This is not a culture war: British women feel politically homeless | General Election 2024

Jane Embury, from Devizes, Wiltshire, lost her job and home due to the pandemic.

She and her husband’s manufacturing business, which produces structural steel for commercial glass windows, was hit by import barriers after Brexit. Then Covid hit and construction sites closed. Embury, who lived alone but continued to work with her husband after they separated a few years ago, took out a $250,000 loan on her already-paid-off house to try to save the family business, but to no avail.

We went into administration in 2022, she said. I was looking for a part-time job locally, but I was too old to be a delivery driver. I had to sell my house to pay off my mortgage, which was $400,000 by then. I took $5,000 from the sale after all the debts and fees. I now live on the top floor of my husband’s house. My only income is the state pension.

Embury, 71, is one of hundreds of women who shared with the Guardian what matters most to them in this general election and how they will vote on July 4.

Her key issues, she said, were climate, the NHS, social care and polluted rivers. She voted Labour last time, but this time she is strategically voting Lib Dem, hoping to flip historically safe Conservative seats to orange.

She said many of the former Conservative farmers here had little confidence in Starmer but would consider the Lib Dems.

I think everyone should stop blaming Labour and expect immediate change when they come in. They will have a tough fight in the criminal justice system, the police, the welfare system, etc. They will work like a fire brigade from day one. It will take time, but all we can do is hope that they start to repair the rubble of the last 14 years.

Many of the women who responded to the online callout or spoke to the Guardian spoke of poverty, inequality, frustration at politics’ failure to tackle healthcare, climate and Brexit, and intense fears about the future for themselves and their families. They include mothers of children with special educational needs or mental health problems, mothers who cannot afford childcare, mothers of adult children who cannot afford to buy a home, unpaid carers, women who feel exploited in low-paid jobs with no prospects for advancement, and women with disabilities who fear harsher welfare conditions in the future.

The score also said it was concerned about rising extremism and political polarization, misogyny, violence against women and girls, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

About a fifth of respondents said they had decided or were considering casting their ballots, including Sharon, a 60-year-old social worker from London and a lifelong Labour voter. She has no home and no savings. Her two adult children are unemployed, though they are at university, and each owes about $40,000. She said private rental housing was beyond their means.

James Cleverley (centre) leaves 10 Downing Street on International Women's Day last year. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty

Politicians had failed to deliver on promises to build homes, improve the NHS and reduce knife crime, she said.

But the most important issue for me is women's rights, she added.

Sharon was one of hundreds of women who agreed that the sexual rights of women and girls were a key political concern in this election.

Women across the country, dozens of whom are economically disadvantaged or disabled, have said they will abandon Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens over the issue and vote Conservative or Reform, or have their ballot papers invalidated. This is particularly true in disadvantaged areas such as Lincoln, Darlington, Derbyshire, Warrington North, Truro and Falmouth, where Labour is expected to make gains.

Many have said they feel politically alienated by the issue, and Starmer has repeatedly described the debate over transgender rights as a divisive and damaging culture war.

“It's not a culture war,” said Kerry Clarke, 46, a housewife from Hertfordshire. As the child of a Labour activist, I will be voting Conservative for the first time in my life.

Clarke is concerned that the current Labor Party has no interest in women, their rights to safety and dignity.

“This is about supporting our sisters in prison and women's shelters,” said Anne, 61, from Burnley, Labour's most winnable constituency.

Anne has always voted Labour, but this week said she might abstain for the first time if she doesn't hear positive news from the party on protecting the safety and opportunities of women and girls.

Tracey, a 40-something from Kent, is a regular Labour voter and is likely to mess up her ballot paper. I want to vote Labour, but I can’t support a party that struggles to define the word ‘woman’.

There are a number of contexts in which biological sex is important, and women’s rights have been affected in recent years by the failure of law and policy to recognize this. Starmer wants this to go away, but it won’t.

Some have expressed concern for the safety of relatives who identify as transgender in the current political climate. For example, a woman in the West Country said her teenage daughter is transgender and expressed concern about the aggressive and dehumanizing discussions about marginalized people.

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About a quarter of the women contacted said they were undecided, including Alice, who represents the border constituency of Mid Bedfordshire where Labour could potentially oust the Conservatives from their current majority of 24,664 seats.

She wanted to vote Liberal Democrat, but felt the party had not done enough to highlight in their campaign the damage Brexit was doing to our businesses, our health system, our communities and our culture. Alice said the party she was hoping to win over needed to echo what others had said and talk about how to fix the damage.

Several women said they were having trouble deciding whether to vote for the Greens, the Liberal Democrats or Labour because Labour had become too centrist, and there was also the issue of Gaza.

For Women Scotland protests against aspects of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

“You may not be able to make a definitive decision until you get to the polls,” said Allie, 32, a local council worker in Reading who has always voted Labour in the past.

I can't name one Labour policy that would make a difference to me, and it wouldn't make much difference to the people who are suffering the most in this country. Where is the ambition, the hope for the future of this country? She felt that the Greens had the right ideas, but voting for them would be like throwing away my vote.

Louise, a 62-year-old massage therapist from Knutsford in the Tarton electorate, decided to hold her nose and vote Labour days before the election, despite preferring the Greens, as Conservative MP Esther McVie is expected to lose her 19,000-seat majority to Labour.

For the past 10 years, she has spent about 30 hours a week caring for her parents, a job that has left her and her sister permanently exhausted.

Like others, she was particularly concerned about voter apathy, especially among the younger generation.

Regardless of political stance, many women said immigration was a major issue. They told the Guardian that politicians should immediately close the borders and strengthen Britain’s security.

Helena, a 47-year-old teacher from Worcester who voted Labour in 2019, said the party could win support if it tackled immigration decisively, listened to the concerns of ordinary voters and invested in the skills of the country’s young people, among other things. Many of those polled also raised concerns about rising crime and the lack of proper integration of immigrants into schools and other public services.

Elizabeth, a 72-year-old retired civil servant from London, said she would reluctantly vote Labour because social care, child poverty and culture were among her top priorities.

She added that she had no doubt that Labor would have to commit to borrowing without ruling out raising taxes in some areas.

The Labour Party appears willing to do and say anything to win. [Boris] Johnson voters. People like me feel unrepresented, especially since I don't come from a hard-working family. Old maids are people too.

*Name has been changed.

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