Feminism

No, Thatcher was not a feminist

Feminism
Published on

So Woman’s Hour over on BBC Radio 4 has had a competition about Who has done the most to put women on the political map, of which one of the finalists was Margaret Thatcher. Loathe her or hate her, she still was the UK’s first woman prime minister, but is that enough to make her feminist, as he advocate on the programme kept saying? Of course not.

Thatcher merely profited from feminism and its accomplishments, without which she would not have been able to enter politics in the first place, let alone become prime minister. In her long political career she did nothing to advance feminism; in fact did more to harm it through her anti-working class, anti-welfare state politics. Yes, she was the first women to become p.m. and hence could be seen as an example to others, but feminism is more than just breaking the glass ceiling. If your politics are reactionary you don’t get to be called a feminist just because you were lucky enough to be succesfull.

First Muslim women elected to British parliament

Anti-war, Bloody Lawyers, Feminism, Socialism, UK elections, UK politics, Women
Published on

Via TwoCircles.net:

London : Shabana Mahmood and Yasmin Qureshi have become the first Muslim women to be elected to the British parliament after successfully defending Labour seats.

Mahmood successfully increased the majority of former International Development Secretary Clare Short, who has retired from parliament, from under 7,000 votes to more than 10,000 in Birmingham Ladywood in central England.

The Oxford University-educated barrister saw off challenges from two other Muslim candidate, Ayoub Khan representing the Liberal Democrats and Nusrat Ghani, who was standing for the Tories.

I see some things never change.

The announcement of her success came as Qureshi, who is also a lawyer, won by a reduced majority of more than 8,600 in the Bolton South East constituency in north-west England.

Not another bloody lawyer – like they didn’t cause enough damage already.

Respect Party leader Salma Yaqoob is seen as having an outside chance of capturing Birmingham Hall Green, which has boundary changes with the adjacent Sparkbrook and Small Heath, where she came second at the last elections with 27.5% of the vote.

Salma Yaqoob didn’t win but came second:

Despite being written off by the media I came second, polling over 12,000 votes. It is a fantastic achievement and testimony to a desire for a political alternative to the parties of bombing and big business. It is clear that many people’s fear of a Tory government boosted the Labour vote, puncturing the Lib Dem bubble but also squeezing my vote as well.

Not a win, but a good result nonetheless. And if any proposed LibDem/A.N.Other coalition falls apart, she can stand again.

CotD: speaking of libertarianism

Feminism, Wingnuts, Women
Published on

bob th Angry Flower

They talked about the same stupid post by the same stupid guy over on Unfogged as well and one commenter, A White Bear hit precisely why Caplan’s post was not just dumb, but offensive:

Whether a society is just or not should not depend on separating one group out and saying that if we can argue somehow that white straight women weren’t oppressed, then a majority of people aren’t oppressed. But (a) he doesn’t even acknowledge that some women are, in fact, Jewish, black, or gay, and (b) this kind of shit has been going on forever, trying to get white straight women to be collaborators in continuing an oppressive society. The white straight bourgeois part of the feminist movement is mostly about waking up one day and going, “I was told I was a beautiful princess and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!” What T-shirt?, sez all other women everywhere.

Even Christians have to obey laws, says Dutch high court

Civil liberties, Feminism, Oh Those Crazy Cloggies
Published on

To the continuing shame of our socalled democracy, the radical Christian party SGP for over ninety years has been allowed to discriminate against roughly half the Dutch population: women. Though not so radical as to believe women should not vote, they do believe no women should be part of a political party or seek any sort of office; women therefore can only become members without voting rights of the SGP and even that is a concession made only recently. In the absence of political or state pressure to change this, various lawsuits have winded their way through court and this week the case reached the highest court in the land, who decided that the SGP was acting illegally:

The court, weighing the fundamental freedoms of religion, expression and association, judged that the SGP should allow women to be election candidates. It is the duty of the state to take action against men-only candidatures, the Supreme Court stated. A party cannot refer to its philosophical principles by way of defence, the judges said. “Under democratic rule of law, political principles and programmes can only be executed within the limits set by laws and treaties.” The SGP was found to distinguish men and women in a manner that is in contravention of a United Nations treaty. This implies that the Dutch state will have to take measures to ensure that the party allows women to put themselves forward as candidates. The orthodox group does allow women to be members, but leading positions are reserved for men.

It’s not before time.

(Unbelievably stupid) Quote of the Day

'08/12 Election, Fashion in Action!, Feminism
Published on

Becks, defending the undefensible, arguing Palin’s 150,000 dollar shopping spree is a feminist issue, not to mention confirming the stereotype that liberals are on everybody’s side but their own:

Until then, the right for a campaign to take their candidate on a shopping spree at Neiman Marcus is a feminist issue. As it is, this is a dangerous enough juncture as the parties realize that fielding women candidates is going to cost them more money.

Proper professional politicians like Hillary Clinton do spend serious money on clothes, sure, but unlike Palin there’s substance behind the individually tailored pantsuit, nor do they pretend to be a Wal-Mart shopping hockey mome while pulling down a not at all bad six figure salary as governor of Alaska. They need to spent that much money for pig lipstick precisely because she’s an empty figurehead, a refutation of the idea that a female politician can be anything but eyecandy, something for the boys in the press corps to drool over.

Update: A much better quote from the same site, from Di Kotimy:

The important thing to remember, though, is that even her new wardrobe will get a tax cut under Obama’s plan.