Conservatives For Women launch today

[ConservativesForWomen]

“If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion...”
Abigail Adams 1744

Here at Conservative Womens Pledge we told you we intended to redouble our efforts to win back single sex spaces for women and girls; well here is what we are doing!

Until today there was not a single group in the Conservative Party who centred the rights of women, so we are proud to announce the launch of 'Conservatives For Women'.

We are a group of Conservative Party members who will campaign within the public sphere, and in the heart of Westminster, to raise awareness of issues which threaten the safety and dignity of women. We will defend science, reason, free speech and the need for open, tolerant debate that underpins our society.

Come and join us! You don't have to be a party member or even a voter, you just have to care about the rights of women and girls.
conservativesforwomen.org/join-us

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/CforWomenUK

and Facebook: www.facebook.com/Conservatives-For-Women-104300591505734

We are working cross party with all the other political women's groups to inform and influence our peers and MPs.

@Floisme

I didn't read it as Conservatives for Women being a cross part group - as you say, the clue is in the name. I understood it to mean that they are open to working cross party with other groups where there is common interest.

I read it this way too

the Tories are hoping trans issues will be a cheap win for recruiting women without giving away anything they actually care about

Yes, these Tories have seen that the trans lobby is demolishing women’s long-held rights, and they support the women. I may disagree with their other policies and beliefs, but I am with them on this.

If it’s a ‘cheap win’, ie if they get widespread support, maybe other parties could learn something about democracy from this.

Labour have been eating themselves for a long time. They can’t even agree on a definition for woman. Until they sort out the issues within their party they are unelectable.

I wonder how this group is planning to campaign with not one person willing to put their name to it. Is that the point of this thread, to recruit people whilst you hide in the background?

Please be cautious. We have no idea of who these people are, what their backgrounds are or what their overall aims are.

@Hayeahnobut

I wonder how this group is planning to campaign with not one person willing to put their name to it. Is that the point of this thread, to recruit people whilst you hide in the background?

Please be cautious. We have no idea of who these people are, what their backgrounds are or what their overall aims are.

Of course people should be cautious, which is why we don't intend to publish our names on Mumsnet today. You wouldn't know most of us from Adam (or Eve) anyway, we are ordinary women, most of whom have been involved in this fight for years, in other groups and in an individual capacity.

Nobody is forcing anyone to join us, we are just letting you know that we are here, we have the ear of some MPs and hope to have more if we can make the party aware that women are at the end of their tether with this assault on our rights.

Thank you to those who have been supportive. We have always tried to show support to all the other political groups and it is good to see it reciprocated.

ALL women need to work together on this, from multiple angles; we are just another small part of that.

Yet another woman politically homeless and utterly fed up with all the politicians throwing away women's rights.
I wish this group well - cross party collaboration is essential if we are to get men to understand that our rights are not theirs to give away - nor is the safeguarding of children.

It's good to see this but I wonder how much headway can be made via social media. Women know this will get jumped on by those who disagree and many will be deterred. Opponents will then claim there's no appetite for it.

@PerkingFaintly

Right, well, based on this thread I won't be going near this.

I'm happy that your life is such that, FOR YOU, self-ID is the most important political issue, vizt:

"terrible threat to women that self-ID poses. (Thank you JKR!) I joined the Conservative Party, and have found them very receptive and supportive about preserving safe spaces for women - changing rooms, bathrooms, hospital wards, prisons and refuges. This is the most important political issue for me, my elderly mum-in-law, and my teenage daughter"

However it's a long way from most important on my list of political issues.

My life is at actual risk from austerity. The way Universal Credit has been set up directly threatens the very existence of the women's refuges you want to support. The rolling back of employment rights has affected women. And IIRC the figures are now starting to emerge that women are bearing the brunt of lockdown job losses.

So for me, those issues are very much more important than trans issues.

I'm not planning to lend you my support while you or anyone else discusses what a woman is, because the Tories didn't wait to say what a woman was before oppressing me.

In fact, by headlining trans issues as "the most important political issue for you", in the face of all that's going on at the moment, you boost the impression the Tories are hoping trans issues will be a cheap win for recruiting women without giving away anything they actually care about.

That said, I agree with ChattyLion that it's important to have groups working for women's rights within political parties. I hope that regardless of whether the group was founded on opportunism or for more sincere reasons, it does end up working for women's rights across more areas, not merely being against trans.

I look forward to seeing what you achieve.

All of this. I can't support anything Tory related, because too much harm has been caused by their policies. However the more women on all sides of the political divide fighting for women's rights the better, I did cheer a little for a Conservative MP pulled Johnson up on women's representation during one of the earlier covid Q&A's.

Stonewall and Mermaids have no qualms working with politicians across the political spectrum to lobby for their case. They see the cause as more important than factionalism. Pragmatism will be the key to making women's voices heard and making inroads here.

I'll chew my own arm off before I vote Tory, but good on you for this.

I wouldn't touch this lot of Conservatives with a barge-pole. what Boris, Gove, Patel, Rees-Mogg, etc, are doing to this country sickens me. Their lies, their cronyism, their incompetence absolutely shocking.

In the future? Who knows. Possibly.

I admire Jackie Doyle Price for sticking her neck out.

@ChattyLion

I am happy to see this. I hope you get a lot of traction in the Tory party, raising women’s issues from the inside within the party of government is essential. The cross party working is great and also vital, please do that. I think it’s going to be quite challenging for some non-members and and non-Conservative voters to join a group called Conservatives for Women even if you’re working with other groups cross party. Too big an ask for me but I wish you very well.

This.

I've been a Labour voter all my life but the dismissive and plain ignorant attitude of my male Labour MP, to my concerns over self id and women's rights has made me actively not want to vote for them. So I didn't at the last election.

