Webchat with Sandi Toksvig, co-founder of the Women's Equality Party, FRIDAY 10 July, 1pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

We’re pleased to announce that Sandi Toksvig will be joining us for a webchat this Friday 10 July at 1pm.

Sandi Toksvig OBE co-founded Women's Equality Party with Catherine Mayer in 2015. The aim of the Women’s Equality Party is to unite people of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, beliefs and experiences in the shared determination to see women to enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men so that everyone can flourish.

Sandi has been hosting British television and radio programmes for the last 35 years. She conceived the Playhouse Presents series on Sky Arts, is the current host of Channel 4’s 15-1 and is well known on Radio 4 particularly as former host of the News Quiz.

Please do join us on the day here for a live discussion from 1pm on Friday but if you can’t make it, leave your question for Sandi on this thread. As ever, please remember our webchat guidelines.

Thanks
MNHQ

[Heckler]

While ending violence against women and girls is a great objective, what policies do you have to aim to achieve that?

[BananaThePoet]

Due to some rather unfortunate events in my family's life I have found myself plunged into the role of 'disability activist' as equality for all is a long time coming. Will your party be actively promoting equality for those of us who have various impairments and who find the lack of implementation and enforcement of the Equality Act 2010 means we struggle with barriers which should not exist as they are already legislated against? In other words will you press for a body that is able to enforce and promote the Act so that there are fewer infringements thus making education, participation in democracy and the things most people take for granted accessible to all?

[SandiToksvig]

@Backforthis

I will miss you hosting The News Quiz so much.

I hope the 'equality' label will help avoid some of the predictable anti-feminist hate. Unfortunately there seems to be plenty to go around. Did you worry about putting your head above the parapet? Obviously the treatment of people like Stella Creasy and Caroline Criado-Perez is one of the reasons we need a Women's Equality Party.

For a short person I have had my head above the parapet more than seems sensible. When I came out 20 years ago there was not another out woman in British public life that I was aware of. I and my family received death threats, I had to take my kids into hiding etc. It was not fun but I believed in equality and was not prepared to live my life in the shadows. I am proud of the work that the LGBTQ community has done to achieve a more equitable society. I think you have to stand up for what you believe in. I think about the suffragettes who endured terrible times in prison being force fed and vilified in order that we might get the vote. Political change is never easy. I understand the fear that a possible backlash induces but we must stand together. Join your local branch and find strength in the extraordinary women and men you will meet there.

[TalksVig]

I think you have to stand up for what you believe in. I think about the suffragettes who endured terrible times in prison being force fed and vilified in order that we might get the vote. Political change is never easy. I understand the fear that a possible backlash induces but we must stand together. Join your local branch and find strength in the extraordinary women and men you will meet there.

[Myturnnow4]

That is the finest hedgehog poem of the day.

[SandiToksvig]

@MyCatIsBatman11

Hi Sandi - first of all can I say that it's always such a pleasure to see you on TV or hear you on the radio, because you ALWAYS have witty and interesting takes on whatever is being discussed. You are just unflappable - which, as someone who is in a more or less constant state of flap, is the highest compliment I can give.

I agree with and support all of WEP's objectives. However I feel like everywhere in politics the language has to be so vague and all-encompassing that you end up having no concrete idea of what specifically can be done. Verbs like "foster", "strive for", "push for" etc.

Can you tell us one specific WEP goal, and how it can "physically" be achieved? What specific action we can take? I want to help!

Thanks!

Dear MyCatIsBatman11 and others who have questions about specific action we plan to take: We’ve set ourselves six key goals, which I outlined earlier in this thread. You’re right that most parties have slightly woolly-sounding strategies about achieving gender equality that they don’t deliver. We aim to change that. Right now we have working groups looking at ways we can deliver the goals we have set ourselves. These people aren’t boffins in test labs. They are real people, volunteers who have put their hands up to say “I want to change the things in my life that aren’t working.” They are women and men, parents and non-parents, people who live and work in all sorts of environments. And together they are drawing up suggestions of common-sense policies that will translate into practical action. You can join this conversation by joining your local WE branch and telling us how you would like to take action on issues that matter to you. We will be unveiling these policies later in the year – and then we’re going to have some fun campaigning together.

[JonSnowKnowsNowt]

Sandi - will your party actively support women with disabilities, and what will it do to address the double inequality that they face?

[JaneMumsnet]

Hi Sandi,

We've had a question in via Twitter:

From @SamKmuffin

Pls ask [Sandi] to commit to prioritising women's sexual health in London - given at least 3 NHS Trusts are facing huge funding cuts leading to job losses & clinic closures! & where will women go??!

MNHQ

[SandiToksvig]

@TalksVig

Also what steps will you take to make sure that the WEP represents women of colour and those who aren't middle class and British by birth?

(Oh and also I think you are brilliant- forgot to mention that on last post!)

Such a good question and really tough. WE want to reach out to everyone and it is critical that the party is fully representative of every aspect of society. How we do that is not going to be easy and if I had the answer I would be delighted. I think it has to be a grass roots movement. I want all the millions of people who failed to vote in the last election to get engaged with the democratic process. WE are in touch with many great organisations in the women's sector with a view to working together and ensuring representation at the widest level. The good news is that there are already more than 50 local branches across the country and anyone can join. It costs nothing to go to a meeting and get involved. Whoever you are - lower, middle, upper class, British by birth or not, women and men of every colour - please come and join us.

[Backforthis]

Thank you.

