Nicola Sturgeon Attacks New Statesman Front Cover For Highlighting She Has No Children

Nicola Sturgeon Attacks New Statesman Front Cover For Highlighting She Has No Children

Nicola Sturgeon has attacked the New Statesman for drawing attention on its front cover to the fact she has no children.

The latest issue of the Labour supporting magazine carries the headline "the motherhood trap, why are so many successful women childless?" on its front page.

It is illustrated with a picture of the SNP leader, home secretary Theresa May, Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall and German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Other prominent politicians including Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams and SNP minister Humza Yousaf were also critical.

However the article's author, New Statesman deputy editor Helen Lewis, argued people should read the piece before they jumped to conclusions about its contents.

The front cover was also defended by other New Statesman journalists who explained it was pointing out the problem of gender inequality - not supporting it.

The cover was also defended by Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator.

Earlier this month a row hit the Labour leadership race after a supporter of Yvette Cooper was accused of unfairly bringing the fact Kendall has no children into the contest.

Responding to the argument Kendall said she wanted "to have a politics where women are treated the same as men and they are not asked those kind of questions.

"Let me just say this, I may not have children myself, but I am part of the best family in the world, my mum, my dad, my brothers and my nieces. I am very proud of that," she said.

"I am really looking forward to you asking the family question to Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham. I cannot wait for the day when journalists ask the same questions to men as well as women. And they don’t ask questions they would never ask of a man."

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