Can you trust women? This is the question at the heart of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court. It was evident long before Thursday’s senate judiciary committee hearings addressing Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of sexual assault – which he denies – and indeed before Dr Ford first accused him. Donald Trump put him forward having promised to appoint judges who would reverse the Roe v Wade abortion ruling, pleasing those who do not believe that women can be trusted to control their own bodies. The confirmation process has been rushed and defective because Republicans wanted to push it through before November’s midterm elections, afraid that a Democratic advance might threaten their control of judicial nominees. They have continued to back him in the face of three grave accusations for the same reason.

Before the testimony, more voters – especially female voters – believed Dr Ford than Mr Kavanaugh. But Republicans leaned to Mr Kavanaugh and the party has calculated that the potential electoral cost of backing him is outweighed by the risk of losing their ability to please their base by skewing the court decisively to the right. In other circumstances he would surely have been dropped, if only to avoid embarrassment.

It is a sign of progress that the wholly male Republican side of the committee realised they should hire a female counsel to do their questioning. (It is equally telling that she was described as a “female assistant”.) They know that the hostile all-male interrogation of Anita Hill, which secured Clarence Thomas’s place on the court, rebounded on them in the electoral “Year of the Woman”. Even Mr Trump, elected president despite bragging about sexually assaulting women, added that he “may be convinced” after dismissing the claims as “all false”.

But it is evident that they still regard this as a matter of optics. The courage of women from Dr Hill to the year-old #MeToo movement has not rooted out misogyny. It has curbed it and encouraged its veiling; but it has also prompted a pushback from men frightened of losing their power. Under a thin veneer of concern came suggestions that Dr Ford was “mixed up” – and then, when other allegations followed, that it was all a smear or conspiracy. Senior Republicans feigned attention while treating her as an inconvenience to surmount swiftly.

Despite these circumstances, no prosecutor could have hoped for a more credible, compelling or sympathetic witness than Dr Ford. She was clear, dignified and “100% certain” of her charge despite her evident distress. Imagine how she might have been judged had she been a tenth as partisan, angry and emotional as Mr Kavanaugh. And consider his suitability for a job in which he is supposed to remain above the fray.

For this, of course, was not a criminal trial. The consequences are fewer; the bar for evidence lower. Mr Kavanaugh faces no charges, let alone a risk of conviction. The question is whether he has earned the privilege of a lifetime seat on the highest court, ruling on voting rights, presidential power – and the rights of women to control their own bodies. He has not.

Denying him his opportunity does not equate to “ruining his life” or attempting to “destroy” him. The concern for the experience and prospects of men accused of such offences is accompanied by indifference to the experience and prospects of women who allege them. Women who stay silent while they fail exams, abandon professions, struggle with relationships. Women who speak out and are smeared and attacked – as Dr Ford has been.

Thursday’s hearings failed to treat the allegations adequately. Far better would have been a full and proper investigation by the FBI, as Dr Ford requested. But the Republicans chose to railroad this through. It is they who refused to subpoena the one witness identified by Dr Ford, allowing the matter to be dismissed as “he said, she said”. Whatever happens in the committee vote on Friday, and in the later Senate vote, the electorate have seen for themselves where the party elite stands. They do not trust women to control their bodies. They do not trust women to tell the truth. But in these elections, and the years to come, they should know that women, and the men who respect them, will certainly remember.