Over the coming weeks we’re going to be hosting a number of guest bloggers writing about issues affecting women in the UK and abroad. Our first guest blogger is Jessica Sinclair Taylor from the Fawcett Society:
As the political parties struggle to convince a jaded electorate that they deserve a majority, the fact that the women’s vote will be a deciding factor in the upcoming elections can’t be far from Gordon Brown and David Cameron’s minds. Yet for all their flirtations with Mumsnet, stridency on the subject of sexualised clothing for young girls and rhetoric over funding cuts, none of the main political parties have laid out what their policies will really mean for women. It is in this context that the Fawcett Society, in partnership with over forty other organisations, is asking ‘What About Women?’
What will parental leave policies do about the gender pay gap (still quivering around 16.4% for full-time work and a massive 35% for part time work)? What will spending cuts on public services mean for the 2.2 million pensioners living in poverty, the majority of whom are women? How will crime policies help the 3 million women across the UK who experience rape, domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriage or other violence each year?
These are among the questions that the What About Women campaign is asking the political parties. Even more important will be the answers we – as women – get. And the more people demand answers from the parties, the more likely they are to come up with the goods!
On the 8th March, Fawcett will be launching the What About Women campaign. We will be publicising the campaign questions – and the parties’ answers – on our website, and giving women (and men!) the chance to make comments and take action. Whether you’ve got ten minutes spare to send an email to your local parliamentary candidates, or you’re thinking of holding a local hustings to really put them on the spot, we’d like to help you. To join the mailing list and receive the activist pack, email Whataboutwomen [at] fawcettsociety.org.uk – and be sure to check the website after the launch. Visit www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/whataboutwomen.
brilliant