Horrified feminists recoiled in unison yesterday when they realised that the empowerment of women also applies to people who don’t share your politics.
The most ardent voices in the fight against the patriarchy bent over backwards to paint the victories of Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom in the Conservative leadership race as a disaster:
While the denizens of the Left can’t bring themselves to enjoy this snapshot of female progress, they are likely to be waiting a while for a palatable woman from their own side to step forward.
The Labour party has never chosen a female leader, Jeremy Corbyn’s inner circle is pretty blokely, and seems increasingly unlikely to be smashed apart by a challenge from Angela Eagle.
The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, don’t even have any female MPs.
The only party to make a real success of elevating women to high office are the Conservatives, despite eschewing heavy-handed methods like all-female shortlists.
Even if this is the “wrong” kind of progress, it looks like the sisterhood will just have to live with it.