Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Rachel Reeves incident will be used against women in significant roles

This is gonna sound harsh and I know it - but I think women like Rachel Reeves need to stop crying in public.

This is the biggest news that is in the UK at the moment. The Chancellor, who's basically the equivalent of our Nicola Willis, started crying in Parliament.

Now I feel really sorry for her, cause it looks like she is going to probably end up taking the fall for a man's incompetence because Keir Starmer, her Prime Minister, is weak and is giving into a rebellion and has forced a U-turn on her, thereby undermining her fiscal plans.

And then after all of that, after doing all of that to her and humiliating her in public, what then happened in Parliament is what sparked the tears.

He was asked whether, after all of the humiliation he's put her through, he's going to keep her in the job, and he would not confirm that he would keep her in the job.

And she's sitting directly behind him, the cameras capture it, her face crumbles and the tears start rolling - and you'd have to be heartless not to feel for the woman, because it is incredibly clear that she is trying so hard not to cry, but she cannot help it.

But women have got to stop crying in public. If you cannot stop yourself crying in public because it is too much, get up, leave the room, do it privately.

I was reading Jacinda's book last night, again - I mean, talk about crying, there's another crier - and in it, she tells the story of being pregnant and talking to a successful corporate woman at a function.

And she couldn't find a word that she was looking for and she said to the woman, "Oh, baby brain."

And then she laughed, but the woman didn't laugh. The woman looked at her with a stern face and said to her, "You can never say that."

And the reason is obvious - because if she says that in public, Jacinda Ardern's opponents would have seized on it, but also people in general would have seized on it as an example that women cannot do significant jobs while being pregnant and being mums.

And the same is unfortunately true for Rachel Reeves. There will be people who will seize on this as an example that women cannot handle significant and stressful jobs because women are inherently more emotional.

Now, I realize that what I'm saying is controversial because we have been told time and time again by people like John Kirwan that we're not supposed to bottle things up and we are supposed to talk about it.

But I think we've gone completely in the other direction. We are now at risk of oversharing everything that we're feeling. By all means, talk about it.

Talk to the people closest to you. Cry all you like behind closed doors to them. But if you're gonna cry in public, leave the room - especially, for God's sake, if you're a woman in a big job because it reflects on all women.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is going to sound harsh, and I know it,
but I think women like Rachel Reeves need to stop
crying in public. I've said it. This is the biggest
news that is in the UK at the moment. Their Chancellor,
who is basically the equivalent of our Nikola Willis, started
crying in parliament. Now I feel veriou I do. I
feel really sorry for her because it looks like she

(00:21):
is going to probably end up taking the fall for
a man's incompetence because Keir Starmer, her Prime Minister, is
weak and is giving into a rebellion and has forced
a U turn on her, thereby undermining her fiscal plans.
And then, after all of that, after doing all of
that to her, humiliating her in public, what then happened
in parliament is what sparked the tears. He was asked

(00:44):
whether after all of the humiliation he's put her through,
he's going to keep her in the job, and he
would not confirm that he would keep her in the job.
And she's sitting directly behind him. The cameras capture it.
Her face crumbles, the tears start rolling, and it is hard.
You'd have to be heartless not to feel for the
woman because it is incredibly clear that she is trying
so hard not to cry, but she cannot help her.

(01:05):
But women have got to stop crying in public. If
you cannot stop yourself crying in public because it is
too much, get up, leave the room, do it privately.
I was reading Jainta's book last night again I mean
talk about crying. There's another crier, And in it she
tells the story of being pregnant and talking to a
successful corporate woman at a function and she couldn't find
a word that she was looking for, and she said

(01:27):
to the woman, oh, baby, brain, and then she laughed,
and the woman didn't laugh. The woman looked at her
with a stern face and said to her, you can
never say that. You can never say that. And the
reason is because it's obvious. Because if she says that
in public, Jasinda Ardourn's opponents would have seized on it,
but also people in general would have seized on it

(01:48):
as an example that women cannot do significant jobs while
being pregnant and being mums. And the same is unfortunately
true for Rachel Reeves. There will be people who will
seize on this as an example that women cannot handle
significant and stressful because women are inherently more emotional. Now
I realize that what I am saying is controversial because
we have been told time and time again by people
like John Kerwin that we're not supposed to bottle things

(02:10):
up and we are supposed to talk about it. But
I think we've gone completely in the other direction. We're
now at risk of oversharing everything that we're feeling. By
all means, talk about it. Talk to the people closest
to you, Cry all you like behind closed doors to them.
But if you're going to cry in public, leave the room,
especially for God's sake if you're a woman in a
big job, because it reflects on all women. For more

(02:31):
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