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

[broccolibush]

if we all simply argue about the definition of a woman we are playing right into the hands of men who want us to do that

This is only happening because those men, and the women who support them, are trying to make the word woman meaningless. Why won't you stand up for what is right, rather than what is easy?

[DownWhichOfLate]

So this is about anyone who says they are a woman? That is disgraceful.

[ScreamingBeans]

But how can we know what she's talking about if the terms she used are not clearly defined and agreed for the purpose of the current conversation?

[Redshoeblueshoe]

It's okay Justine, most of us are done already.

[CarolineNokesWebchat]

@FOJN

Do you think the treatment of MP's such as Rosie Duffield and Joanna Cherry, by their own parties, will put some women off standing for political office?

Yes - the Parties need to up their game in working out how to support all female MPs - we saw too many clever and experienced women leave at the last election. Female MPs on average serve one less term than their male counterparts, that's a real problem. We need to be better at supporting colleagues once they have managed to get here, and enable them to have longer in Parliament to bring about change.

[ScreamingBeans]

Why not, if they're women? Is it because you know what a woman is after all?

[Letsthinkthisthroughtotheend]

My, high profile, MP admitted in a response to me that she and others were afraid to speak out on the topic most here want tackling today.
She was honest.
Your skirting (excuse the pun) around the issue does nothing to assuage women’s reluctance to put themselves forward for political office.

[Paddingtonsmarmaladesandwiches]

I think that having to define a woman as a "natal woman" makes any discourse about women in politics redundant. There is clearly a place in politics for trans women regardless of GRC, and our democracy is better for diversity of thought, however, to insist that "women" has to be discussed in the context of men who identify as women is deeply discriminatory to women.

[PronounssheRa]

I would really encourage you to look at the report the Women and Equalities Select Committee published before Christmas. There is a specific recommendation that people who are convicted of sexual violence or domestic abuse and who identify as women should not be in women's prisons

Not a question but to provide balance for readers. A response to the WESC report fairplayforwomen.com/women-and-equalities-select-committee-report-on-gender-recognition-reform/

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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.

[Blessex]

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

[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!

[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?

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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]

@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!

[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.

[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.

[lamujerenfadada]

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

[RepentMotherfucker]

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

Wasn't that a movie?