Imagine if, in 1868, when the TUC was founded, someone had told those warriors for workers’ rights that one day they would be referring to biological males as ‘mothers’. And what’s more that they would be publicly scolding anyone who dared to dissent; anyone who said: ‘Hold on – surely only women can be mums?’
They would have thought you mad. We’re a reasoned, rational organisation concerned only with improving the pay and conditions of working people, they’d have insisted. Well, fast forward to 2023, and what do you know: the TUC, the big beast of union politics, has openly declared that men can be mothers too.
A curious thing happened this week. ITV News ran an item on the problem of soaring water bills. It included an interview with a ‘Thames Water customer’ called Mika Minio-Paluello. The spike in the price of water, and so much more besides, is ‘tough if you’re a mum like me’, said Minio-Paluello, who was then shown filling the washing machine and cleaning dishes and generally looking stressed about the cost of living.
Here’s the thing: Minio-Paluello is trans; a biological male who identifies as a woman.
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