I thought the Handmaids Tale was fiction!!!

I don’t think I will worry about any dotty groups in the US, I know they’re there and have been for a long time no matter what President was in place.Now there’s a President that cheers them on, but he won’t be in power forever anyway.
Reform, or various people within it are saying anything that they believe will appeal to the electorate but if they ever do power share, say with the Conservatives as they won’t be in power on their own, then the actual policies they come up with won’t be crazy unworkable ones.And if by any chance they were then they just wouldn’t be implemented.

There are some that believe the Equality Act 2010 was "British" at core ( something Reform usually likes and advocates?) and represented "basic values" (doesn't Reform support basic British values?). The Act explicitly states women should be treated as equal as men.

Suella Braverman, sacked twice as Conservative home secretary, currently defected to Reform, is now Reform's spokesperson for education, skills and equalities. She has said on her first day in government she would abolish her equalities brief and repeal the Equality Act.

How do Reform supporters square this with their views of themselves as a woman (if female) or if you are a male Reform supporter -how do you square this with your views of women?

Do you not feel a woman ( for the purpose of my questioned- defined by biological sex) should be treated as equals to a man- if not why not?. What concerns, if any, do you have about Reform proposing to repeal the Equality Act day one in government?

TBH I have long been aware of the American ‘Bible Belt’, their literal acceptance of the word of the Bible, the refusal to accept Darwin/evolution, etc.

Decades ago now, but I was asked to rewrite a novel of mine that was going to be published in the US - because the plot involved two sisters involved with the same man - though I hasten to add, not at the same time!

‘Oh, we can’t have that for the Bible Belt - it’s Biblical Sin!’

But it was an intrinsic part of the plot, so I refused and sold the novel elsewhere, to a publisher who paid me far more than the original one was going to. 🙂

… which is interesting as Restore Britain is not registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party so what are they joining?

Has anyone looked at Rupert Lowe and his newly formed Restore Britain party? They are rapidly gaining thousands of supporters and Farage & Co are rightly becoming jittery, resorting to retaliatory tactics.

My mum was so cross when the Sex Discrimination Act introduced equal pay, She was adamant that a woman's labour wasn't worth as much as a man's.
50% of voters being female is no guarantee that Reform with its misogynist policies won't get in.

we are not brainwased the one of us havea brain
being in prison for having abrain is another thing
i think if they want is put in the kitchen then all sciences
built by women them give them back
no space travel half the digital word oh yeah you can forget about cancer teatments too
www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/17-top-female-scientists-who-have-changed-the-worl/

Before my marriage in the early 60's I worked in a bank, Girls/women's pay scale was lower then boy's/men's. I was nor allowed to contribute to a pension scheme. If those restrictive and discriminatory rules were to return I would join my DDs and GDs manning the barricades. I would like to see Farage at GDs Rugby club

Yes.

As set out in my post 17.21 : "I fail to see why deflection to any past LP shortcomings or current lack of urgency to navigating the complexities of EHRC interim guidance in any way excuses or mitigates Reform's current position to abolish the Equality Act".

I'm not seeking to defend the LP, I simply chose not to go down a rabbit hole of deflection about Labour's PAST shortcomings when we are discussing CURRENT concerns about the treatment of women in US and Farage/Reform UK's position and tendency to broadly adopt Trump's ideology, specifically pledging to get rid of the Equality Act. I find that most concerning.

LemonJam

Rosie51 17.21. I have not commented to date on RD and NE or raised the issue about the LP treatments of them, on this thread primarily about Reform. I feel under no obligation explicitly to comment, approve/disapprove or justify the LP's position regarding RD and NE.

Fair enough. I was just interested on where you stood, but it's OK that you prefer not to say.

Galaxy I welcome that you have disdain for misogyny on both the right and left as do I. I have not dismissed any misogyny on the "Left".

My answer to that lemonjam is that there is an obsession with misogyny on the right ( those interested in that should be closely watching the latest news on matt goodwin - just to show I am even handed in my disdain for misogyny on all sides) and a dismissal of misogyny on the 'left', that makes women like me utterly distrusting as it looks like an excusing of the misogyny of their own 'side'.

Rosie51 17.21. I have not commented to date on RD and NE or raised the issue about the LP treatments of them, on this thread primarily about Reform. I feel under no obligation explicitly to comment, approve/disapprove or justify the LP's position regarding RD and NE.

