Pundits have been, quite properly, quick to point the finger at Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party when it comes to sexist attitudes. However, the Labour Party has some serious problems of its own with its attitudes to men.
Their last election manifesto was strongly gynocentric and the men who comprise 49% of the population were reduced to the status of ‘a problem’. This was reflected in the election results where Labour scored badly with men. The Labour Party doesn’t appear to see this as a concern, but if they are ever to be elected (I hope they will be) they need to address this problem.
In the last post, I noted that the formation of an All Party Parliamentary Group for Men and Boys was an important first step but expressed disappointment that no Labour MPs were involved in the group. I made further enquiries and was informed that since the 2019 election there are fewer Labour MPs and about 1000 APPGs for them to cover. I thought it might be interesting to scrutinise this more closely.
There are indeed a lot of APPGs and I suspect some of them are junkets that allow some nice trips abroad. Looking at the subject-based groups I counted 17 with a specifically female focus. I have listed them below.
Women and Enterprise Women and Work Women in Parliament Women in the Penal System Women in Transport Women in Peace and Security Women's Football Women's Health Muslim Women Period Equality United Nations Women Hormone Pregnancy Tests Surrogacy Maternity Breast Cancer Valproate and Antiepileptic Drugs in Pregnancy Netball
Each of these groups has substantial Labour Party representation, often 3-4 MPs. In contrast, the Labour Party is unable to spare a single MP for the APPG for Men and Boys. There is only one APGG to represent the 49% of the population who have a Y-chromosome and it is less important to Labour than netball, it seems. If your constituency has a Labour MP be sure to let them know what you think about this.
toxic feminism 