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Newsnight/Labour Muslim Women Councillors

(78 Posts)
POGS Sat 12-Mar-16 13:00:49

News night was interesting last night.

It was following on from previous reports of victimisation within the Labour Party against Muslim women councillors, mostly by other Labour Muslim Councillors. Even threats such as asking one woman if she wanted her child to get to the age of 6. It is disgraceful and I do not understand why/how this has been permitted over a period time to fester. The only reason I can think of is fear of being called racist yet how could it be remotely racist when the problem seems to be entirely a Muslim issue.

' The Muslim Women's Network UK ' has written to Jeremy Corbin claiming women have been stopped from becoming councillors by Muslim men in the Labour Party. They demand an inquiry into the 'systemic mysogyny displayed by significant numbers of Muslim male local councillors".

We know there is gender segregation at some meetings but alongside the threatening behaviour which has been reported by some brave women how can this be accepted in the UK. This is a cultural issue but it should be stopped in the UK, there is no place for it, full stop.

Likewise I thought Labour MP Gavin Shuker was gutsy to admit there was a problem and called for his party to act. If this behaviour happened in any party I would be saying exactly the same thing but this does appear to be restricted to Labour. I am interested to know if anybody can point me in the direction of any 'known' such activity within the other parties as this is beyond bad behaviour it is threatening behaviour.

petra Mon 28-Mar-16 22:01:18

Other than, Whitewave it was just a coincidence that some others didn't see the post.

rosesarered Mon 28-Mar-16 21:26:59

I used to have a friend ( Indian, Hindu) who's husband was on the local council, and he got a very hard time from Muslim councillors ( and he was a man!) He gave as good as he got mind you.

rosesarered Mon 28-Mar-16 21:22:02

I may be writing to Corbyn about this matter, although if another poster did and there was no answer as yet after 5 weeks, is there any point.The more female Muslim councillors the better but they must be supported and not harassed once they are admitted to council.

Ana Mon 28-Mar-16 21:20:15

Quite, roses. What's 'rude' about wondering why there weren't more responses by left wing members?

rosesarered Mon 28-Mar-16 21:17:51

This thread has been going a while, strange how so many posters didn't see it. However better late than never. Not an opportunity to be rude ( tempting though that is sometimes) just wondering why no responses.

absent Mon 28-Mar-16 20:38:35

I am a left-wing feminist too or, perhaps in the light of Iam64's post, that should be two. If Muslim women Labour councillors are being victimised by other presumably male councillors, then of course this should be investigated and stopped, preferably by the Labour Party but also by any other legal means.

However, I did not see the television programme, I have seen little reliable information about this accusation and, therefore, did not post. My opinion (second sentence of this post) is so general and obvious that it is completely worthless. I am only making this pointless point because some other posters saw this thread as an opportunity to be rude about those of us with left-wing views who haven't responded to the OP.

daphnedill Mon 28-Mar-16 20:32:56

Yes.

Ana Mon 28-Mar-16 20:05:34

It's a thread about Labour Women Muslim councillors, daphnedill, as is clear from the OP. Do you have a problem with people wondering why the most vocal Labour supporters on Gransnet were/are conspicuous by their absence?

POGS Mon 28-Mar-16 20:01:21

Well I've given up on threads sticking to the OP or even being answered to be honest . So if we have moved on to 'Evening things up a bit'. Hmmmm.

In that case as the link is concerning the London Mayoral election and Zac Goldsmith I would like to say poor old Sadiq Khan has had some woes of late.

His 'Aide' , Shueb Salad, was suspended this month because of his homophobic, racist , sexist comments, jokes about rape and murder, says Bengali people 'smell' and oh yes thinks the slaughter of British soldier Lee Rugby might have been fabricated. No idea if he has been sacked yet?

I wasn't going to mention this but as a link to ' political profiling ' has been posted I have to say I had a wry smile over the ' Labour Ranking List'. I guess I would be in the hostile category.

petra Mon 28-Mar-16 19:56:09

durhamjen. No worse than Immams telling non English speaking / non English reading people how to vote.

daphnedill Mon 28-Mar-16 19:39:22

Is this a thread about female Muslim councillors or about who hasn't commented on the thread? Just wondering, so I don't go off-topic.

obieone Mon 28-Mar-16 18:50:22

Love is blind so the saying goes. I can quite believe it having seen the effects on people when they fall hard in love.

I had no idea it works like that with other things too. Who knew? I certainly didnt.

