COLUMN by South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage
THE month of March sees two significant celebrations of women. On Saturday 8 March it’s International Women's Day, and on Sunday 30th it’s Mother's Day.
I am proud and humbled to be the first female MP elected to represent the residents and communities of the South Cotswolds.
And delighted to be one of 263 women MPs elected to Parliament in 2024, the highest number ever.
I note that my recent conversations about improving local policing and tackling crime on either side of the county boundary are with female Chief Constables.
Indeed, across the South Cotswolds and our country, women lead on merit in business, professions, public life and our vital public services. This is no longer the exception but increasingly the norm, and rightly so.
But there is still much to be done.
My contacts with teachers, police officers and those working with young people have highlighted serious and disturbing concerns.
They talk about a growing "toxic masculinity" infecting some boys and young men.
This reduces women and girls to objects of hate and abuse. Violence against women and girls is on the rise.
This toxic attitude is fed by hate-fuelled social media.
At its forefront are the Tate brothers, currently under investigation in Romania for raping and trafficking women.
They unashamedly describe themselves as "misogynists”, a polite word for bigoted women haters.
The Tates arrived into the US by private jet on the same day as our Prime Minister appeared in Washington.
The lifting of their travel ban apparently followed a high level meeting by representatives of the Trump administration with Romanian counterparts.
Seemingly there are many in the Trump White House who are big fans of the Tates - possibly including Vice President JD Vance, who holds old-fashioned views about the role of women, and in his reference to “childless cat ladies” clearly evoked the age-old trope of the older woman as witch.
Why am I not surprised?
Men have many virtues to be valued, and are cherished allies in the movement towards gender equality.
There are many wonderful male role models in all aspects of our society.
My Lib Dem colleague, Josh Babarinde MP, is one of them.
A London School of Economics graduate, Josh worked as a volunteer in the East End tackling gang violence and knife crime.
He then founded an award winning social enterprise creating meaningful work for young people at risk of offending or who were ex-offenders.
The vast majority were young men.
Josh is now leading an all-party group of MPs investigating why we have record numbers of young people, again mainly males, who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) and what needs to be done to change that.
There should be no limits on realising the dreams of young people, girls and boys like.
That is why, as your MP, I visit schools and youth groups to listen and talk to our young people. I also love hosting them to Parliament.
Young people need encouragement and hope for their futures. That has been in short supply in recent years.
I look forward to working with Josh and others to change this, and rekindle optimism amongst our young people that they have a worthwhile future to look forward to.
Meanwhile, I wish you a Happy International Women's Day and Mothers' Day.
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