For feminists, particularly those of us campaigning to end male violence and secure women’s rights to single-sex spaces and services, the forthcoming UK general election is a minefield.

The vast majority of women’s rights activists in this country sit somewhere on the political left, including me. We believe that the only way to tackle inequality is to understand the structures that allow inequality to flourish – such as patriarchy, capitalism, and the intersection between the two. Feminists understand that in order to secure women’s rights in a sustainable manner, we must get to the root cause of the problem: structural oppression.

Therefore, we are more likely to vote Labour – a party grown out of the trade union movement and built on the promise to oppose oppression – than Conservative.

As a feminist, I believe for all women to be liberated it is necessary to end systemic inequalities that continue to shape every facet of our society. As such, I can never get myself to vote for the Conservative Party, which openly works to further entrench inequalities and injustices in British society.

Further, the Conservative record on issues relating to women’s rights and needs is objectively abysmal. During their long stints in power, Tories have consistently failed to adequately fund services for women escaping violent relationships, ignoring the plight of women at the very bottom of the barrel. They also all but destroyed the criminal justice system, ensuring most perpetrators of violence against women and girls never even see the inside of a courtroom. Tory support for women’s rights has always focussed solely on breaking the “glass ceiling”, which affects only about 5 percent of women who are already the most privileged.

The Conservatives have also failed to successfully navigate the widespread confusion about sex and transgender identity and counter its profound effect on women’s rights and safety in the past few years. Under their leadership, many women, and men, were forced to endure court cases and employment tribunals for merely stating that biological sex is real and........

© Al Jazeera