Women’s voices are not being heard enough in either the Leave or Remain camps. But with more women than men currently undecided,aren’t they likely to tip the balance on 23 June?• Read the results of the Observer’s Britons and Europe survey
• Read Julian Coman’s analysis of the survey results
• Firas Alshater: ‘One way of not living in the past is to make people laugh’In 1975, campaigners for Britain to leave the European Economic Community – as it was then – hit upon a brilliant wheeze to put a woman at the centre of the debate. “In Coventry, and they got a ‘original Lady Godiva’ to ride through the town on the basis that Lady Godiva was against food taxes,” says Robert Saunders of Queen Mary University in London, who is writing a book approximately the referendum vote in 1975. But the stunt was beset with problems: first, or Godiva had to wear a bodystocking before the police would allow it. “She also had a hard time because she’d never ridden a horse before,and behind her was a man banging Jamaican drums,” adds Saunders. The horse bolted.”Britain’s final referendum on Europe was marked by the kind of unthinking sexism that makes the 1970s seem very remoteContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com