David Miliband’s reply

David Miliband has now become the second of the Labour leadership candidates to reply to our letter. You can read his reply in full here. In it, he says:

Thank you for your letter which raises important issues not just for our party but for our country…

…one of the key planks of my campaign will be to look at the systemic issues preventing women from entering and thriving in politics. I am determined to break down those barriers so that women see being a politician as a job for them where they can achieve change.

Ed Miliband has replied to our letter

We’re delighted to have received the first reply to our letter to the Labour leadership candidates from Ed Miliband.

In it, he says:

I welcome the Lead for Women initiative, both because you have highlighted such an important problem as part of this leadership contest, and because your actions are a fantastic example of grassroots party members coming together and organising around issues that matter…

…From the struggle for suffrage, to the Sex Discrimination Act, to the minimum wage and women trade unionists battling for equal pay, the Labour party has fought side by side with the women’s movement. I’m proud of that history, but I’m also passionate about the need for greater progress – I will be the Leader who leads for women.

You can read Ed’s reply in full here.

Over a hundred women have signed our letter

We’re delighted that in just a few days over a hundred Labour women have signed our open letter to the leadership candidates calling on them to ‘lead for women’. You can read the letter here.

To add your support, please email your name and CLP or Labour affiliate to lead4women@yahoo.co.uk.

Labour needs a leader to lead for women

Rachael Saunders has written a blog for Left Food Forward, arguing that Labour urgently needs a leader who will lead for women.

Sadly, for many of us, the 2010 election campaign will be remembered as the one in which women were near invisible. Despite having an excellent woman deputy leader wholeheartedly committed to women’s equality, and despite the record numbers of women MPs elected since 1997, we still need to do more if we are to fully represent the communities we seek to serve. This isn’t just an issue with gender – we need to be more diverse in every way – but women are half of every community.

I am glad that we have a woman on the ballot paper in this leadership election. We still need to hold each of the leadership contenders to account. A group of women activists have signed up to a letter to try and make sure that happens.

There is a policy debate to be had, and we must make sure that women’s voices are heard in that, but that is not the primary purpose of this letter. This letter sets out what we believe the leader of the Labour Party needs to do to ensure our party operates in a way that reflects the importance we all place on equality.

There are a number of policy issues that are often categorised as “women’s issues”. I want a leader who leads on rape legislation just as he leads on anti social behaviour, on childcare as on school standards. Women MPs have made the running on issues such as domestic violence, childcare and flexible working, and I am grateful to them. Now our male leaders must also take responsibility.

We are also calling for gender balance throughout the shadow ministerial team and in local government. We elected a record number of women in 1997, but still we are in a position where only one was willing to stand for leader. That has to change next time, and one step is giving women opportunities in shadow office. Women’s voices must be heard at every level and in every policy area.

Local government is also important. We have the chance to exercise power at council level and in some devolved bodies over the next five years; let’s make women’s voices are heard equally there too.

Too often in the Labour Party I am disheartened and I see others knocked by casual sexism, whether it be the assumption that you’ll make the tea because you’re the only girl in the room, or outright sexual harassment. We can change that, but it will take a real political willing to admit that there’s a problem, and real leadership from the top.

Let’s make sure our next leader leads for women. We’ll be asking all the leadership contenders what they think of our proposals – I hope you will too. Read the full text of our letter on lead4women.wordpress.com and do sign up in support if you too want to see a leader that Leads for Women.

Launching Lead for Women

Today, we are launching an open letter to all the candidates for the Labour leadership. You can read it in full here. In it, we say:

We are proud of Labour’s record on equality, but far too many women are put off politics before they even contemplate standing for election – and there are still far too many barriers that stop women from being meaningfully involved at every level in the Party. The fact that the 2010 election has been widely referred to as ‘the election in which women were invisible’ shows a clear and pressing need for action.

We are asking all the candidates for the Party leadership to reply to us, and set out their agenda for changing the Party to make it more representative of women, from branch meetings to the shadow cabinet table. We’ll be publishing their replies in full as soon as we have them.

We want them to commit to action in 5 key areas:

1. Commit to speak out on issues that affect women.
2. Act to ensure gender balance at every level of the Labour Party.
3. Support a meaningful and well-resourced national, regional and local organisational and campaigning structure for women within the Party.
4. Take personal responsibility for a cultural change from the top to the bottom of the Party to tear down the barriers that stop women getting or staying involved.
5. Install a transparent and accessible complaints procedure that takes complaints seriously and acts quickly.

We want as many Labour women to sign the letter as possible. Email lead4women@yahoo.co.uk with your name and CLP or affiliate, and we’ll add your name.