Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Like the Conservative party, I have a problem with women

There’s a great bit in an episode of Yes, Minister during which Sir Humphrey Appleby explains to Jim Hacker why women are a minority, despite there being so many of them.

issue 08 October 2011

There’s a great bit in an episode of Yes, Minister during which Sir Humphrey Appleby explains to Jim Hacker why women are a minority, despite there being so many of them.

There’s a great bit in an episode of Yes, Minister during which Sir Humphrey Appleby explains to Jim Hacker why women are a minority, despite there being so many of them. It’s because, he says, they share the same sense of victimhood that is the defining characteristic of all minority groups. Like all the best jokes, it’s funny because it’s true. Women behave like a minority, and politicians treat them like one. Given that they’re a minority with half the vote, though, it’s a wonder they don’t throw their weight around a little more.

Where did it come from, this sudden consensus that David Cameron’s Conservatives have a problem with women? Cuts are affecting women, sure, but not because they’re women.

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