Ana Mon 28-Mar-16 18:43:04

Strange you didn't comment on this thread when it was current, dj.

durhamjen Mon 28-Mar-16 18:41:24

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/28/david-cameron-accused-of-racial-profiling-in-london-mayoral-letter-sadiq-khan

Just to even things up a bit. Nothing like a bit of stereotyping.

daphnedill Mon 28-Mar-16 18:23:26

This is the first time I've seen the thread. Most of it seems to be criticising the posters who haven't posted. What is there to say?

I hope the Labour Party does do something to sort it out at grassroots level.

I think that if there's to be integration of Muslims in the UK, the change has to come from women. Men aren't going to give up their power easily - nobody with power does. The Muslim Women's Network deserves full support from everyone. I think they're being quite brave.

As far as I know, there are eight female Muslim MPs - six Labour, one Conservative and one SNP. Statistically, that means that female Muslims are over-represented in the HoC. Hopefully, they will be role models for other female Muslims. The irony is that if they campaign too loudly for female Muslims, they'll probably be accused of being PC.

obieone Mon 28-Mar-16 17:41:13

Bumping this thread as some posters didnt see it.

nigglynellie Thu 17-Mar-16 08:58:01

I would think a Labour one obieone as this appears to be a Labour problem. I signed a local petition voicing concerns about Tory bullying after that young man took his own life, which was presented to our MP (Con), but apart from that I've never written to an MP either, but may well do in this case as a letter to JC on the subject in early Feb, with no response 5/6 weeks later isn't good enough by anybody's standards!!

petra Thu 17-Mar-16 08:41:40

Eloethan. Very true. But believe these women need more help because it is only these Muslim women who are going to change things within the Muslim community.

obieone Thu 17-Mar-16 08:17:47

Jane10, last saturday, asked if there is anything we can do to support these women.

I have never written to my MP about anything in my life before. The current one is Conservative.
Does it make a difference whether you write to a Conservative one, or is it better to write to a Labour one?

nigglynellie Thu 17-Mar-16 07:58:28

You're absolutely right Eloethan, all is not well for women in all political parties, but at least white women are not up against cultural opposition in such a misogynist (sp. I can't bothered to check!) way that they are actually terrorised by men. Mind you, having said that, chauvinism is alive and well under the surface in all communities if you scratch hard enough!! These ladies do seem to have a particularly uphill battle.
I do find it strange that only a few of us are concerned by this and of those the right is being the most vocal in what is a left problem. I hate bullying and oppression wherever it comes from, particularly the I'm stronger than you sort!!!

obieone Thu 17-Mar-16 07:45:56

Are there the same number of male and female candidates up for selection in predominately white areas?

Iam64 Thu 17-Mar-16 07:42:48

Well I'm a left wing feminist and I don't believe I'm the 'one' feminist on gransnet (see post above) I only caught up with this thread yesterday evening and found some of the unpleasant attacks on those of us with left/feminist leanings put me off posting before I'd caught up with my sleep.

I live in an area with a large Pakistani Muslim community. We do have Muslim women councillors and selection is currently taking place for one of our wards, which is home to a large Pakistani Muslim community. "discussion" is currently taking place because council leaders (white British) would like to impose a female Pakistani Muslim candidate. A friend who is white British male wants to stand but feels marginalised and discriminated against. Who knows what will happen.

Of course it's unacceptable for men to oppress women, whatever their cultural or religious beliefs. Of course anti semitism needs stamping on. I've also written to my (Labour) MP about both these issues.

obieone Thu 17-Mar-16 07:37:59

Good points but this thread is specifically about the Labour Party and specifically Muslim women.
Glad you raised it with your MP Eloethan.

JessM Thu 17-Mar-16 07:32:10

In my area there are very few immigrants and all the councillors are white.
There are 30 members of the council and 3 are women.

Eloethan Thu 17-Mar-16 01:26:19

I have raised this with my MP.

Let's not pretend, though, that all is well for white British women. An extract from an LSE report re gender and power says:

"The basic figures are well-known. 23 percent of MPs are women, 23 percent of the Cabinet, 24 percent of peers, 41 percent of UK Members of the European Parliament, 33 percent of local councillors and 13 percent of council leaders. Internationally, Britain lies in 65th place in the global league table of women in parliaments. This is lower than in 2010, and much lower than in 1997. The underlying trend is downwards, mainly because other countries continue to overtake us."

There are 68 female Conservative MPs and 99 female Labour MPs.