Wheeling out the WAGS but no mention of women’s issues….

With over 20 million women eligible to vote in May, I was appalled that none of the political leaders mentioned women’s issues in the first TV debate last week. This despite the fact the party leaders are clearly aware of the need to court women voters – why else are Sarah and SamCam being wheeled out at every opportunity? And I love the fact that Clegg has so far mostly resisted, even though his wife is clearly both the most intelligent and the fittest of the lot ;)

Having spent a day trawling through the manifestos last week, women barely get a look in there either. Labour’s ‘A Fair Future For All’ mentions the word ‘women’ only 8 times in 60 pages, mostly in general terms in a wider context making only one paltry concession to the female of the species with the paragraph:

‘’Domestic violence has fallen
by over 50 per cent since
1997, reporting of rape has
doubled, and rape convictions
have increased by more
than 50 per cent. But we are
committed to zero tolerance
of violence against women, so
we will continue to drive up
prosecution rates, tackle causes,
and raise awareness – as well
as maintaining women-only
services including a Sexual
Assault Referral Centre in every
area.’’

This sounds lovely but as far as I am aware, most rape crisis centres receive no government funding. Despite many pledges over the years, we have seen a decline, not a rise in support services for victims of rape and sexual assault. Labour have at least begun to tackle the issue of Domestic Violence this year but there is still a hell of a long way to go.

The Tory manifesto – a deeply unreadable 138 page document that manages to say not very much about anything at all despite it’s glossy photos and random graphs and tabular data – mentions women only five times (four of which are in sentences that say ‘men and women’) and have absolutely nothing anywhere in the document about women’s rights in any way shape or form.

The Liberal Democrats sadly only mention women four times, all in general terms.

How is this possible? Frankly it’s insulting.

I am leaning more and more towards the Lib Dems, based on things such as their opposition to the war, their pledge to scrap ID cards and refusal to replace Trident (saving billions that could be better spent on health and education) and more specifically for their ideas around the criminal justice system – scrapping short term sentences and channelling more money into education, prevention and rehabilitation rather than spending millions on expanding prisons for example.

But they by no means have my vote yet and frankly a nod to women’s health, women’s rights or women’s support services from Clegg or Brown in the coming days could have massive implications on which way I vote on 6th May. I am sure I am not alone