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
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398 Responses to “He thinks feminists are ‘obnoxious bigots’: meet the new justice minister”
j.d.troughton
I made no such claim. I just opposed the incitement to kill an entire gender.
cyberspice
Its funny you consider my writing style is more like a gay man because I’m a lesbian. I did build my entire career as a woman because I transitioned at University. Every job I have gotten has been as me. I have two sisters. All of us were brought up equally by my parents. We all have professional jobs. I can live with my pay being less. What I object to is being asked what my boyfriend is speaking about when I’m at a speaker’s dinner at a conference. Like women can’t be experts in their field. And so on.
Some of gender is a social construct. Some isn’t. Your comment on “core theories of Feminism” shows you’re outdated. Second wave feminists very much pushed the “there is no gender” line. Third wave is more there is gender but women are no less than men. And that’s the problem. There is definitely still a power thing going on. If there wasn’t there wouldn’t be laws where men decide what women can and can’t do with their bodies. There wouldn’t be the situation where male razors are tax free in the UK but women’s sanitary products are not. There’s a general thing that women are lesser than men and when they are portrayed otherwise the MRA lot start complaining.
I suggest you read Julia Serano’s Whipping Girl. It explains why this hurts women *AND* men.
The reality as you’ve never been female you have no experience. Yes I agree there are in equalities the other way however the balance is very much towards the male side at the moment. My ideal would be to fix *all* inequality. Letting a man talk, with dignity, about being raped is as equally important, as not using “throw like a girl” or “sissy” as derogatory comments.
cyberspice
Actually, love, I’m fricking awesome. Oh I will live long and prosper. I’ll also continue to help develop neat products some of which you probably own 🙂
cyberspice
Wanting equal numbers isn’t misandry.
cyberspice
There should be shelters for battered men. However the statistics very much er on the requirement for far more female ones.