Parliament Street’s Marina Muttik, criticises the Labour Party for recently holding an event which segregated men and women. She believes that this behaviour is nothing new and that based on the behaviour of similar youth- Labour affiliated groups, the future for genuine gender equality looks bleak.
Speaking as a woman engaged with politics, I can safely say how unacceptable I believe it is for a mainstream political party like Labour to be promoting gender segregation in this day and age.
I’m delighted to be able to participate and vote; I’m proud to debate both against and alongside men; and more importantly, I’m not afraid to say when someone is- in my humble opinion- is wrong.
As Labour themselves put it not so long ago, we are ‘one nation’; our parliament proudly seats both male and female MPs together. They are treated as equals, and unless you are a small child, you do not need someone to tell you where you must sit, let alone based on what gender you are.
In a time when a beach body advert impliedly has sexist connotations and deemed to be ‘not okay’, why is it then okay for Labour to openly endorse and picture the open segregation of women?
Not to mention that were this hall segregated by race or sexual orientation, I sincerely doubt there would be any question of how unacceptable that would be. The fact that these Labour members came in to this rally, saw no problem, proceeded to take photos, and publish them online, speaks volumes – perhaps they should have opened their eyes to the startlingly obvious elephant in the room.
A photo from the recent Labour Party event which encouraged the segregation of men and women
It is worth noting that there has been no response or explanation provided, though frankly it’s not needed since it is patently obvious that this is not acceptable conduct in modern British society.
Some may suggest it is a cultural action; yet if it were a prevalent cultural tradition to perform FGM would we also allow this exception where segregation has similarly caused so much harm throughout history? Given this was not a religious gathering, but a political rally, the argument of religious identity and practice is invalid anyhow; though perhaps with Miliband’s promise to make any kind of ‘Islamophobia’ illegal, even questioning these actions and asking these kinds of questions could soon be a crime instead. This could explain why Labour have been silent on the incident.
Moreover, this is not a one off incident from the left by any stretch; though Labour did attempt to exemplify the“diverse political culture” in Rochdale, complete with no women to be seen.
Then there’s the Labour Student branches, which enforce a women only ‘safe space’ environment and forbid any male members from attending. These are suspiciously similar to the known Labour hotbed of the NUS, notorious for similar anti-male displays with women-only forums and positions.
The NUS and many Students’ Unions have normalised gender segregation and blatant anti- male culture
A good (male) friend of mine ran for NUS delegate last year, winning more votes than his opposition; which would have been fabulous, had the NUS not then bumped him for his female opponent on the basis that they needed more women instead.
Then the group of radical progressives, which recently refused to condemn ISIS on the grounds that it may be ‘Islamophobic’, have also entertained the idea that it is wrong for men to compliment women on their handwriting or their ability to outperform men within higher education.
These examples beg the answers to the questions of why do we need elections if the end results are to be meddled with to tick diversity boxes? Why are compliments now being taken as sexist shuns? And why on earth are we misplacing our focus and instead regressing backwards to segregating men and women from each other?
If Labour isn’t content with belittling women by driving around in a pink bus, then this should be the final straw for both male and female voters. This is pure vote grabbing at the expense of basic rights, and is an affront to our society, where each of us should have the freedom to participate in rational discourse without being patronised let alone segregated for no good reason.
It is at this point however, that I would like to say a huge thank you to Labour for only making it so much more glaringly obvious what their “Better Future” vision is to be – a regression to the past.
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