A good moment to join The Greens

Show them that women are a political force by voting for Shahrar Ali

Women who feel politically homeless are being encouraged to join the Green Party to vote for a champion of women's sex-based rights in its forthcoming leadership election. 

Anyone who joins the party by 27th August is entitled to vote.

Announcing his candidacy, former deputy leader Shahrar Ali said: “I will defend and champion all the protected characteristics enshrined in the Equality Act 2010. This includes the sex-based rights of women and girls, some 52% of the population; a population we can see being persecuted in Afghanistan today.

“We must welcome women back to our party, many of whom are feeling politically homeless. No campaign for mass social and political transformation has ever succeeded without women.

“We need a reality check and political course correction – for the sake of the planet, for the sake of human rights and for the sake of how we do politics.”

Ali, who is a founding signatory of Extinction Rebellion, stands a good chance of winning the Green Party leadership, having gained 24% of first-preference votes in 2020. He is the only one of five sets of candidates currently declared (the Green Party allows job-shares at the top) who has been willing to speak up unequivocally for women's sex-based rights. 

Sian Berry, who is a champion gender self-identification - and been at forefront of attempts to close down debate on its impact on women - cited Ali's appointment as the party's spokesperson for policing and domestic safety as the reason for resignation last month.