So "women" don't exist?

I am feeling - bewildered?...confused?....puzzled? I am certainly feeling more than a little annoyed. I might even be feeling downright angry.

It seems one of the major political parties in this country has removed all reference to "mothers" and "pregnancy" and "breastfeeding" from their policy documents. "Mothers" are now just "people".

This is the policy of the party which, if opinion polls are correct, will almost certainly win the election. It is the sort of extreme language that is doing far more harm than good.

I have news for the Labor party (yes Labor without the "u"). "Women" are not just "people". 

Women are the 51% of the population who are responsible for the continuation of the human race. Like the females in the rest of the animal kingdom they are the ones who become pregnant. They are the ones who carry children and give birth. They are the ones who risk their own lives to do this - and ensure the continuation of human life. So far men have not been shown to be able to do this. So far nobody has been able to show that a baby can be born and carried full term in a test tube.

Women matter! 

What is more, like it or not, women are still the primary caregivers. Men cannot breastfeed. They might be able to mix milk formula and give an infant a bottle but the reality is that women do most of that too. Women are still the primary carers of infants, of small children, of the sick, of the elderly, and of others in need. In the home they still do most of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and child minding. Some men may do a little more now but women still do the most. Women work much longer hours for lower pay - and often for no pay at all.

But Labor says women no longer exist. They are simply "people". Labor is not prepared to acknowledge that women have any sort of special or unique role in society - a role men simply cannot fill. 

Labor likes to say it is more committed to "equality", that it has more women involved than the other major party. Is that so? To me "equality" would begin with acknowledging the existence of "women" and their role - that 49% of people would not exist without them.