Comment: When was the last time feminists did anything for real women?
I was having a fairly pleasant morning listening to Today on Radio 4 where a number of French women were discussing why they had sought tax asylum in the UK. I thought: they're very welcome. They pay higher rates of tax, probably have their own health care insurance and pay private school fees; not a drain on our economy, only a benefit.
I thought :good on you, women. A quiet revolution is taking place and it can only be a matter of time before socialism fails once again in their country.
And then I heard a very silly 'doctor' of 'women's studies', a Rachel Thwaites from the University of York, discussing the fact that France had passed a law to say that women would only be addressed by their maiden name before marriage.
Apparently, while Paris burns and the economy collapses, the Don Juan of France, President Hollande, is on a jaunt over here to tell David Cameron that Europe is a wonderful institution and please do not mess with our treaties. His government is using its time and effort to pass such laws and Thwaites thought it would be a jolly good idea for Britain too.
Whilst the Hollande visit is great for the Ukip cause, because it illustrates that all 28 states need to sign up to treaty change before any negotiations on bringing back power from Brussels can happen, I do feel utter dismay that France thinks that this issue is more important. Whether this is due to Hollande's philandering ways – jumping in and out of beds, kids and palaces with a trio of Ms's who have influenced him – I don't know. But I do know that not one of his women has a wedding ring nor even had the chance of taking his name.
Before readers get in a tizz about my comments, I have lived with both of my husbands before marriage, even had one child whilst out of wedlock and have had various trysts along the way out of wedlock. I am also a woman in politics, in a political party without a gender quota or all-woman shortlist in sight, yet one third of our cohort going to Brussels in May will be women, and that's not factoring in our current popularity in the polls.
This 'doctor', whom we presumably pay from the taxpayers' purse to study and espouse these ridiculous ideas that British women should also be addressed by their maiden names, doesn't conform to societal norms. She thinks family and society pressure women into taking men's surnames, that it gives women a bad name.
I took my husband's name because I love him and wanted to marry him. I wanted to join us together and I am very proud to be called 'Mrs'. It was my choice.
I think it's about time that we stopped funding 'women's and gender studies' and ploughed the money into how we are going to educate our children to work in the modern world. Already there is a disconnect between what our schools are teaching our children, and not explaining what they can expect in a modern workplace and what employers need. Her craft is all very flower power 60s.
Visiting my dentist and vet last week I was struck by the near zero numbers of males in veterinary nursing, dental nursing and hygienists. Why are boys not going into these careers? My vet and dentist said that it was a class and education issue. Whilst both of their professions had equal numbers, if not greater numbers of women, there was a gender divide in the lower rungs in those professions. Too much is made about girls and their lack of choices, but the same is true for boys.
I wonder how many girls sit at school thinking 'I am going into the feminism industry'? But wait a sec – perhaps they do. What's the salary of a 'doctor' of women’s studies?
These women have influence. These doctors have managed to persuade the old political parties that all-women shortlists should be employed in parliamentary selections and the Labour party that they have to have a woman either as party leader or deputy. Their tentacles have spread across public life, adding to the spectre of human rights, gender equality and the all pervasive political correctness.
But I think they're completely out of touch with real women – women who work on the shop floor of Tesco's, the bank tellers, women running industry, women scientists and mothers. They don’t represent us. They live in a parallel universe.
I wish they had been with me yesterday in Dagenham, Essex, where I was making a film for Channel 4. Unemployment there is running at 14%, twice the national average and the highest in London. Children and grandchildren were living in social housing not fit for animals because of the damp and overcrowded situation. Women counted their pennies in a café because they couldn’t afford to pay their heating bills and it was warmer to nurse a cup of tea chatting to their friends rather than going home to a cold house.
I get really angry when I hear these silly women who are paid to pontificate, bash men and study totally useless ideology and produce thoughts and policy ideas that are no use to women. It's time to pull the financial plug. We can't afford them.
Janice Atkinson is Ukip's MEP candidate for the South East region.
The opinions in Politics.co.uk's Comment and Analysis section are those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the website or its owners.
