Feminism and party politics

[msrisotto]

I come from conservative voting parents. In the last few local and national elections I have felt dissatisfied with all political parties and have opted for making a pathetic point by voting for the female candidate. At least I don't have to worry about individual politics because there is only ever one woman on the ballot paper .

So, I feel unrepresented and a bit lost. I'm up for persuasion here so if you fancy converting me then i'm all ears. I was just so pissed off that none had remotely equal numbers of men and women and none represented me even remotely. I'm quite disillusioned. Anyone feel the same? Different?

I'm left of labour but have always voted labour. I don't feel that the major three parties represent voters any more. I would never just vote for a candidate because they were a women.

Well it's either that or spoiling my paper.

hmmm I see your point, but if I voted that way as an American I'd have voted for Sarah Palin in 2008. And well, I'd have rather stabbed out my own eyes.

I think you have to continue to vote for the candidate who is going to do the most for women. And hope this eventually leads to more than one woman on the ballot and therefore a woman you really want to vote for.

I think Hillary Clinton should have had the nomination over Obama originally but we just weren't there a as nation yet. Hopefully soon though

I have voted for candidates because they were a woman before. Recent mayoral election I did (and didn't agree with all her policies. She was the only female candidate out of 15. Agreed less with the actual elected person though ). Although I wouldn't vote right wing generally (certainly not for a man) and definitely not far right. I am lucky though I have a great left wing feminist MP.

I wish they made it easier to get the drift of their priorities and leanings too. I don't have the time or inclination to read several billion word manifestos. I am far too busy and important . I'd like nice executive summaries collated and on my desk thankyouplease.

I'd say I'm more likely to vote Plaid now that Leanne Wood is their leader - though to be fair that is partly (maybe mainly) because of her policies rather than just because she is a woman per se. But I feel that a party where 2 out of 3 leadership candidates were female is more likely to take women into account when considering policy.

(I'm not childish enough to be influenced by her being thrown out of the chamber for calling the queen 'Mrs Windsor', oh no, not at all )

Oh I agree msrisotto. Manifestos are the pits. Bullet points and specifically putting their view on women's issues in a highlighted section would be convenient. Thanks

Abigail
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/1589152-women-policy-for-TUSC-that-you-helped-with-at-last

I have slightly buggered up getting this adopted as national policy, but it has ben generally well received
I'd be interested in opinions
Any other ideas from anyone?

Hi Julia. From the thread are you wanting input on the sex industry? Looking at the link on there I also have a couple of thoughts about the childcare section but haven't got time at the moment to articulate but should tomorrow. Do you want ideas on that thread or this? I don't want to confuse matters.

Thanks Julia, I've never heard of TUSC before but that page was very accessible and interesting.

any ideas about anything related to women that is relevant to (mainly) local government would be great

My idea is to involve as many women as poss in setting the priorities instead of the usual 'take it or leave it' choice over something pre-ordained

What do you mean by "buggered" is it OK to ask why it hasn't been accepted?

The thing that is taxing me at the moment, close to home is adult care services. The budget has been decimated and this means that the burden of care is mainly falling to women. More unpaid work which is unvalued.

In general it benefits women to have a small state, lower taxes and good opportunities so they can rise to the top rather than get put in some sexist ghetto which says all you are worth or can do is care care care at very low or no wage.

Sweden used to have a feminist themed political party made up entirely of women and their logo was a bright pink "F!". But even in Sweden they weren't too popular- they wanted stuff like forcing parents to choose a baby name from a list of gender neutral names and introducing a "man tax" (you guessed it a tax only men pay).

Frans1982 wrote - "a "man tax" (you guessed it a tax only men pay)".

How would that have operated?

Would it have been something like the VAT on women's sanitary protection products?

The Swedish women's party, "Feministiskt initiativ" (Feminist Initative), formed in 2005 and is still operating.

Also, for the past 6 years, there has been a Women's Party (Partia Kobiet) in Poland.

There have also been women's parties in the past in the UK, Israel and Iceland.

mini failed to get it put on the relevant agendas, was ill so didn't go to meeting - general buggered upness
all is not lost, though, so will try again

Xenia
is all that caring work going to disappear then?

No, we shall ensure men do 100% of it. Much more fun.

Sorry, 100% that's nuts. Caring work has a low status because it is poorly paid or we provide it for free. If men do low paid work or work for free.....guess what.....they are unvalued too. Its not the type of work and who does it, it is the fact that under capitalism only work that creates surplus value (profit to capitalists) is deemed to be of value.

Sorry Julia, I hope your better now I had a read and I support it!

I don't think we need a women's party.

mini

new members welcome - and are (astonishingly) encouraged to contribute