Tory MP doubts a pregnant woman can do the job?!
This is a like a lightnng rod to the cause of feminists:
Source HERE
I am far from being feminist however this stinks of stupidity, pointing to Rossindell being a prick. To a point one can appreciate that bringing up children and working simultaneously is a very difficult situation. However to call into question someone's competence because they are pregnant and about to have a child is puzzling. I don't think should be putting obstacles in the way of those that want to do both at the same time, society and government should be looking at ways which will breakdown the walls and offer mutually beneficial outcome.
Obviously Mr Cameron has come out in support of the pregnant MP, last thing he wants to do is piss off the womens groups in the weeks leading up to the election.
I was checking the profile of the idiot that said those remarks, Andrew Rosindell. He isn't the most progressive of folk, voted against same sex marriage and other gay rights at pretty much every turn. Furthermore he as publicly admitted to admiring Pinochet and seems to like jetting off to hotter climates at the publics expense.
No party is perfect, Labour and the rest aren't. I just wonder what the hell made him make such stupid comments, especially given that on of the "Great Offices of State" is headed by a woman. It saddens me that we are held back as a society due to bigots like him. I honestly thought the days of women being expected to open their legs and pop out babies whilst also having the tea on at home were long gone.....evidently this fool thinks otherwise.
Thoughts?
Labour frontbencher Rachel Reeves has rejected suggestions that she would not be able to give a top government job her "full attention", while pregnant.
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell raised a query about the shadow work and pensions secretary, saying people must be "put in positions they can handle".
Ms Reeves said via Twitter that his words implied a "Tory women problem".
Downing Street has dismissed suggestions that pregnant MPs should not be given cabinet jobs.
Ms Reeves has said she plans to take maternity leave within weeks of the general election on 7 May, and is due to have her second child on 15 June.
Source HERE
I am far from being feminist however this stinks of stupidity, pointing to Rossindell being a prick. To a point one can appreciate that bringing up children and working simultaneously is a very difficult situation. However to call into question someone's competence because they are pregnant and about to have a child is puzzling. I don't think should be putting obstacles in the way of those that want to do both at the same time, society and government should be looking at ways which will breakdown the walls and offer mutually beneficial outcome.
Obviously Mr Cameron has come out in support of the pregnant MP, last thing he wants to do is piss off the womens groups in the weeks leading up to the election.
I was checking the profile of the idiot that said those remarks, Andrew Rosindell. He isn't the most progressive of folk, voted against same sex marriage and other gay rights at pretty much every turn. Furthermore he as publicly admitted to admiring Pinochet and seems to like jetting off to hotter climates at the publics expense.
No party is perfect, Labour and the rest aren't. I just wonder what the hell made him make such stupid comments, especially given that on of the "Great Offices of State" is headed by a woman. It saddens me that we are held back as a society due to bigots like him. I honestly thought the days of women being expected to open their legs and pop out babies whilst also having the tea on at home were long gone.....evidently this fool thinks otherwise.
Thoughts?
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Comments
everyone has to be working, while pretty pleasing one of their own!!!
sickening
TOP labour MP says she would accept cabinet position and immediately go on maternity leave.
Make your mind up.
If this was any business or company, that wouldn't even be an issue. They get the job and plan their maternity leave. Should it not be the same in this situation?
A lot of companies wouldn't employ a heavily pregnant woman who was planning on taking up to a years maternity leave within weeks of starting a new job
I don't think she should be the minister if she is not actually going to be doing it.
Any other situation and it wouldn't matter that much, but a government minister? That's just selfishness.
I suppose it depends on how long said person intends to be off.
What about Rachel Reeves constituents, what are they supposed to do while she is on maternity leave? Does another MP in an adjacent constituency cover here surgery's etc. What if he or she is from a different party and the constituents would not have voted for that MP that would be representing them.
That's an interesting point.
If an MP takes considerable time off for any reason then who covers their job?
im sure someone in her constituency who has a pressing problem will see her as not being able to fulfil her job if they have to wait months for her return.
It must be very difficult for any woman to have a child in this sort of digital post where only one person does the job.
Maybe before he gets in a plane or undergoes an operation he checks that the pilot, the surgeon and anaesthetist are not pregnant either.
And if this was a man with a condition that was going to require treatment followed by a period of absence would people be saying the same thing?
When will people realise the LESS MPs are about meddling in everything the better off we would all be.
As to who "does their job" when they are not there...the same people who do most of it when they are there...I used to be on first name terms with loads of the assistants/secretaries to MPs...we used to write their replies to constituents between us.
How can she do the job properly if she is absent on maternity leave?
Does the job require lots of walking and stressful meetings? At what point prior to going on maternity leave is her GP going to suggest she starts taking it easy? Not everybody gets the same advice, either.
A clumsily-worded remark coming from a Tory can not be anything other than patronisingly sexist because all jobs are entirely equal and if you are not operating that pneumatic drill right up until the point they drag you off the road to give birth then that is just such a cop-out.
That doesn't mean his remark is not patronising, but that really is the only word I would ascribe to it.
They can all be replaced. An airline can fly any pilot on any route. A hospital can employ medical staff from agency's as cover.
How do you replace an elected MP? The voters voted for her not any one else. Maybe if they knew she couldn't represent them for the whole time, they may decide to vote for someone else.
She has mentioned it in advance, but maybe she needs to include it in her election literature.
They can't speak in in parliament on behalf of a constituent. This is really about the argument that any job can support maternity leave, maybe that's simply not the case in all jobs.
Having watched her on TV a few times, I think she'll have trouble with that unless it's a party handout which she has learnt verbatim, so let's hope they remember to send her a suitable statement which she can memorise.
Maybe people shouldn't vote for overweight men...in case they have heart attacks, need triple bypasses and "won't be able to represent them for the whole time" either.
And they should be forced to put their BMI and blood pressure readings into their election literature.