Sadiq Khan has broken the cardinal rule of feminist men

The Mayor admitted to growing up in a man’s world (Picture: AFP via Getty Images) ‘When I had my girls, my perspective changed. Their life experience changed the way I thought about things.’ London Mayor Sadiq Khan said this in an interview in September’s issue of Elle magazine, when discussing his privilege as a man. Reading it this week, I was stunned. Not because I was surprised that he had such a feminist view. The Mayor admitted to growing up in a man’s world, and that he went to an all-boys school in Tooting. He was one of seven brothers, and even has a sister. But considering that we are in 2026, I thought by now we would stop using the ‘fathers of daughters’ trope to believe and support women. It feels like a cop out to suggest that the reason men are so prone to a privileged life is because, until they have daughters, they have no idea what life for a woman is like. It’s absurd. I thought by now we would stop using the ‘fathers of daughters’ trope to believe and support women (Picture: Getty Images) As a Londoner I have not always given much thought to our dear Mayor – he seems like a nice enough guy, and although I wasn’t aware of any of his policies directly affecting women, I did think the vitriol directed at him was always excessive. That was until Mayor Khan broke the first rule of feminism for men: he used the ‘father of daughters’ argument to flex his credentials. I grew up with two older brothers and more male cousins I can count – I also have three sons. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It did not take having them for me to realise men are real human beings with thoughts and feelings, deserving of kindness and respect. He is not the first man to make the mistake, and he won’t be the last. David Cameron also said: ‘I’m a dad of two daughters’ at the Conservative Party Conference in 2015, which also did not go down well. Matt Damon was criticised for using the same phrase a few years later during the Harvey Weinstein Me Too scandal saying: ‘Look, even before I was famous, I didn’t abide this kind of behaviour. But now, as the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night.’ What do you think of the 'father of daughters' trope? It is a valid expression of personal growth.Check It can come off as performative or superficial.Check I am not sure, but it seems overused.Check Stay up to date with the stories everybody’s talking about by signing up to Metro's News Updates newsletter. Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston also said something similar when endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 US elections: ‘I am a father of a daughter…There should not be anyone but them deciding what happens to their own bodies’. This language deserves to be interrogated – because they are inferring that men without daughters should be allowed to be sexist. It’s performative feminism, and we need it to stop. In the nineteen years I have been a Londoner I have never once felt safe alone at night – and that is a feeling shared with a lot of women. All women deserve our care and attention, even if they aren’t our daughters (Picture: Catherine Balavage) I’ve had a group of men menacingly walk towards me at a bus stop, asking me what I had on me. Eventually they left, but I was rattled. A man once nonchalantly told me he was going to punch a stitch into my face while I was with my children in broad daylight. There have been regular comments, groping of my bottom, and one guy even followed me home one night, until I managed to lose him. All women deserve our care and attention, even if they aren’t our daughters. They can be our mothers, sisters, aunts or complete strangers – and men should care. Khan continues to say in the interview that he’s ‘never experienced anyone touching me up on the Tube, right? But that’s not the experience of girls and women in London.’ As of December 2025, sexual offences against women on the tube were at a five-year-high – I hope these victims didn’t just matter to their fathers. Our own Mayor should know better. If an entire gender does not exist as a full human being until one has half of your genetic material, it’s a problem. Khan markets himself as a progressive politician (Picture: Thomas Krych/Anadolu via Getty Images) Even research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2018 revealed that fathers are less likely to hold sexist attitudes if they have a girl. It showed that ‘father’s likelihood to support traditional gender roles typically declined by 8% when their daughters were in primary school and by 11% when their daughters reached secondary school.’ Meaning their beliefs that women deserve more grew as their daughter did. It’s time to do better. Khan markets himself as a progressive politician, yet he still has feminist views of the late 2000s. You either believe in equality or you don’t. It is time to retire the ‘fathers of daughters’ trope forever. Women and girls deserve better, and so do the daughters. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. Share your views in the comments below. Arrow MORE: Sadiq Khan ‘wrongly’ fined for failing to tax a car ‘he does not own’ Arrow MORE: Boys under spell of the manosphere are refusing to mix with girls in class Arrow MORE: The X Factor reboot won’t work – prove me wrong News Updates Stay on top of the headlines with daily email updates.