Sorry I'm not able to answer the question you pose about RD and NE I'm interested, does that mean you don't know about the different treatments, don't care or maybe approve, or disapprove so can't justify it?

Having said that this post is about Reform Uk. They lack even more effort and are even less transparent than the LP. I fail to see why deflection to any past LP shortcomings or current lack of urgency to navigating the complexities of EHRC interim guidance in any way excuses or mitigates Reform's current position to abolish the Equality Act. This is after all the actual legal instrument that protects women's rights based on biological sex.

Rosie51 17.09

I ddid read that you wouldn't vote for Reform- its fairly obvious neither would I. I also recognise you're unhappy that LP are not implementing things with the urgency you hope for and acknowledged that. Sorry I'm not able to answer the question you pose about RD and NE

Or acknowledge that labour were going to implement self Id and that it was the work of brave women that turned the conversation. I always wondered what would happen when the tide turned. I did predict it would be, 'but of course we didn't say that' we never said some women could have a penis, we were fighting right alongside the feminists.

LemonJam I've stated in the post you've referred to that I wouldn't vote Reform if it was the only party on the ballot paper. Please do not even vaguely imply that I in any way support them or think their policies worthy. Just because they have misogynists in their ranks does not excuse Labour misogynists. There appears to me to be a basic lack of urgency to implement any protections for women.
I note not one single poster has explained why the differing treatments of Rosie Duffield and Natalie Elphicke by Starmer and Labour was acceptable.

Oh they are useless on the issue as well.

Rosie51 14.27: ..."As to point 1 in your list nearly one year on and the EHRC guidance is still not being approved. Phillipson is procrastinating".

if you're referring to this Rosie52:
Current 2026 Labour Party position on women and transgender women:
1) Aims to balance protecting women's sex based rights under the Equality Act with supporting trans inclusion, navigating a complex, legally evolving position.

I would understand the LP means ( it's not my list) it "aims to" have a specific goal, intention or plan to achieve this, thereby putting in the necessary effort to forward that purpose to achieve that desired result. Thats is what the LP is doing albeit I recognise you are unhappy with the timescales. The LP further qualifies that it will navigate towards this goal as the context is complex and the legal position is still evolving.

following the April 2025 ruling of the Supreme Court that "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex at birth, meaning transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) are considered male for the purposes of single sex services. The Equality and Human Rights Commission ( not Labour) EHRC, issued "interim" guidance suggesting it is lawful to exclude trans women from women only spaces IF doing so is a means of achieving a legitimate aim.

The LP is currently having internal debate as some members argue that the " interim" EHRC guidance ( which may still be subject to change/and or refinement) could lead to widespread exclusion of trans people such that they would be discriminated against, which is illegal. See point 4 Labour pledges that trans individuals remain protected from discrimination and harassment as the Equality Act requires.

I don't answer to the LP's time scales to work through this complex legal issue.

Plus if you choose to be even handed- what progress has Reform UK made to clarify how it will replace the Equality Act yet still protect women's and other group's legal rights? Reform UK has not put any effort into this to my knowledge to date, not set out any timescales or been clear how it will navigate the complex legal issues. Instead Reform UK merely says:

Current 2026 Reform UK on position of women and transgender women:
1) advocates for a "common sense" (rather than legal) approach to gender focussing on protecting women's rights based on biological sex. Yet pledges to abolish the Equality Act.

Utterly none transparent and imho disingenuous.

The policies Reform are planning will affect every woman. I worry for my GDs about these ideas that come from the US.
I understand about trans and women's spaces which we need to.protect but this is a far bigger and more frightening issue.

I don't think either of them are good for womens rights, and I can't tell you how disappointing that is. I think people ignore the lefts misogyny and focus on the rights misogyny.
And I think people are allowed to hold different views on abortion, I might not agree with them, but that doesn't make them automatically evil. So as far as I can see Farage ( who won't have the ability to put any of this into practice, he in my view is another Johnson ) has said that the abortion limit is problematic, now that is a view held by many people, some of whom who see themselves as leftwing.

I'm not a 'political' person. I brought my daughter up to know how hard women fought to get us the vote and for us to be recognised. I explained how important it was to go to the polling booth and register her attendance and vote.
My fear is that women all around the world are once again being thought of as chattle, something less than a man by many governments. I have little trust in politicians, they all make promises and then break them, but Reform scares the living daylights out of me.

So Galaxy, have I got this right; you appear to be saying (12.08 & 12.09 posts particularly) that you believe Reform to be less of a threat to women’s rights than Labour?