This was the year women fought back and won

[Igneococcus]

Janice Turner in the Times
"This year has been one of remarkable victories for women. Or let’s be clear-eyed: feminists managed to stop decades-old rights and safeguards from being stolen without their consent. So much frantic paddling just to keep still. "
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4df3b3eb-27c5-4f22-95f0-36f1d505c877?shareToken=a9fdeb3c0e2acf0489960da8cf596c32

Because impermanence is the nature of politics. I'm inclined to ask in return what makes you think she won't either move on or be moved on?

But to repeat my specific reasons:

1. Her party are not likely to be in government much longer.
2. in the unlikely event of them winning, there will presumably be a cabinet reshuffle and there's no guarantee she'll stay in that post.
3. She'll have ruffled feathers within her own party. We know that the Conservatives don't all share her views on women's right to single sex spaces, and I assume they will be briefing against her. And while she may well have Sunak's support at the moment, if he loses the election, as seems likely, he'll be out and - who knows - his replacement might be more supportive of self ID. (Penny Mordaunt was as I remember.) Admittedly they'd be in opposition by this point so it would have less impact.
4. As I've said, KB is presumably ambitious, she's already stood as party leader and I imagine she'll soon be looking for a more prominent post to strengthen her base.

I think that regardless of our political allegiances, we've been tremendously lucky to have Kemi Badenoch at this particular time. But I think it would be foolhardy to expect that to continue.

Sorry for that wall of text - formatting failures.

I agree with you. If Sunak wins he’ll stay and keep Kemi

She’s obviously highly motivated and ready to see this through

If Labour do win we’ll miss that energy and direction. It’s going to be depressingly much harder without her

I think the Kemi will go is a way to feel more ok about Labour coming in, if people are more tied to Labour? It makes sense to say she’d be gone anyway

NZ is showing what a change of gov means, sadly it’ll be the other way for us and we’ll lose someone ready to really bat on our behalf

Janice (and The Times as a paper) has gone increasingly soft on whole issue. That's a giant 🚩 we should be taking note of.

That's a really good point. It's a good article, but I don't think we can be at all complacent.

I think the Kemi will go is a way to feel more ok about Labour coming in, if people are more tied to Labour? It makes sense to say she’d be gone anyway
I am more tied to Labour, yes although I remain sceptical about their change of heart and I don't know yet if I'll ever vote for them again. I've been pretty open about that I think.

Maybe my old allegiance makes me a bit more clear eyed about KB's future? But I'm happy to read why you think I might be wrong.

As for whether I said it to try and make myself feel better about the idea of voting Labour? It's possible I guess - the human mind is a pesky thing - but, as I've already said, I'm not really into incriminations, so I'm stepping over that little grenade, although it does make a change from being told I'm a Tory voter.

Loved the article but I completely disagree the most important thing is the labour shadow minister agreeing with Kemi badenoch🧐

that’s like saying the most important person on Christmas Day is the person that wraps the presents and puts them under the tree completely and utterly ignoring all the hard work to get the presents and decorate the tree in the first place. Not buying that Janice!
plus the fact that if labour had their way there would be no Christmas at all

I’m not having a go but if I were to want this gov out and also thought Kemi is doing a good job it makes sense to say she’d be gone anyway (I wouldn’t call it clear eyed though)

I think it’ll be a great shame to see her out. She’s incredibly motivated on this issue and we’ll feel the difference without that.

I think she’d stay if they did win because she’s powering through without being taken out by any party opposition and would continue. This stuff takes time, but imo she has the tenacity to keep going

Look at that intervention with Falkner, this takes careful unclogging of hugely invested organisations. Without that we’re in trouble

As a point of comparison look at Duffield’s treatment within Labour, no Kemi type to help out

Once again Eastern I'm stepping over the 'I'm not having a go but...' It's Christmas Eve, let's have an early Martini.

Totally agree with you that, as far as I can see, there's no-one comparable on the Labour front bench. Dawn Butler is taking the spotlight off the senior Labour team at the moment but the idea of Anneliese Dodds as Secretary of State for women scares the crap out of me. The way she robotically repeats the same lines suggests to me that she have a handle on it at all.

Soz - suggests to me that she doesn't have a handle on it.

I fear the worst for a sane approach to gender issues in the event of a Labour victory, but the environment and society as a whole will continue to be wrecked by the Tories if they stay. Not a great choice.

I’m not though! Or trying not to, it’s just an attempt at understanding why someone would think in that way, and yes I’ll take an early Baileys and coffee and wish you many happy returns 🙌

I appreciate this forum for so many of us wanting the same things even if we differ slightly on politics. And I appreciate all those who speak up for sure so I’m don’t wish to be combative

Agree with you on AD. But I’m dreading a gov aligning with institutions and the more TRA end, I guess if it happens I’ll just have to cope and keep speaking up

Can we not forget Graham Linehan?

A lot of heroes have played their part. He sacrificed everything

Kemi is a shining star in the Tories. She has a good chance of the leadership in future if she can make allegiances within the party, she's popular with the membership.

Actually one of the more concerning things to emerge from Dawn "gay giraffes" Butler was this about detail Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting. Streeting I can imagine (given the Facebook group etc) but Cooper I thought was keeping quiet due to a possible theory around a family conflict. But she has also had money from GLAAD:

gendercriticalwoman.blog/2022/04/05/labour-party-anthony-watson/

I feel much the same way Eastern, which is why I've not decided how I'll vote yet and, even if I had, there's no way I'd declare my hand at this point - my vote is just about the only bargaining chip I've got.

But I genuinely don't believe any party can be trusted to protect single sex spaces. They're all unstable, vulnerable to lobbying and far too many politicians, I've been forced to conclude, are either not that smart or not that interested in the topic.

I don't think this issue is ever going to go away and my worry is that it'll come back, possibly in a slightly different guise, and bite us on the arse when we're least expecting it.

So whoever wins the election, we've got a fight on our hands, probably for the rest of our lives, which is why I found the tone of Janice's article a bit odd. There was a valedictory note to it I thought.

I predict a great future for Kemi Badenoch.

Soz hit 'post' too soon. I predict a great future for Kemi Badenoch but many tussles too. And I still don't think she'll stay where she is - make if that what you will.

Thanks for the link. So it looks as if two current shadow cabinet members are on the record as having accepted donations from GLAAD.

Particularly interesting to see that Wes Streeting, for all his current back pedalling, appears to have accepted a donation from them as recently as January 2022

How bloody wonderful to see an upbeat opinion piece, and, more importantly, to live in a time that merits one. Here's to many more triumphs in 2024

I agree with PPs who admire the upbeat tone but cannot share it.

We're nowhere near out of danger of losing rights for women. The misogyny of institutions adds to the difficulties of unpicking all of this and extirpating it from captured organisations. All the more so and young graduates move into positions where they quietly rewrite everything that they can to erase women.

We've won a few skirmishes but that's all. And the gains from those can easily be taken away from us.

I think The Times in general has decided that Labour should win the next election and us writing articles to bring that about. Times radio once relatively neutral is now very pro labour.
I think that’s what is behind this new position of the battle is won, well done ladies, you can all vote Labour again!

Yes.

I don’t think Janice is saying we have won, it’s all done and dusted. She states in the article “The Overton Window has shifted a fraction”. She knows it is not all over for women fighting this.

In my occupational milieu, it's shifted more than a fraction and not in a helpful direction.

I would be utterly delighted for everyone else's experience of this to be in line with JT's and mine an outlier.

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