Webchat about women/mums in politics with Stella Creasy and Caroline Nokes - 1st February

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hello,

We're delighted to announce a webchat on the 1st February, from 12.30 to 1.30pm with Caroline Nokes MP and Stella Creasy MP about women and mothers in politics. We know that women - and particularly mums - are underrepresented in politics, and that the makeup of those walking the corridors of power affects the decisions that are made. The webchat is part of the work we’re doing to explore the barriers for women and mums and see what can be done to encourage more of them to get involved.

Caroline Nokes is the conservative party MP for Romsey and Southampton North and the current Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee in Parliament, where she is leading an inquiry into menopause in the workplace. Since her election in 2010 she has served as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, the Cabinet Office and was Minister of State for Immigration in Theresa May’s Cabinet.

Stella Creasy is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow in North East London. She’s worked on legal loan sharks, legalising abortion in Northern Ireland, to tackle tax evasion and the impact of the private sector on the NHS and for stronger action on violence against women and girls. Following the birth of her first child in 2019, she became the first MP to appoint a locum while she took maternity leave.

Please join us here on Tuesday 1st February at 12.30pm. If you can’t join us on the day, please leave your question here in advance.

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

[Letsthinkthisthroughtotheend]

Do both those categories have the same political interests?

[GettingMarriedAgain]

Caroline - If you knew that the majority of people in this country do not agree with self-ID and many of them have legitimate concerns about it would you still push for it? And if so, why?

[DoubleTweenQueen]

Just popped in to register my great concern and disappointment at the focus and output of the ‘Women’ and Equalities Select Committee.

Women are not a subset.

[JuergenSchwarzwald]

Won't make me popular but I recognise natal women and those who identify as women - and I think we all need to be just a little bit kinder

recognise in what way? Nobody says they don't recognise transwomen but they are different to natal women and that difference is what needs to be recognised. Do you and Caroline recognise that point?

As for women in politics, that is not going to happen until the abuse targeted at women is dealt with effectively. So many women left the Commons at the last election. What do you both suggest to stop this?

[murasaki]

Do you not think that science, and biology in particular, are important issues in the problems that women have in progressing in careers and life in general, and in being murdered by men? And that trans women do not have exactly the same issues?

[UltraVividLament]

ThisMumVotes sounds like an obvious starting point, but surely we don't need to investigate too much why women don't get involved? The women here have outlined the main reasons, it's not rocket science. These barriers need radical action to address. I doubt any of the main political parties really want to be that radical, though.

As an aside, the name "ThisMumVotes" came across to me as a campaign about getting women (mums only?) out to vote in elections, rather than stand as candidates themselves.

[FleshLiabilities]

... be kinder?!

Blue touchpaper has been lit.

[TeenPlusCat]

Politics isn't about #beingKind it should be about #doingTheRightThing and #SupportingSafeguarding for vulnerable groups including women and girls.

[BridasShieldWall]

Follow up question please.
Thank you Caroline for your response and referring to the recommendation that prisoners convicted of sexual offences should not be imprisoned in womens prisons. How has it got to this state where this is a recommendation? It should never have happened? A lot of women imprison have been abused in the past and find men in their space harmful. Why should they have to suffer this on top of having their freedom restricted?

[RepentMotherfucker]

I see both 'be kind' and 'be kinder'!

Wasn't that a movie?

[lamujerenfadada]

I wish people would be kinder to women. 3 women a week are killed in this country....

[GettingMarriedAgain]

Won't make me popular but I recognise natal women and those who identify as women - and I think we all need to be just a little bit kinder.

I think women are fed up of being told to be kind, all the while witnessing the abuse targeted at them.

[Blessex]

Caroline we are done with being kind. This is an issue that won’t go away and will get bigger and bigger as more women wake up and realise what is happening.

[CarolineNokesWebchat]

@Iknowitisheresomewhere

Do you think that women-only shortlists should include transwomen without a Gender Recognition Certificate (that is, include someone born male who is legally a man)?

You can guarantee that every time I appear on the media the first comment will be about my weight. The delete and block buttons are my friends and I often explain to people that they seem to have mistaken my facebook page for their own. You have to be very resilient in public life, but you can learn that - I have!

[Akela64]

What is the message being communicated to our girls and our boys when men are awarded and rewarded for being the best kind of women.
In sports
In business
In politics
In show biz.
In healthcare
In life

[CarolineNokesWebchat]

@AssignedBlobbyAtBirth

Technical issues=checking what they are allowed to say

Won't make me popular but I recognise natal women and those who identify as women - and I think we all need to be just a little bit kinder.

[BurlyShriggs]

Can’t get into talk now - my question to both is: How in your view can women’s rights and needs best be addressed?

[TheWorldOfCats]

You have just lost the vote of this uterus-haver/ cervix-owner/ non-man/ person who has periods.

I can't vote for someone who doesn't think I exist.

[SirSamuelVimes]

Ok, you want to talk about transwomen.

Should a transwoman be allowed to expose h** penis to children? For example, in the communal areas of a spa or swimming pool?

If the children are upset or uncomfortable about being made to look at a stranger's penis, are they the ones in the wrong?

In what way am I supposed to understand a stranger forcing my child to see their penis differently if it is a transwoman or if it is a man?

[Skeumorph]

@RoyalCorgi

What is a woman?

Yep, this one first please.

From a Labour party member who now thinks it's going to be a cold day in hell before you get my vote again!

[Blessex]

Do you think we are dinosaurs trying to hoard our rights?

[CarolineNokesWebchat]

@IcakethereforeIam

Would you have been happy calling the Queenmother the Queenbirthgiver? If not why should it be applied to any other menstruator (including, but not limited to, former and potential menstruators), or, for the sake of brevity, woman?

No - of course not. Nobody is going to stop me calling women women and mothers mothers.

[StellaCreasy]

@Thelnebriati

There are multiple barriers to women entering politics and they haven't changed for decades;

• caring responsibilities.
• finances, not just being on a low income, or having to manage 2 or 3 jobs while trying to juggle childcare; but also risking your entitlement to benefits. Especially if you are disabled. The argument goes that if you are capable of doing X activity, your disability can't be that bad.
• Rampant sex based misogyny within political parties at both local and national level.

all of the above- sorry to be broken record but this is why we set up the this mum votes campaign to challenge all political parties to tackle these issues and ask why so few mums put themsevles forward. We also want to fund women to stand to cover childcare costs which is something the vote mama campaign in america has done.

[lamujerenfadada]

Alot of the discussions around sex/gender in policy and law revolve around the fact the Gender Recognition Act and the Equalities Act are so badly worded, conflating the terms sex and gender throughout. It has allowed lobby groups to misinterprete the law and get policy changed throughout the country.

Is there any will in Government to rewrite these laws for clarity to help take some of the heat out of the debate?

[lanadelgrey]

If our definitions don't agree then we are talking about different issues than you are.
Should someone such as Eddie Izzard be included in a discussion about women in politics?
How do you feel when you see so many posters/potential voters here who define women in terms of biology when you have another completely different understanding?