I'm stunned to hear you had death threats. I've heard you speak about Save the Children dropping you for coming out but I had no idea you had to deal with that level of vitriol. I'm so sorry you and your family had to deal with that.

I am going to join. You had me at non partisan. That's just how it should be.

[SandiToksvig]

@TrollTheRespawnJeremy

Sandi- the woman who proves that women are allowed to be attractive, funny AND clever.

I enjoy what you do, but I'd like to know what makes you tick... Any books or documentaries that I should put onto my 'Must Read/View' list? (About any subject you fancy. )

I always recommend a book called Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles which is a wonderful look at history from a women's point of view. It shows how many women have been excluded from our general understanding of how the world has been shaped. Cat Banyard's book The Equality Illusion is also great.

[Hollycam]

You should have a look at Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner too (incredibly readable, enjoyable book about how masculine economics is, and why it's a feminist issue)
Hx

[SandiToksvig]

@fiddlybulb

Oh Sandi, please say you've got plans to work with Susan calman again?

And thank you (fervently) for hosting a show that regularly was truly dominated by women's voices. I remember Rebecca front getting genuinely passionate about the misogynistic bullying of Julia Gillard; it felt like a really serious, important moment in British radio.

What's your favourite moment from the News Quiz over the years?

Without a doubt my favourite moment was with the late, great Linda Smith. It was national condom week and I was explaining that I had received a condom measuring device in the post (why I do not know) and how it was like one of those pieces of plastic you use to determine how much spaghetti you need for a family of four or five or whatever. Simon Hoggart asked at what stage you were supposed to measure the gentleman. I said I didn't understand the question and Linda said 'Simon wants to know if the man needs to be al dente.' We laughed for about half an hour.

[TalksVig]

Thank you for answering my question, can I ask another?

While I realise you are extending the olive branch to men to help create an equal society... is there not a little part of you that thought that there are enough men in bloody politics and that the "feminists" ones are often the worst for mansplaining feminism to women?

I'm scared the party will be infiltrated by 'right on' lefty men who are showing women how to do politics!

[EarlGreyhamGreene]

Is part of the problem with modern politics that politicians are so fantastically dull? Do you think they do it on purpose so they can get away with passing whatever bills/laws they like? If so thank God you're getting involved and making in interesting Sandi

[JaneMumsnet]

And another Twitter question, from @claire_sen:

Have you been to Giffords circus recently? My husband remembers you and says you're lovely (He was the musical director)

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

What about members of other parties? Can we still join? Especially as it's doubtful that we'll all have a WE candidate on the ballot paper just yet.

Also, don't you worry that this will attract Labour, Lib Dems and Greens, and therefore you risk letting the Tories in in marginal seats?

[Lio]

Oh yes, that spaghetti measuring thing was the funniest thing I've ever heard on the radio and possibly anywhere else: Large, Medium and... Trim! Linda Smith is sorely missed.

I am also a paid up member of WE.

[FirstOfficerDouglasRichardson]

I don't have a question but can I just say I admire Sandi and her team greatly for setting up this party and will watch with interest.

[Backforthis]

Linda Smith and the spaghetti. From 14:35.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8N-c4gv4i0

[fiddlybulb]

'Erith isn't twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham' - that was Linda Smith wasn't it

[SandiToksvig]

@Myturnnow4

Sorry, I hope I will be forgiven another question. Hopefully we'll hear a lot about the aims of the party. Have there been any decisions on what the party won't be doing/aiming for?

WE have a brand new way of doing politics. Those people who stand for our party as candidates will be fully signed up to our six key objectives. Other than that the candidate will make clear their personal preferences and beliefs in other areas. As long as those don't interfere with the core messages of WE then the candidate is free to expressive themselves as an individual. Too much of politics today consists solely of sound bites which appear to have been created by a committee. It would be great to hear our politicians speak from the heart. Let's find out what they are really made of and not just some superficial spin.

We also won't be doing
Soup recipes (although I'm very good on a stilton based one)
Origami and
Model railway (although I do have one on my desk)

I am open to suggestions for other things not to do. I am not going to be writing hedgehog poems as someone else has already cornered that market.

[SandiToksvig]

@EarlGreyhamGreene

Is part of the problem with modern politics that politicians are so fantastically dull? Do you think they do it on purpose so they can get away with passing whatever bills/laws they like? If so thank God you're getting involved and making in interesting Sandi

Yes, oh my goodness, yes how dull some of them are. There are far too many career politicians who study politics at uni, then become interns, then politicians and then bore us to death. They become so immersed in the political world that they forget about the real world everyone else lives in. We so want to break that mould that we are going to be the first party to offer affiliate membership. If you already belong to a political party then you can still join us and persuade your existing party of the need for equality. Let's find new ways to get the job done. This is the only way forward and will pleasingly really upset the dull politicians.

[SandiToksvig]

@TalksVig

Thank you for answering my question, can I ask another?

While I realise you are extending the olive branch to men to help create an equal society... is there not a little part of you that thought that there are enough men in bloody politics and that the "feminists" ones are often the worst for mansplaining feminism to women?

I'm scared the party will be infiltrated by 'right on' lefty men who are showing women how to do politics!

Infiltrated? You don't think we'll spot them? Do they wear sunglasses and false moustaches? I'm on the alert now so thanks. Thanks indeed to everyone. I'm off to visit my in-laws. Wish me luck.

[fiddlybulb]

Bye Sandi. I bet your in-laws are lovely really