Here’s why we should praise the women of Shipley, who marched on Saturday for a very personal reason
Over a thousand people gathered in Shipley in solidarity with others marching against Donald Trump – and against their own MP, Philip Davies [Image: Siobhan Clibbens].
Mr Davies has gained notoriety in Parliament for reasons outlined below, and plenty of exposure on This Site as the arrogant, filibustering bigot we all know him to be.
I have often appealed to the people of Shipley to take action for their own sakes.
It seems they have decided to do so – with or without my encouragement.
In the small West Yorkshire town of Shipley, near Bradford, a contingent of self-described “Feminist Zealots” [marched] in solidarity with their American sisters past the constituency office of their local MP – the Trump supporting, feminist bete noir Philip Davies.
Around 400 people initially said they would be attending on Facebook but over 1,000 people reportedly turned out for the march when it began at 12pm.
Jenny Wilson told The Independent it [felt] like “our little march in Shipley” was part of a much bigger movement.
She said Conservative supporters were more than welcome at the event and suggested that the party should be concerned about some of the positions Mr Davies took.
Comments made by Mr Davies at the conference of the men’s rights party Justice for Men and Boys … suggested “feminist zealots wanted to have their cake and eat it”.
He said the justice system was skewed towards women at the expense of men and believed that there was “no issue between men and women” – arguing that gender inequality against women had been stirred up by militant feminists.
The Tory later became one of the only MPs to endorse Mr Trump for President, saying he would vote for the former reality star “in a heartbeat”.
In the week he was appointed to the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Select Committee he also tried to filibuster a bill which would ratify the Istanbul convention on tackling and preventing violence against women – saying laws should protect men and women equally.
Source: Why women marched against a Conservative MP as well as Donald Trump
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It was not with your encouragement.
Why do you see this differently to the US women protesting against Trump?
Who says I do?
And how do you know none of them were encouraged to march against Mr Davies after reading one of my articles?
Come to that, I notice you are a councillor in Brent. Where in Shipley is that?
I’m a woman and I’m not best pleased that you have talked as though the women’s march in the US was not good enough. There seems no difference to that march and this one. Why as a UK man can you comment on the US women marching but I as a Brent woman can’t comment on your refences to either of these marches? The whole thing smells of the patronising sexism that I had hoped was being left behind.
I haven’t talked abuot the women’s march at all. I’ve written about it.
Did I suggest it was “not good enough”? No. My point was that the people who marched must now keep up the momentum and keep campaigning. If they don’t, then history will record that all they did was go for a walk.
In Shipley, the march was dedicated against the local MP and signals a move into activism by the people of the constituency.
Yes, I commented on the US women marching – and my comment was fair, in that it paid regard to the evidence available and drew logical conclusions.
You, as a woman from Brent, attempted to comment on behalf of the women of Shipley – and that’s not on. You don’t have any evidence to support your claim that nobody in Shipley protested against Mr Davies due to my articles about him. You just decided to take a pop at me for no reason, it seems.
And you’re wrong; there’s no sexism here. Your suggestion reeks of a certain attitude – crying “wolf” in the hope that other people will join in without considering why you did it or whether you had reason to.
Poor Philip Davies, born long after his time. What a struggle his life must be, having to endure the fact that fifty per cent of the population desire the same rights as the other fifty per cent.
Indeed he does see that which is why he is wanting men and boys to get the same rights, instead of being on the receiving end of bigoted sexism and other ism’s. I still don’t see why anyone would march against Trump in a nation where a, you have no vote on his election, and b, he isn’t a representative of your own nation, now perhaps a march against Barnier Verhofstadt etc. would be worthwhile.
Perhaps people wanted to march against Trump because they know he will have a huge amount of international influence and could do untold damage to the UK.