Labour's boy-bashing nonsense leaves me with one huge question about real misogyny

The government’s latest wheeze to tackle violence against women and girls sounds, on the surface, entirely reasonable. Teachers in England are to be trained to spot and challenge misogyny in the classroom, while so-called “high-risk” pupils could be shipped off on behavioural courses. All part of a grand, long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.

Who wouldn’t want that?

And yet, once you scratch beneath the worthy headlines, the whole thing begins to wobble. Because once again, schools are being asked to step into a role that belongs to parents. If a boy is judged to be displaying misogynistic attitudes, why on earth is the first instinct not to inform his parents and expect them to do their job? You know – parent.

Talk to their child. Correct them. Explain right from wrong. Instead, the assumption seems to be that the state knows best and that teachers, already overburdened, should become frontline social engineers.

But here’s where it gets even murkier. What if the boy’s father holds misogynistic views himself? Is the school going to intervene there too? Will dad be summoned for a PowerPoint presentation and a stern talking-to from a safeguarding officer?

And what about religion and culture? There are strands of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in which men and women are very clearly not viewed as equal in role or responsibility. That’s not a controversial statement; it's a theological fact. So what happens when a boy repeats what he’s been taught at home or in his place of worship? Is he to be “reprogrammed”?

If a boy says women should or shouldn't wear a burqa, is that misogyny or cultural belief? Who decides? And based on whose values?

The truth is this: values are formed at home. Respect for women should be taught by mum and dad, reinforced by example, not outsourced to a Whitehall strategy document. Schools exist to educate, not to replace parents or referee culture wars.

By all means tackle violence. Enforce the law. Punish offenders. But don’t pretend you can fix deep-rooted social issues by turning teachers into moral compliance officers.