LABOUR ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2007

 

PAT’S FRINGE

 

What do Women Think of Gordon?

Gordon Brown has a 16 point lead among women, which suggests a pretty high level of approval.

          As Katherine Raike of the Fawcett Society points out, women are more sceptical than men about Labour delivering, but they are convinced by substance. So, the content of what we say and delivering what we say matters to women. Social justice and fairness are important to women and equality is a priority for them. Fawcett draws these conclusions from recent research in partnership with IPSOS-MORI.

          We saw a new, softer side of the Prime Minister this week. One wit quipped that he had, “released the inner Gordon.” He certainly smiled more, dressed better and looked like a happy man.

 

Talking with Bill Morris

Lord Bill Morris sat next to me most of Sunday….Be still, my beating heart! Bill  is a real live Labour hero for his lifelong commitment to workers rights in the trade union movement. His warmth, humour and sincerity shine through in conversation.

         As the new, merged single equalities body comes into existence, he is concerned to keep the distinctiveness of the different equalities groups within the new working arrangements. “We all need different things and have different problems…..I wouldn’t want to see us lose sight of that.”

        Later, Bill got a standing ovation when he endorsed the Prime Minister’s position on Zimbabwe with a call to action. The Prime Minister absolutely should not meet with Mr Mugabe, he affirmed. “It’s no longer just about the man. The entire, corrupt regime must also go,” he said.” He demanded  sanctions, including a travel ban, and severing cultural and sporting links. “Nothing less will do!” In the finale of his speech, Bill echoed the American civil rights campaigners of the sixties: “Freedom! Liberty! Democracy! Set the people free!”

 

Women & Work Under Labour

 

“Money Trap”

We said goodbye to Jenny Watson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, which closed down on Sunday 30 September. The EOC has been hugely influential as a campaigning organisation on women’s equality issues.

        Jenny talked about the, “money trap,” that women experience as we, “trade down,” in the world of work. Women who choose to work fewer hours or who return to work after having a baby usually earn a lower rate for the job and have poor promotion prospects, or often none at all.

         She said that women’s world of work had changed little since the industrial revolution. We are still doing the same kind of jobs in caring, catering and clerical, all low paid careers.

        

 

     

Jenny concluded that structural solutions to the equal pay issue were needed. “We can’t go on fighting it on an individual basis,” case by case. “Organisations have to take this on,” she declared.

 

Workplace Equality

Bronwyn McKenna of Unison called for statutory equality reps. in the workplace and one last push on equal pay.

        Bronwyn wanted a fairer way of assessing wage equality in workplaces where there are no male workers. Comparisons should be made with similar jobs in other areas of work, she said.

 

Life as Art

Barbara Follett, the new Minister for Women, kept us laughing with stories about her life as a parent and women’s activist. It’s easy to see why she’s a good novelist, but it also proves the old feminist saying that the personal is political. So much of her activism came out of her experiences as a young woman struggling to bring up a family.

       Just in case anyone is wondering what she does with her spare time…I don’t think she’s got any. She runs her husband’s business, is an MP and a novelist, and a doting grandmother, who claims she was gobsmacked to get the call from Gordon to become Minster for women at age 67. She stays organised by using a Blackberry  and ruthless time management.

 

D.C. Trying to Steal Labour’s Clothes

Katherine Raike of the Fawcett Society took the view that women’s issues are at the heart of the Labour political agenda – put there by women MPs.

          But, we’ve got competition from David Cameron, who has put flexible working at the centre of his campaign. The Tories, “are positioning strongly on equality in the workplace. They are claiming ground that Labour has worked on for years,” said Raike.

 

Equality a Clear Priority for Women Voters     

Working with IPSOS-MORI, Fawcett  found that women are more convinced by political substance than style. Equality issues are a high priority, though they are often not what women mention first when asked what’s important to them. But equality is, “a clear priority,” according to Raike. Scepticism is more widespread among women. Women are less convinced about Labour delivering, she stated.

     

“AIV = Electoral Success” – Raike & IPSOS-MORI

• Articluation – Labour successes are not well articulated and at the highest levels. Women & men in senior positions need to articulate more clearly. They need to give a vision.
• Impact – Labour should choose issues for symbolic/greatest impact, e.g. the deep injustice felt regarding the pay gap, to show how committed we are.
• Vision – “No party ever wins on what it’s done. It wins on its vision for the future. Labour needs to make sure that gender & social justice go hand in hand. We should be moving beyond shoe-horning women into a system where someone else wrote the rules.”

 

 

No Pay Day

Fawcett are holding a campaigning event on 13 October called “No Pay Day,” to illustrate the pay gap between women and men. Effectively, if you are a woman, you stop getting paid for the year on 13 October…..so, no Christmas presents, etc, then.

 

What Pat Said

My name is Pat Agar and I’m a Worcester City Councillor.

 

I’m on the flip side of 50.

But no-one’s tried to help me across the road yet.

And I’m very glad about that because I only gained my council seat last year.

 

We know that voters in Worcester are listening to women because last Thursday they elected my comrade, Jenny Barnes, to a safe Tory seat.

 

And, Katherine [Raike], we’re going to use the information you’ve given us to win next time and put another woman on the council.

 

On 13 October, [Labour] Worcestershire women are holding a mini-conference to discuss the Corston Report and women in the criminal justice system.

 

And, Katherine, we will make sure, on the day, that women there know about Fawcett’s “No Pay Day, “ campaign (that is, no more pay for the rest of the year if you’re a woman – the size of the pay gap between women & men).

 

“More Than One Rung”

YWCA launched its “More Than One Rung” campaign at the conference fringe. For too many young women, there is only one rung on the career ladder. In their lifetimes, they will earn less than £250K.

       And young women are twice as likely to be poor and stay poor than young men. 42% of young women aged 30 live in poverty. Only 24% of young men do.

       Anyone wanting to help YWCA make poverty history, can support the “More than One Rung” campaign online at: www.morethanonerung.org