History in the making! Watch Parliament Live at 2.30pm!

[Sunkisses]

According to @SexMattersOrg on Twitter the Govt have backed down on the MOMA (Maternity) Bill and will now use the word 'mother' not 'person' in the legislation!

Women did this! We are winning!

Tune in live here at 2.30pm to see history in the making: www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/3ca1efa2-16a5-489d-a5a0-5d929bff81f6

The House of Lords is an anachronism
but it is MUCH better than the alternatives

@BrownFootStool

Can we have a list of the key people to thank?

Baroness Nicholson
Lord Hunt (but which one, there are 3!)
Lord True

Lord Lucas Lord Philip Hunt

fabulous thread, thank you OP. I will watch tomorrow.

Absolute respect and huge thanks to all the current day suffragettes who stood up for our rights today. (Men and women) the HOL was fantastic today.

I’m cool with people changing sex, I’m not cool with eroding the rights of women. ( female born)
we fought long and hard for these rights. Jesus, a big percentage of the world still have no/ terrible women’s rights.

American should hang its head in shame today.

Do you think there'll be a "mums the word" t-shirt?
I hope so!

Just brilliant

It is Lord Hunt of Kings Heath who spoke at 14.36.

Thanks op, I will have a look later tonight when the kids are in bed. Will also be writing thank you cards / emails to the relevant Lords & Ladies.

@SirSamuelVimes

Thanks op, I will have a look later tonight when the kids are in bed. Will also be writing thank you cards / emails to the relevant Lords & Ladies.

Good idea - that will be a lot of notes but it's worth it.

Can we have a list of people to thank?
I would like to send cards too.

That’s one for the archives that Mimmymum Tweet - might include a screen grab in my thank you emails to the HoL Members. I am sure they will be charmed.

Good news for a change

[quote OvaHere]A thread by JCJ

mobile.twitter.com/janeclarejones/status/1365003338534780928[/quote]
Ooh loving that Twitter thread.

I am so on board with "This is the ideology of the madhouse" t shirts.

@BattyOrange

I agree cheese I've often wondered what was the point of a bunch of unelected peers having a say in our laws etc. but now I see that they can consider and comment without fear of deselection or losing the public vote so they're free to challenge.

The HOL have over many decades rowed us back from other craziness. The idea isn't great, but the reality is often surprisingly effective.

It's in the Daily Mail (second item from the top!): www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9300415/Government-U-turns-inappropriate-maternity-leave-law.html

Great coverage here, thank you everyone!

What a spectacularly mean spirited tweet from Helen there. Go on, tell us how inclusive and kind you are again. Oh, does that not include older people? Awkward.

No wonder fervent activists always think feminists want them dead, they think that’s a normal and appropriate response to someone disagreeing with you. Newsflash: it’s absolutely not. Normal, actual kind people’s heads don’t work like that.

Riveted by Parliament TV

Waves to the HoL lurkers

@Jacketpotato84

Why is this so important? Forgive me for not being in the know but mothers and women are a "person" why the big deal i dont get it?? What if a transman where pregnant would they now have to be referred to as a mother? Confused

It's vitally important because if you lose the link between maternity rights and women's rights, the bill becomes pointless.

Only a small minority of MPs will be pregnant at any one time and it is a temporary state. There would be no reason to create legislation just to accommodate a seemingly rare condition that has only affected a few MPs.

However, most women are affected by pregnancy and the expectation that they will become pregnant. This is a huge barrier to women participating equally in government, and that is the reason for the legislation.

I was working but wasn't able to watch so just catching up. Loved JCJ's twitter thread.

Also, if you strip it down, mother is not a sex neutral word, but it can be a gender neutral word.

I hope this can be spread in social media by many , without fear of retribution. It is important and everyone should be aware.

Thank you for this thread!
What an amazing day, I feel quite emotional at this outcome. So many fantastic people defending women's rights in such a public forum, it's just brilliant.

Just bought quite a lot of thank you cards. I thanked Baroness Noakes and Lord Hunt on Twitter the other day along with The Baroness but I want to send something to all of them who were prepared to speak up.

This is absolutely brilliant stuff! Thank you so much for sharing.