Webchat with Sophie Walker, leader of the Women's Equality Party and London Mayor candidate, Tuesday 19 April at noon

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to welcome Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, ahead of the London Mayoral elections, on Tuesday 19 April at 12 noon.

The Women’s Equality Party was set up in 2015 “to unite people of all genders, diverse ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, beliefs and experiences in the shared determination to see women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men so that all can flourish.”

Sophie was elected leader of the Women's Equality Party in July 2015, and in January 2016 was voted to represent the party in the London Mayoral election. She says she is campaigning for “work that works, affordable housing, equal caregiving, equal enterprise, transport that works, affordable housing and an end to violence against women and girls.”

She worked as an international news agency journalist for nearly twenty years and is an ambassador for the National Autistic Society, campaigning for better support and understanding of autism, particularly in women and girls.

Please do join us on Tuesday at 12 noon if you can, or post a question for Sophie here in advance. And, as ever, please do remember our webchat guidelines and do be polite.

The London mayoral election will be held on 5 May and you’ll need to register to vote by 18 April, today. (Keep your eyes peeled for more mayoral candidate webchats in the next few weeks.)

Thanks
MNHQ

While male politicians have generally been as bad on issues of womens rights and not had there arses handed to them in the same way I don't think it's because Sophie Walker is being held to a higher standard as a woman. She is being held to a higher standard as a politician who makes claims to lead a party that represents women while having policies that actively harm them.

An equivalence would be if Jeremy Corbyn took the same stance on trade unions that is held by David Cameron. David Cameron has been called out by the left for his policies but not, in general, by his own party because they are supposed to be anti union. If the labour leader had the same position on workers rights etc he would be hauled over the coals because the whole premise of the labour party is to protect workers rights. If he were to speak to a group of trade union members and claim that a worker is something you feel, not something you are and they should shove up to give more space to the landed gentry/captains of industry then he would be called out on it and nobody would say 'Oh, but Cameron and Farage get a free pass to talk like that'.

Totally disagree lightbulb.

If you run a party for women, if that's all you are running as and for, you best know what a woman is. That's basic. If someone went after Harriet Harman for example that would be different.

Cognitive dissonance my arse Lightbulbon. Sophie heads a party called the Women's Equality Party, yet they have policies that work against women, the people they are claiming to represent. If the party was called Transwomen's Equality Party, their policies would be in line with their stated focus and none of us would bat an eyelid. It's a pity they can't be done under the Trades Description Act for mislabelling themselves, but I don't imagine that law applies to political parties, even though they do charge for membership. Pity. And as already pointed out by HamaTime, a party calling itself The Labour Party is expected to focus on the rights of labour/workers, and gets a metaphorical kicking when it doesn't. No difference here.

No ones ever asked a Labour Party politician on a webchat here to define 'labour'.

How many of their politicians/members have ever done any actual 'labouring'.

Yes it's shit that the womens equality party doesn't put women first.

Afaik they did try but the trans lobby used their power to sabotage them.

There is no alternative party that puts women first.

They don't put all women first. If they did, they wouldn't be pushing for men to stay overnight in maternity wards. Or saying that whoever identifies as a woman is one.

They put some women first. They're certainly not fighting my corner.

Whether WEP's founders/media advisors have been sucked into the current trans narrative in with genuine belief it's the right thing to do which is detrimental to many hard fought for women's rights or been sabotaged by the trans lobby, they're screwed either way. A wannabe politician who thinks it's acceptable to obfuscate when it comes to fundamental issues on what they stand for, irrespective of the reason behind that choice, is on a hiding to nothing in terms of getting support from the demographic they need to court.

I was a member & cancelled my membership on the back of their previous dalliance on MN. I had hoped they'd learned from that & had something more considered & thought through to say, but that wasn't to be it seems.

It's a shame that they have started out just when the transgenderists are terrorising everyone into abeyance.
Not much they can do but hope it passes into history sooner rather than later.

"No ones ever asked a Labour Party politician on a webchat here to define 'labour'."

I'm sure many would, if lazy couch potatoes suddenly decided that they are entitled to full salaries and other benefits are full-time workers because they identify as people who work. Especially if Labour Party looked like they were pandering to those people and refusing to clearly state who the Labour force actually is.

Exactly Cote.

Besides the unions who represent workers still hold massive sway with the Labour Party. Which I don't have a huge problem with tbh seeing as they are the Labour Party.

It's like if the green party had a policy that was worse for the environment, everyone would call them up on it, even if the other parties had the same policy.