During the 2015 Election campaign I heard something quite astonishing. Something that grabbed my attention, something that made me stop my car and listen. What was that? you may well ask, well it was Catherine Mayer being interviewed on the BBC Today programme on Radio 4 just after 5pm. Sadly I missed the start of the interview but as I listened I wanted to know which political party this person represented as I was swung to vote for them there and then. That is how much the words of Catherine Mayer struck a chord with me.
The Women's Equality Party suddenly became a goal to be a part of, and as soon as the party opened its doors for membership I was in there like a shot. It isn't just me either who has been inspired to be part of this party. Of course I can't speak for others, just for myself, and this is why I am #WEP_UK.
The party is definitively pan-political. Regardless of your specific leanings, the core objectives of the Women's Equality Party apply. These are:
1. WE are pushing for equal representation in politics, business, industry and throughout working life.
2. WE are pressing for equal pay and an equal opportunity to thrive.
3. WE are campaigning for equal parenting and caregiving and shared responsibilities at home to give everyone equal opportunities both in family life and in the work place.
4. WE urge an education system that creates opportunities for all children and an understanding of why this matters.
5. WE strive for equal treatment of women by and in the media.
6. WE seek an end to violence against women.
You tell me a politician of whatever persuasion who is against any one of those objectives and I think I would have to dine on my hat. The problem is that they are not core to any of the established parties, and are not considered important enough yet they really should be. This has to, and will, change.
The main problem though is that we as a society, nay the world at large really, are very hung up on the gender binary. We somehow seem to conveniently forget that as a whole we are people. There as as many talented, gifted, and skilled women as their are men. What is needed is to have the best people doing the jobs, not put aside those who could be the best people simply to get the visible gender balance correct.
In my humble opinion, it is not necessary to have the numbers match, as the 50/50 parliament twitter group desires. It may well be that in doing so we throw onto the scrapheap the right person for the job simply because they are the wrong gender. To do this would be just as wrong as ignoring women in the first place has been. If it transpired that the current makeup of parliament had in its members the right people then naturally they would have the views of the Women's Equality Party across the board, there really would be no need for the Party full stop. But they don't, and there's the rub.
The Women's Equality Party embodies the right attitude, of having the right person for the job. Men are very welcome to be a part, this isn't another gender exclusive party as we have seen in the past. It's focussed on Women's Equality simply because that is where the greatest inequality is found, but inequality is just women focussed?, not at all. Men have just as much at stake as women in equality and the single biggest inequality suffered by men is in their role as a parent. Raising children is perhaps the most single satisfying, and fulfilling job I have ever done. Sure children can be frustrating at times, but the pleasure of seeing a well rounded individual take their rightful place in society and start to contribute to it is wonderful. Our society makes this hard for men, and it really shouldn't. Objective number 3 is aimed fairly at getting men the equality they, and their family, rightly deserve.
This one aspect was the key to getting me on board. Here was equality being striven for in all the major areas that effect our lives, not just for one gender. Put these six objectives at the heart of any political party and we are on the road for a much better and fairer society. It is time to stop working in a binary structure, working against each other which diminishes the effort. Pull together, sharing equally in all aspects will bring about such a change that will be to the benefit of all people.
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