money was handed out far too freely so they’re getting nothing from now on. What’s not to love?

I earn £3k take home after paying for nursery and I pay tax accordingly. How is that not benefiting the country. Your opinions will really annoy working parents, eg most parents.

What proof would I have? They have a social worker who they lie to who supports their application.

Honestly OP, don't go into politics, you'll get ridiculed.

Nothing of what you claimed is backed up by any research. It's just beliefs of the financially privileged who have no clue what normal life is like.

I’ve always thought this.

Shorter working week with both parents playing an active role in parenting would be so beneficial for children and particularly boys who are essentially taught how to be men by male role models.

I agree with the OP that children benefit from having a parent with them in the early years.

I’d love to see women getting a year’s maternity followed by a year’s paternity and then compressed much shorter working week spilt between parents until the child is in nursery and school.

Best of luck @Questionsssss but you would not be getting my vote from your current platform and in a first past the post system you will need very broad appeal to win any elections.

You want tax breaks for sitting at home, mumsnetting?

Only women though, right? Back to the kitchen with them. They don’t need to fuss about careers. In fact, no point educating them past 12 or so because their only purpose is to breed and clean up after men.

You don’t see any benefit in more men becoming SAHP?

I honestly despair.

That's OK, she'll probably just go with the Farage model of being an MP. He rarely turns up in Parliament and he doesn't hold surgeries in his constituency. She can just follow his lead.

Not a chance in hell. You don’t come across as literate, intelligent or empathetic. I’m sure you could stand for Reform as they’ll take any old racist but, an MP……no

I think MPs should be at least 30 years old and be required to have experience, any experience, away from the world of politics for at least five years. I think a SAHM has a lot more relevant experience than a 25 year old who has gone straight into being political researcher and only ever experienced life within the political bubble.

I don't see why not, there are worse qualified people who become politicians. I'd say getting involved with a campaign on a local issue as an independent would be a start. Perhaps it would be easer to get some experience as a local councillor first? For my parish council you only need to persuade about 300-500 people to vote for you. Sometimes if there is a casual vacancy and only one candidate there isn't even an election.

Since this thread, I have just been reading up more on Angela Rayner - what an incredible woman!!

I didn’t know her full background and assumed that like many MPs who claim to have not had an easy life it was mainly compared to their private school friends.

Wow I’m so impressed with her!

It is benefitting the country, of course it is. But hand on heart, can you honestly say that toddlers and children are better in full time childcare so that both parents can work? Or teens in the house alone/doing whatever they want a lot as both parents are working?