@cheeseismydownfall
The thing that really boils my piss in all of this is that the driving reason for AWS is the recognition of the need for women's specific SEX-BASED needs to be adequately represented parliament - health care, maternity rights, employment rights etc etc etc. Basically the things that make natal females completely distinct from transwomen.
AWS do not exist to make sure there are enough people in the House of Commons with long hair and pretty dresses.
FFS
This, and also the fact that the structure of parliament puts specific barriers in the way of women, e.g. lack of accommodation of women who give birth while in office.
It's striking that many successful female politicians (e.g. Nicola Sturgeon, Theresa May) don't have children, while the last 4 male PMs (Blair, Brown, Cameron, Johnson) have had very young children in office, 3 children actually being born while their father was PM.
Some female MPs have partners who take on most domestic duties (e.g. Jess Philips) but there are far more male MPs with 'party wives'.
I think sometimes female politicians would rather pretend that this isn't a problem because they see it as a weakness. However you can't hope to have equal representation in parliament if you don't confront these issues.