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

What sex based rights do you think are not protected?

We no longer actually have words to identify biological sex in humans. The words "woman" and even "female" can now apparently refer to gender identities, which means that there is no longer a word which means "all biologically female humans", excluding all biologically male humans.

How can you defend sex based rights if you have no way of identifying the people who benefit from those rights?

I'm wondering if the clear ongoing & unresolved issues at hand, continuing to dominate and distract from whatever aim both politicians had for this 'chat', have helped either understand how continuing to skirt around this issue rather than engage with women, is not a winning strategy at all.

Disappointing.

@TedsFederationRep

How do you define "gender"?

Do you understand why so many women believe that any parliamentary bill that includes the phrase "sex or gender" is actually doing the job of trying to remove or deny our sex-based rights?

they would be mistaken- for example, by including this in hate crime laws we can learn from best policing practice. Would flag that hate crime is about holding to account a perpetrator- for example, if they perceive someone to be a particular ethnicity and attack them, then their perception is critical to the crime. Including Sex or gender in hate crime would for the first time give women the protection from being targeted for who they are, and ensure no perperator could have a defence which is based on demeaning the victim or be overlooked because of wrongly assigning a victim.

Ok that's it folks - Thanks to Stella and Caroline for coming along - and props to Stella for doing it with a baby on her lap. Thanks for your participation.

@EastWellowBride

Romsey is not ready for a woman But the previous MP was also a woman!

And very good she was too.

Thank you for answering on all woman shortlists - glad to hear you weren't on one - they are an insult though I understand why some people see the benefit.

This is not so much a question as a comment.

I was in fact a councillor on one of the large city councils with a baby 16 years ago. It was tough but was allowed to take my baby to meetings provided I didn't breast feed in the chamber and she didn't disrupt the meting (which mainly she didn't). I found councillors of all parties to be supportive of my position and many of them ended up holding the baby!!

Creche availablity was absolutely non existent and there was certainly no option for a proxy so I had to drag the poor lass about and get on with it. I was utterly determined to carry on representing my constituents because that is what they elected me to do - I used to take casework calls and run constituency meetings with a baby in my arms, never mind door to door canvessing and leaflet delivery but still managed to get re-elected in a very marginal ward and later to chair a major scrutiny committee so can't have done too terribly.

That was 16 years ago. It was tough but I don't regret it. She's grown up with quite a social and political consciousness and I'm very proud of her :)

@DismantledKing

Could Stella please address the abuse given to Rosie Duffield, and the lack of support from the Party?

sorry just seen this as still struggling to keep up with how the threads work. Not going to go into detail in public but would say absolutely, have been in touch with Rosie to offer her support because no one should experience abuse or abandonment within public life.

Thank you for your response.

@thepastisanothercountry

Thank you for answering on all woman shortlists - glad to hear you weren't on one - they are an insult though I understand why some people see the benefit.

This is not so much a question as a comment.

I was in fact a councillor on one of the large city councils with a baby 16 years ago. It was tough but was allowed to take my baby to meetings provided I didn't breast feed in the chamber and she didn't disrupt the meting (which mainly she didn't). I found councillors of all parties to be supportive of my position and many of them ended up holding the baby!!

Creche availablity was absolutely non existent and there was certainly no option for a proxy so I had to drag the poor lass about and get on with it. I was utterly determined to carry on representing my constituents because that is what they elected me to do - I used to take casework calls and run constituency meetings with a baby in my arms, never mind door to door canvessing and leaflet delivery but still managed to get re-elected in a very marginal ward and later to chair a major scrutiny committee so can't have done too terribly.

That was 16 years ago. It was tough but I don't regret it. She's grown up with quite a social and political consciousness and I'm very proud of her :)

AWS is only an insult if you think the other people on the list are a walkover or that somehow being a man in itself makes you a better candidate. There were 27 other women who put themselves forward for Walthamstow - it was a tough process and I'm proud to have been selected in that way! Shocked to hear you weren't allowed to breastfeed- thats a protected right.....and worried that we act as if this has to be a struggle rather than holding to account both local and national government to make sure it is easier to combine family and political life because that benefits a wider range of candidates and so our democracy.. great to hear about your daughter and how proud you are of her!