UK – Men’s Network on BBC Radio 4 this weekend

The Men’s Network will be featured on a BBC Radio 4 programme about the political importance of men’s issues this weekend.

Following on from the success of The First National Conference for Men and Boys in November  – which you can read about by clicking here now – the BBC’s Beyond Parliament programme visited Brighton & Hove last month to ask – are there any votes in men’s issues?

Whilst in the city they spoke to a group of dads attending a SuperDad workshop organized by Ali Mayor and interviewed abandofbrothers new chair, Alex Bailey, firmly establishing Brighton & Hove as a centre of excellence for its work with men and boys.

The resulting Beyond Westminster programme – called ‘The Men’s Vote‘ – will be broadcast at 11am this Saturday 7th January on BBC Radio 4.

Prior to the recording we posed the question “Are There Any Votes In Men’s Issues”  on our blog and you can see how professionals from around the UK responded by clicking here now to join the debate about men’s votes.

Explaining why they decided to make the programme the producers said:

“There’s been much political talk recently about attracting the women’s vote. The Tories are said to be losing their traditional strength among women. Labour have been trying to exploit this.

“But what about the male vote? Why is that never talked about in the same way? Why don’t parties spend their energy trying to appeal to men?

“In this programme Anita Anand investigates how a party might go about trying to attract more of the male vote. She visits a group in Brighton trying to put men’s issues on the policy agenda, and explores how political advertising, which has always treated men and women differently, might be used”.

For more information on this programme click here now for the BBC website.

There’s been much political talk recently about attracting the women’s vote. The Tories are said to be losing their traditional strength among women. Labour have been trying to exploit this. It’s the latest episode in a contest for women’s votes visible in the last election, as leaders courted the so-called Mumsnet vote and addressed issues said to concern women in particular.

Do men vote differently to women? Can they be won over by particular language, certain policies and so on? Why don’t parties spend their energy trying to appeal to men? Or do they privately plan how to improve their appeal to male voters, but avoid trumpeting it for fear of alienating women?

In this programme Anita Anand investigates how a party might go about trying to attract more of the male vote. She visits a group in Brighton trying to put men’s issues on the policy agenda, and explores how political advertising, which has always treated men and women differently, might be used. And she discusses with pollsters and political experts why there is still such a difference in the way the different genders are approached by the parties and their campaigners.

Producer: Chris Bowlby.