Pendle mayor hoping to start a chain reaction (From Lancashire Telegraph)

There aren't enough asian women in politics but first they have to realise that they are not slaves to there men folk, fathers/brothers/hus
bands. There are a lot of fearful asian girls out there who are afraid to speak out, who think they won't be heard. I encourage as many asian women as possible to stand up for your rights, you have a voice, you can get through this together, you are no-ones slave, no-one will be your jailer. The muslim girls school in blackburn continually gets the best results in lancashire. So after they've been so well educated, been to uni, got outstanding academic qualifications, some in politics and economics where do they all dissappear to? Where do they go? Anyone? i don't see any in politics, is this because having an asian girl in politics goes against the culture of the men making the decisions? Please enlighten us someone. I expect this post to be deleted like they usually are when some asian male complains about its content. Maybe it will be up long enough for one asian female to read it and spread the word. I hope so

He said: “There is a real shortage of younger councillors, particularly young Asian women
.
The young Asian women will probably be in Asian countries-I suppose you mean British women? as i feel that is what they are,or supposed to be.British Nationals...Who are from many countries other than Asian.

I agree. A lot more females should be in politics. But & this is a ":BIG BUT:" You are the last person to say that Women should take part in politics. Male Muslims class their Females as third class citizens.

Would you Mr Mayor take orders from a Muslim Female?? I don't think so.

First deal you need to do is educate your own race to give the Muslim females the right to be human beings.

'AlucarD' wrote:
I agree. A lot more females should be in politics. But & this is a ":BIG BUT:" You are the last person to say that Women should take part in politics. Male Muslims class their Females as third class citizens.

Would you Mr Mayor take orders from a Muslim Female?? I don't think so.

First deal you need to do is educate your own race to give the Muslim females the right to be human beings.

but you seem to forget the fact that Benazir Bhutto was a woman,she was in politics and she was prime minister in Pakistan and might be primeminister or president even now if she hadn't been killed. and i think Bangladesh has a female primeminister(sheikh Hasina),and India was ruled for many years by Indira Ghandi.so i think the answer to your question is ,yes men from the Indian sub-continent would and has taken orders from females,i know some men are scum and expect their women to be at their beck and call but that has nothing to do with religion,it's just their egos and cave man mentality,i am a female muslim and i have never been treated as a third class citizen,in fact i have always been encouraged to pursue my career by my husband ,and that goes for a lot of Asian women whom i know.

I am disgusted - if there were a white mayor saying specifically that there isn't enough young white women in politics would it not be deemed racist? And indeed, where Pendle council is concerned, there really is a lack of white British representation. As a young white woman who already has a keen interest in politics, why am I not being encouraged into it locally by OUR mayor of Pendle? Like the majority of the rest of Pendle council, he is only interested in positively encouraging the asian community - and if these people should actually be engaging in British politics, shouldn't the British muslims that were born and raised here actually consider themselves British as a pre-requisite of representing the British people and their society? Rather than the asians that they refer to themselves as?!

Councillor Ahmed says he wants more Asian women taking an interest in politics (surely he meant women of Asian heritage who were born in this country. We have had an Asian women councillor in Pendle but her attendance record was so bad she had to step down. The issues Councillor Ahmed should really be addressing are those of arranged marriages, cousin marrying cousin, women wearing burkhas, and the number of Asian women/wives who speak very little English, one of whom I believe is his wife. As Mayor he must be non-political, but it might help community cohesion if he also made his views known about the postal voting 'fraud' that went on in Reedly ward at the recent council election.
PS. I am all for Asian women entering politics providing they are not like that expenses cheat Baroness Uddin

I thought the role of Mayor was a non political role. Wasn't there an argument about the John Cave becoming Mayor of Padiham because they said his veiws were too weighted and he wouldn't be able to serve the whole community. Seems to me this guy only wants to serve the Asian community

neesh wrote:

'AlucarD' wrote: I agree. A lot more females should be in politics. But & this is a ":BIG BUT:" You are the last person to say that Women should take part in politics. Male Muslims class their Females as third class citizens. Would you Mr Mayor take orders from a Muslim Female?? I don't think so. First deal you need to do is educate your own race to give the Muslim females the right to be human beings.

but you seem to forget the fact that Benazir Bhutto was a woman,she was in politics and she was prime minister in Pakistan and might be primeminister or president even now if she hadn't been killed. and i think Bangladesh has a female primeminister(sheikh Hasina),and India was ruled for many years by Indira Ghandi.so i think the answer to your question is ,yes men from the Indian sub-continent would and has taken orders from females,i know some men are scum and expect their women to be at their beck and call but that has nothing to do with religion,it's just their egos and cave man mentality,i am a female muslim and i have never been treated as a third class citizen,in fact i have always been encouraged to pursue my career by my husband ,and that goes for a lot of Asian women whom i know.

So the question Neesh is where are they all in politics, is it just a career path that does not appeal? We know there are plenty of well educated asian females leaving the education system, but why are there so few in politics in this country? Do they prefer other career paths? I don't mind an asian male saying we need more asian females in politics because there are very few and for someone to pull the rascist card is a bit shallow. He's just stating a fact. There are very few asian women in politics in this country, why is that?

I think it is shallow when people are catagorised by their heritage,you are either British or Asian you can't be both and to state otherwise is racist,those born here or with full British Nationality are British not Asian and have accepted to live in this country as British Citizens not Asian.As we are often bombarded with how Asians are the minority it would probably be the fact that if they were the majority you would see many more in politics-Makes sense to me.What seems an intelligent statement from the mayor about Asian women is in my eyes racist to British people being in politics,i would not expect to go to Pakistan India wherever and find British Women in politics,he obviously sees himself as Asian and not British to make a statement as absurd as his,and if the mayor of "Padiham" would have made a similar statement he would have been deemed racist.

I suppose looking at it from that point of view I can see why some would consider it both a rascist and sexist comment. But I am white and I didn't find his statement offensive. i think from both cultures too many people are a bit trigger happy when a leading figure says something. Maybe he can be accused of suffering from foot in mouth syndrome, better be careful here because someone might find that statement ofensive, but I don't think it was meant to be, and I didn't take it that way. But hey, thats just me.

nelson claret wrote:
I am disgusted - if there were a white mayor saying specifically that there isn't enough young white women in politics would it not be deemed racist? And indeed, where Pendle council is concerned, there really is a lack of white British representation. As a young white woman who already has a keen interest in politics, why am I not being encouraged into it locally by OUR mayor of Pendle? Like the majority of the rest of Pendle council, he is only interested in positively encouraging the asian community - and if these people should actually be engaging in British politics, shouldn't the British muslims that were born and raised here actually consider themselves British as a pre-requisite of representing the British people and their society? Rather than the asians that they refer to themselves as?!

Good intelligent quote.