An article in Britain’s most widely read women’s magazine describes Brexit as a “male mess” and argues that the political reins in the UK should be handed to women.

In the piece for Stylist, Rhiannon-Lucy Coslett characterised the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) as being the result of a “decades-long rivalry” between two old Etonians. Describing the referendum campaign as a “sausage fest” the journalist completely ignored its many prominent female voices such as Andrea Leadsom and Kate Hoey.

Instead, she portrays Leave as consisting of Nigel Farage, Michael Gove and George Osborne (the third of whom actually enthusiastically fought to remain in the EU) and claimed the frontmen of Remain were Jeremy Corbyn, Alex Salmond and Alan Johnson.

The founder of feminist website “The Vagenda”, Ms Coslett says Brexit has sent Britain into chaos. The article describes the EU referendum, for female voters, as a choice between two sexist sides.

The Leave side, Ms Coslett argued, is represented by “serial philanderer” Boris Johnson, “in cahoots with Nigel Farage, who was against increased maternity pay”. The Remain side, Ms Coslett said, was typified by David Cameron and George Osborne, whose “austerity policies have seen women’s refuges close and austerity hit women the hardest”.

In the article, Ms Coslett contends that “the broken promises of Brexit already lie before the nation; both parties are in disarray, and all the men involved are being completely useless.” Coslett, also a contributor to the Guardian newspaper, says this is because the entire Leave campaign was “all just bravado and braggadocio before, and men are good at that.

“All they cared about was who, in the battle of Brexit, would be crowned the king, emerging victorious after all those endless hours’ worth of macho sparring.”

The feminist activist called it “patently obvious” that the consequences of Brexit would be that women will be stripped of all their rights. She wrote that “one of the few politicians who has come out [of the campaign] deserving of any respect is Nicola Sturgeon”.

Ms Coslett noted Theresa May’s aspiration to lead the Conservative party. Rather than approving of the fact one of the frontrunners to become the next Tory leader is female, the journalist writes her off as being insufficiently feminist.

Ms Coslett sneers at the fact the Telegraph notes Ms May cooks and has remained faithful to her husband, and says the Home Secretary’s “self-professed feminism has certainly not expressed itself in the form of solidarity with the detained women of Yarl’s Wood.” Yarl’s Wood is a detention centre for foreign nationals prior to their deportation from the country.

In the referendum debate, which Ms Coslett describes as being dominated by middle-aged men, Nicola Sturgeon is “one of the few politicians who has come out deserving any respect”. Dubbing her “The Sturgeonator”, Ms Coslett praised the SNP leader’s “efficiency” and said she “has been doing her job extraordinarily well.”

Concluding the piece, the feminist wrote that female politicians “may not get there in time to solve this male mess, but they could well end up preventing another”.

Distributed free in all major cities in the UK, Stylist is Britain’s highest circulation women’s magazine. It is also made available each week at gyms, airport lounges, many offices and French Connection shops.