OK so this is a bit of heavy post about politics. As we all know, the United Kingdom has been in an utter shambles since the 23rd June. We voted to leave the EU, our PM reigned, the pound dramatically fell and we were all left with a horrible question of: "what have we done?"
A few weeks on and our country is in need of PM. At first we thought Boris Johnson would fill his boots as PM but shortly after the Brexit vote, he stood down from the candidacy. I breathed a sigh of relief and annoyance when Nigel Farage stood down as the leader of UKIP. Thank God he wasn't going to be the PM but at the same time after arguably getting the UK into the most unstable state, he is able to retreat and have his privacy now that the dirty work is done. I'm a bit of a socialist at heart and a Left-winger and to be quite frank, UK politics is at the worst its ever been. All leaders from both sides seem to have no idea what they are doing. Labour, the party I would sometimes side with, has really let me down with Jeremy Corbyn. He was far too on the fence over the Referendum and I think he could have done much for the Remain side and Labour. At the time of writing this, he still appears to be the Labour leader but that could all change if the last month of UK politics is anything to go by.
So after Cameron resigned and Boris ruled himself out of leadership, who the hell was going to be our next Prime Minister? We were threatened with Michael Gove but two figures came to prominence: Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. Which to be honest, it is like picking the lesser of two evils, figuring out who isn't going to mess our country up the most. Prior to Brexit, I had never heard of Leadsom and had no idea what her politics were. I think a lot of people were apprehensive of her, apart from Daily Mail readers. The idea of a second female PM is great to come to terms with but there is always a difference made to female politicians. Speaking to The Times, Leadsom allegedly said that being a mother would give her an advantage as a potential prime minister. Now this kind of comment angers me. I think it is shocking that a woman would use motherhood as ammunition against another woman who is childless to gain an upperhand. First of all, not every woman is meant to have children. Women either choose not to have children or unfortunately cannot have children. I think for a woman to go after another woman over the basis of being a mother is a low blow. Leadsom answered whether or not she felt like a "mum in politics":
A few weeks on and our country is in need of PM. At first we thought Boris Johnson would fill his boots as PM but shortly after the Brexit vote, he stood down from the candidacy. I breathed a sigh of relief and annoyance when Nigel Farage stood down as the leader of UKIP. Thank God he wasn't going to be the PM but at the same time after arguably getting the UK into the most unstable state, he is able to retreat and have his privacy now that the dirty work is done. I'm a bit of a socialist at heart and a Left-winger and to be quite frank, UK politics is at the worst its ever been. All leaders from both sides seem to have no idea what they are doing. Labour, the party I would sometimes side with, has really let me down with Jeremy Corbyn. He was far too on the fence over the Referendum and I think he could have done much for the Remain side and Labour. At the time of writing this, he still appears to be the Labour leader but that could all change if the last month of UK politics is anything to go by.
So after Cameron resigned and Boris ruled himself out of leadership, who the hell was going to be our next Prime Minister? We were threatened with Michael Gove but two figures came to prominence: Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. Which to be honest, it is like picking the lesser of two evils, figuring out who isn't going to mess our country up the most. Prior to Brexit, I had never heard of Leadsom and had no idea what her politics were. I think a lot of people were apprehensive of her, apart from Daily Mail readers. The idea of a second female PM is great to come to terms with but there is always a difference made to female politicians. Speaking to The Times, Leadsom allegedly said that being a mother would give her an advantage as a potential prime minister. Now this kind of comment angers me. I think it is shocking that a woman would use motherhood as ammunition against another woman who is childless to gain an upperhand. First of all, not every woman is meant to have children. Women either choose not to have children or unfortunately cannot have children. I think for a woman to go after another woman over the basis of being a mother is a low blow. Leadsom answered whether or not she felt like a "mum in politics":
“Yes. I am sure Theresa will be really sad she doesn't have children so I don't want this to be 'Andrea has children, Theresa hasn't' because I think that would be really horrible, but genuinely I feel that being a mum means you have a very real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake"
Let me be the first to say that being a mother obviously gives you important, transferable skills that can benefit you in many aspects of your life. However, that is not to say that being childless will make you any less of a person. Why is this question less likely to come up to a male candidate? Does it matter if a future PM has kids or not? Or does procreating make you a better woman in comparison to those who don't? Not every single woman is meant to be a mother! I think it is discriminative what Leadsome said and, despite not being a fan AT ALL of any of their politics, I do sympathesise slightly with May from a woman's point of view. As women, we are constantly told by society that our main role is to marry and have babies. Yes, we have become much more liberated with our choices and careers but there is still a double standard out there. Personally, I'm not sure whether I want to have children. Does this make me incapable in the work-place? Will I not make the same decisions as working mothers? Does that make me less of a woman? Having a family is a massively personal thing to decide on and at the end of the day, it should be about what YOU want, not what those around you want you to do. Leadsome bowed out of the PM candidacy due to a "media circus" over her controversial comments which paves the way for May to be our next Prime Minister, the second female PM after Thatcher. I am not a fan whatsoever with the state of the UK now. I am tired of living in a Tory governement. I voted to Remain in the EU, as did the majority of my country, Northern Ireland, and to me, Brexit only generates more hate and discrimiantion against other cultures and countries, thus creating a crazy, racist "Little England" mentality. Time will only tell how the UK will carry on with Brexit. I feel very uncertain of my future. We have no idea what will happen when we eventually leave the EU and I have a sneaking suspicion it will be far from good... Let's just say I've never been more in favour of a United Ireland. Could the six counties of the North be reunited with the South? Is Northern Ireland a more financially secure country if it reunites with Ireland, keeping its membership within the EU? Should we cut ties with the Union? That is an important question that will no doubt be debated in the coming years of Brexit.
Thanks for reading,
Niamh x
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