International Women’s Day at the Commons
On Thursday 8th March in her role as Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party’s Women’s Committee, Stevenage MP, Barbara Follett, organised a celebration for International Women’s Day at the Houses of Parliament.
Bouquets were laid at the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, the famous Suffragette, by the Deputy Minister for Women, the former Speaker of the House of Commons, Baroness Boothroyd and opposition spokeswomen.
Women from all political parties came together to sing ‘The Women are Marching On’ (to the tune of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic') and make speeches. It was a beautiful day and a well attended and uplifting event.
This was followed by a brunch in the Prime Minister’s office in the House of Commons for female Labour MPs. They were each asked to bring a woman from their constituency to celebrate with them.
Mrs Follett invited two local Councillors, Cllr Sherma Batson and Cllr Carol Latif to join her as her ‘Community Champions’. After the brunch they, along with many other women sat in debates to mark the day in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Mrs Follett said: “This is the one day of the year when women come together to rejoice in their achievements and plan how best to work with their sisters across the world.
We have much to celebrate this International Women’s Day. Women have made huge strides in all areas of life and are set to make even more. A lot of this progress, I am glad to say, is due to the efforts of successive Labour governments who have fought for equality of opportunity in our country and the world.
When I was young it was quite normal for women to be treated differently to men in employment; pay; education; the provision of goods, services, facilities and housing. Then, in 1975, the new Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts came into force and, suddenly, it was neither normal, nor legal, to allow the accident of gender to define your relationship or interaction with someone. I, like many other women, welcomed this change but doubted that these new laws would make much difference.
How wrong I was. Over the past thirty years the number of women in the workforce has increased by a third, the gap between men and women’s pay has narrowed significantly and the Minimum Wage Act has helped to increase the income of over a million poorly paid women.
From the late 1990s onwards a shoal of other legislation made huge differences to part-time worker’s rights; maternity and paternity rights; dependent care; working time and worker’s rights in general. All of this benefited women and, I am glad to say, men too.
It is an exciting time to be a woman in Britain. I am amazed by the educational and technical prowess of my daughters and granddaughters. I am delighted by the confidence with which they face the world but, most of all, I am glad that women are, at last, taking their place alongside men. As equals.
Barbara Follett with local Councillors Carol Latif and Sherma Batson
Issued: 13.03.2007
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