UK politics faces moment of truth as a string of sexist incidents rock Parliament, and other stories

#WomenLead (Issue 96): Your weekly round-up on women in politics

Hello, and welcome to Issue 96!

Earlier in the day, a newspaper headline caught our attention. A profile of Bilawal Bhutto, Pakistan’s new and youngest foreign minister, was headlined ‘Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - His mother’s son’, and we couldn’t help but pause and smile to note the refreshing difference there. 🙂

A very warm welcome to all of you who have subscribed to #WomenLead in recent days, we are so glad to have you on board!

There are some bizarre and some horrifying updates in this edition of the newsletter, where we bring you news from Slovenia and the USA, while the spotlight is on the United Kingdom, so brace yourself! In case you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here.

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Quick Updates

😵 UNKIND GRIND: In a rather indigestible piece of news, a pregnant woman politician gave a speech *WHILE IN LABOUR* as she participated in a political convention in Minnesota, USA, last week. Yes, we are not making this up even as we continue to be in shock and disbelief!

ashley fairbanks @ziibiing

Today in Minnesota, @ErinMayeQuade gave a convention speech while in active labor. And her opponent didn’t think to ask to postpone the convention as she, you know, had to go to the hospital to deliver her baby. What the hell.

Erin Maye Quade, a candidate for the state senate, delivered her speech while in labour. Nobody seems to know why the debate could not have been rescheduled, even though her team had requested for a change in schedule, her campaign manager told Good Morning America. Maye Quade eventually withdrew from the debate to give birth and her opponent Justin Emmerich won the party’s endorsement.