The Lib Dems have completely missed the point of a women's manifesto
If you're privileged enough to be able to ignore gender issues, then lucky you. But it doesn't mean they don't exist
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Your support makes all the difference.Put down those rubber gloves girls, and hear this: apparently you don't need pink buses (fuchsia, rose, salmon or cerise either) or polling cards that smell like Britney Spear's Curious eau de toilette to entice you into the political conversation. How do you know? The Liberal Democrats have told you!
Lynne Featherstone launched the LibDem's 'women's manifesto' this week- but this is no ordinary manifesto. It's a video parody of Labour's promises for women, and their controversial pink bus.
The video begins with Olivia, who we catch by surprise as she does her dishes. She tells us ‘what women care about’: children, schools and shopping, before she’s cut off by Featherstone. The message of the video is that women don't need to be patronised with 'cutesy little pictures', 'cute animals' and 'loads of pink'. What we need is the LibDem manifesto, which caters to both men and women. It isn't a boy's party or a girl's party; their manifesto addresses the issues that affect us all. A manifesto ‘for everyone’- without a pink bus in sight.
Except, different genders face different issues, and ignoring issues that exclusively affect women is dangerous. Men in the UK have privileges consistently denied to women because of how our society is framed.
A separate women's manifesto is important. Issues like the gender pay gap, childcare, sex education and the representation of women in politics and big businesses need to be addressed, and if a separate manifesto is how we prevent proposed changes from being lost, then I'm all for it.
Two women every week are killed by a violent partner. So the first UK-wide 'Violence against Women and Girls Bill' and the creation of a commissioner to enforce national standards in preventing domestic and sexual violence - as promised by Labour - could well save lives. And better sex and relationships education will teach men and women about consent and gender identity - subjects that are horribly murky.
If any of the nine million women who didn't vote last time find themselves engaged in politics because they've been directly spoken to, it's worth it. As a government with a serious lack of women representation, where only 19 per cent of MPs are women, women's manifestos talk straight to the disillusioned millions.
If you're privileged enough to be able to ignore gender issues, then lucky you. But it doesn't mean they don't exist, and this manifesto, like others for marginalised groups, speaks to those who need it.
Personally, I would rather that issues which directly affect me were emblazoned in pink glitter and fairy lights on the roofs of Parliament and screeched through a megaphone with some Destiny's Child playing in the background, than fudged and buried in beige, soon-to-be broken promises.
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