I will never forget reading an account of what happened to Venice Allen when she was expelled from the party.

I can't forget what happened to Jewish female MPs and Corbyn's pathetic response.

I can't forget Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner's contempt for women's genuine concerns.

So many parts of the Labour Party still seem steeped in sexism and misogyny. In reality how much has really changed for most women within the party since Barbara Castle's time?

So I'm delighted CFW is campaigning to defend and centre the rights of women.

I've signed up and will do what I can to support, despite not being a Conservative.

Stonewall and Mermaids have no qualms working with politicians across the political spectrum to lobby for their case. They see the cause as more important than factionalism.
Agree. The TWAW lobby will be working with this government as we speak, and to be fair, they'd be pretty dumb not to when they have an 80-odd seat majority which is quite likely to keep them in power for a decade.

@SisterWendyBuckett

I've been a Labour voter all my life but the dismissive and plain ignorant attitude of my male Labour MP, to my concerns over self id and women's rights has made me actively not want to vote for them. So I didn't at the last election.

I will never forget reading an account of what happened to Venice Allen when she was expelled from the party.

I can't forget what happened to Jewish female MPs and Corbyn's pathetic response.

I can't forget Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner's contempt for women's genuine concerns.

So many parts of the Labour Party still seem steeped in sexism and misogyny. In reality how much has really changed for most women within the party since Barbara Castle's time?

So I'm delighted CFW is campaigning to defend and centre the rights of women.

I've signed up and will do what I can to support, despite not being a Conservative.

SisterWendyBuckett hits the nail on the head. The Labour party is completely lost and gives not a shxt about women or the working class for that matter. If Labour were elected, or in a coalition with the Lib Dems and/or the SNP, we would have gender self-id as government policy. And that's the end of single-sex spaces. The Tories are our only hope, currently. So whether we like the Tories or not, and whether we vote Tory or not, it makes no sense not to support what this group is trying to do. If the Tories restore women's rights and it proves popular, the other parties might even shift their position too. And then maybe we can vote Labour, or Lib Dem or SNP. But not till then because as things stand they will destroy our rights.

This is critical because if politicians get away with this, women will not be considered, consulted or listened to on ANY policies or developments, whether it be broad economics, education, children, employment, business, media, health, crime, policing, justice, transport, housing, wages, energy, environment, pensions, tax or the priorities for apportioning the national budget.

We need a powerful surge of women in a substantial, visible and vocal bloc if we are to make a difference in influencing parties and Parliament in all policy areas. We don't have that which is why they get away with so much. The parties have failed to deliver for women and girls and aren't going to unless we organise and exert that pressure because their priorities are totally skewed.

Am in following you on Twitter

Good lord the world has gone crazy. I have just had my post deleted because I pointed out that unless women and girls had access to female only spaces in nhs wards and refugee there was little point in campaigning for social issues aimed ag providing said refuge and healthcare. I did not use any word that could offend delicate sensibilities word just mentioned human with external genitalia which would be used to attack said women and girls to the description of us only as cervix havers. Or can’t the p be mentioned ?

Sorry so mad I missed word out. Akin to describing women as cervix havers. Apparently using the p word showed derision for they who cannot be named and their personal characteristics. How when that was aimed at being inclusive of those which I thought I would have to be not to get banned I know not. It was also perfectly factual. What’s sauce for the goose clearly isn’t for the gander . So I’m going to get banned now. Wouldn’t thought I’d see this in a free western democracy. Excuse me I’ve got the witch king of Angmar to deal with .... so I won’t be posting anymore. But I will be writing to my MP showing this as a glaring example of how women are being silenced.

Abitofalark "This is critical because if politicians get away with this, women will not be considered, consulted or listened to on ANY policies or developments, whether it be broad economics, education, children, employment, business, media, health, crime, policing, justice, transport, housing, wages, energy, environment, pensions, tax or the priorities for apportioning the national budget."
^^Totally agree.
You've seen the first call for it from Amnesty international Ireland. "We call on media, and politicians to no longer provide legitimate representation for those that share bigoted beliefs."

www.socialistdemocracy.org/RecentArticles/RecentIrishSocialistTDsAndNGOsJoinForcesToDisenfranchiseWomenAndMaterialists.html

Homeless leftie, appreciate what you're doing, but I'd die before I voted Tory. This one good thing does not cancel out all the repulsive shit the conservatives stand for.

It’s good to engage in a dialogue with people on the other end of the spectrum. Would be great to have some trans—supportive voices on Mumsnet for example, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore as they seem to always get bullied off.

Good luck with everything OP. Listen to as many views as possible. A lot of people on both sides are suffering.

I have just had my post deleted because I pointed out that unless women and girls had access to female only spaces in nhs wards and refugee there was little point in campaigning for social issues aimed ag providing said refuge and healthcare

Your comment sounds perfectly reasonable to me. This is the crux of a major problem.

Homeless leftie, appreciate what you're doing, but I'd die before I voted Tory. This one good thing does not cancel out all the repulsive shit the conservatives stand for.

I agree it doesn't cancel out all the bad stuff, but that's not what it's about. We can't afford to reject support for women's rights from decent people who differ from us on other issues. Misogyny is back in fashion, and I welcome anyone who'll stand up for women's rights -- even if I'll campaign against them on other issues.

I owe no loyalty to the misogynists who have captured the left. For the first time in my life, I would vote for a Tory candidate if s/he had a solid record of defending women's rights.

That's presuming that all our left/ green / liberal candidates were MRA lickspittles or fence-sitters, as they now invariably are.

Thank you PerkingFaintly I had no idea, especially about the UC wait time affecting Legal Aid.
Very interesting and worrying reading.