No Green Women

The definition of woman has proved a headache to senior members of the Green Party. At a hustings for the role of Deputy Party Leader, candidates were asked ‘what is a woman?’. I can just imagine the panic each candidate must have experienced, the flushed faces, the sweaty arm pits, as each one was asked to define something that woke people no longer believe in. The blogger Guido Fawkes recorded their answers:

Nick Humberstone: “I don’t think we’re going to get any good solution on this issue if we’re trying to define a word because people have different interpretations. That’s all I really have to say. I don’t think it’s a very productive question to be honest.”

Cleo Lake: “For me the Green Party does represent equality. For me personally I believe in diversity and unity within diversity and I think very often our differences are what make us collectively very, very strong. I would also like to say I’ve become, without having had time yet to dig in to all the ins and outs… very disappointed to hear of rows, internal rows.”

Tom Pashby: “It’s a very simple question but obviously it’s heavily loaded and I don’t think we should be getting into political debate about the specifics of what it is to be a woman. A cis woman who can’t give birth is no less of a woman and you can apply that to people who identify as women. They’re not all going to be in the same exact characteristics. Some women are more feminine some women are more masculine so yeah, it’s not really something that we should be debating.”

Amelia Womack: “I don’t think we can talk about this in binary choices, it’s more complex than that. As a proud feminist my feminism has always been intersectional. I am very proud of the trans women who I work with, whose experiences have strengthened parts of our movement and ensure that we’re challenging the bigger issues at hand and that is the patriarchal systems that oppress all women.”

In all that gush, did you find a definition? I’ve read it twice now and still can’t find one. So let me give you one of my own. Apart from the obvious biological characteristics, a woman is a human being created by God, in His image, who is wonderfully designed with reproductive potential, with whom He seeks a relationship, and for whose valuable redemption the Lord Jesus died and rose again.

Somehow, I don’t think this answer would get me elected deputy leader of the Greens.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay