Dominic Raab is no more keen on the Equality Act than he is on the Human Rights Act
Esher and Walton MP Dominic Raab has just been made justice minister alongside Michael Gove.
Raab is a longtime critic of the Human Rights Act – this appointment looks like David Cameron’s way of saying he is serious about scrapping it. In January 2014 Raab voted to allow human rights grounds to be used to prevent a foreign criminal being deported only in cases where there would be a breach of right to life or the right not to be tortured.
In 2013, he voted to remove the duty on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to work to support the development of a society in which people’s ability to achieve their potential is not limited by prejudice or discrimination.
And in 2013 he also voted against making it illegal to discriminate on grounds of caste.
Raab also took an unusual stance on gender equality in 2011, when he expressed his fears that ‘from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal’. He attacked the ‘obnoxious bigotry’ of feminists and complained that men work longer hours than women (no mention of pay gap etc).
“While we have some of the toughest anti-discrimination laws in the world, we are blind to some of the most flagrant discrimination – against men.”
Seeming to have fallen at the first hurdle – assuming that feminism is anti-men – Raab also suggested that men start ‘burning their briefs’, presumably as a long- overdue retaliation against the feminists of the sixties (who did not, in fact, burn their bras.)
Raab’s diatribe continued:
“Britain’s not perfect, and we will never eradicate all human prejudice.”
This is especially true when we do not understand that prejudice. Another interesting choice from David Cameron.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
398 Responses to “He thinks feminists are ‘obnoxious bigots’: meet the new justice minister”
j.d.troughton
I don’t see the aspects that aren’t a threat as a threat. Only those that are. And in fact, much of feminism is women unlike you, who haven’t the self-confidence to see they’re not being personally threatened. You have something you could teach these people!
j.d.troughton
50% has to be worked for by competent women, not gerrymandered on behalf of them by men and women with power.
True feminism is about that, but that’s not what is widely practiced. True feminism is rare to see. Most of what’s practiced is the clamoring for extra rights and privileges (the good stuff) without wanting to take on extra hardship (like having to speak up at a meeting or car parts place) or responsibility (the “bad” stuff that earns you the right to the good).
You shouldn’t be concerned with the gender of your MP, that’s really sexist. You’re not making a good case for ‘feminism =/= misandry’.
j.d.troughton
I don’t think you understand what “power” is. How can you so self-ignorantly represent the very force I describe in my comment, and then deny its existence?
There is a clear difference between women standing up for themselves and men being oppressed. That’s never been questioned. Your reading that into my comments does bring questions up about your ability to comprehend English and logic (and I mean that as technical observation, an appraisal of ability that affects the conversation, not as an insult).
j.d.troughton
Thanks for proving my point.
j.d.troughton
Not how multiculturalism works, actually. And no, the parts that are about equality and rights don’t look “anti-men” to me at all. The parts that are anti-men look anti-men to me (like the mainstream, widely-participated in hashtag on twitter “#killallmen”; neither fringe nor widely panned by “true” feminists).