To the point...

After the entertaining hustings on 'Woman's Hour', we now know that of the Tory leadership hopefuls, neither David Cameron nor David Davies connect with popular culture and watch 'Strictly Come Dancing' or 'The X Factor' - they probably think the one is dancing with a dominatrix, and the other a documentary about chromosomes.

And we know they are divided by boxers and briefs, if not by policy. They sounded nice, but they'd nothing new to offer women. However, their performance scared Labour spin doctors. For good reason - if the Tories connect with women then they could win the next election.

Historically, the Conservatives have been the beneficiaries of an electoral gender gap. Many women regarded Labourism as a men's movement, and if the Conservatives didn't do much for women, at least Tory hangers and floggers engaged women's fears and fatalism.

New Labour has appeared more woman-friendly. Feminism wasn't Blair's thing, but he profited from women's pressure on the party to select more candidates. Research shows that women are more likely to vote than men if offered women candidates and policies that address and improve their lives.

But now childcare is an election issue. All of the political parties will be claiming the women's vote at the next election; they have all discovered that the women's vote will be decisive.

Even Tory women voters know that Labour has promoted better policies than their own on childcare, tax credit, low pay, domestic violence and discrimination. The Tories' refusal to compel the party to select women candidates, and reluctance to expand public provision, will make them weak compared with Labour, and with the Liberal Democrats, who have stronger policies on 'wraparound' care for schoolchildren and more money for a maternity income guarantee.

But the Labour leaders' traditional anxiety about the men's vote has made them timorous - fearful of a backlash, and afraid of the mighty misogyny of the Daily Mail and the Sun. That is why the women's caucus in Parliament is hitting the road canvassing female-friendly policies for the next manifesto.

Here's an opportnity for women, and the childcare community, whatever their alignment, to make their presence felt on the manifesto-makers.