Webchat with Sophie Walker, leader of the Women's Equality Party and London Mayor candidate, Tuesday 19 April at noon

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to welcome Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, ahead of the London Mayoral elections, on Tuesday 19 April at 12 noon.

The Women’s Equality Party was set up in 2015 “to unite people of all genders, diverse ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, beliefs and experiences in the shared determination to see women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men so that all can flourish.”

Sophie was elected leader of the Women's Equality Party in July 2015, and in January 2016 was voted to represent the party in the London Mayoral election. She says she is campaigning for “work that works, affordable housing, equal caregiving, equal enterprise, transport that works, affordable housing and an end to violence against women and girls.”

She worked as an international news agency journalist for nearly twenty years and is an ambassador for the National Autistic Society, campaigning for better support and understanding of autism, particularly in women and girls.

Please do join us on Tuesday at 12 noon if you can, or post a question for Sophie here in advance. And, as ever, please do remember our webchat guidelines and do be polite.

The London mayoral election will be held on 5 May and you’ll need to register to vote by 18 April, today. (Keep your eyes peeled for more mayoral candidate webchats in the next few weeks.)

Thanks
MNHQ

Fair point, ItsAll.

Round of applause for HowBad.

@slugseatlettuce

Hi Sophie, what are you going to do to encourage men working in STEM to recognise and value the contribution women can make in the same way as they recognise male colleagues? Too often the approach to this seems to be getting women more involved, as if they can remove the ingrained barriers. I want to see men stepping up to solve this too. Otherwise its doomed to fail.

Good question, and an important point. Part our policies in this area is to end the leaky pipeline that prevents talented women from entering and thriving in STEM industries and part of those efforts are directed at men who currently work in the industry. Many of them are actively engaged with us in this work.

HowBad

@MrsToddsShortcut

As the representative of a party that believes that a woman is anyone who identifies as one, what will the WEP be doing to ensure that the new changes to gender identity laws proposed by Maria Miller include a continued right to protected spaces for biological women?

To be clear, I have no problem with the trans community but as a rape survivor I find close proximity to male bodied people in confined spaces extremely triggering - I have a genuine need for female only spaces and am extremely concerned that no-one in power is defending women's rights to retain their changing rooms/shelters/rape crisis centres free from people with a penis.

In addition, what will the WEP be doing to ensure that men are not able to abuse the proposed new laws? If all a man has to do is fill out a form, pay £140 and say he identifies as female in order to obtain a legal GRC, how are women going to be protected from the predatory males who WILL take advantage of this? (Just to be clear, I'm not talking about trans people).

Thank you for your question and for sharing your story. I think that VAWG services should be able to tailor their support to women depending on their experiences. I think women need to be able to talk about their experiences of violence in safe spaces in order to understand the gendered structures that are both the cause and consequence of violence against women. As an example, WE are critical of the 'gender neutral' approach to funding for women's services and WE are designing a funding model that would enable organisations to provide sustainable services that are for and led by women, including disabled women and BME women.

I wanted to ask about quotas in the workplace but I'm finding Sophie's answers unsatisfactory and I'd like them probed further.

Do you see any potential problems here that the WEP might wish to concern themselves about?

Plus I've already had two questions not answered about maternity wards.

@HowBadIsThisPlease

Hi Sophie,

My question is: why do you think we need a WEP, and how do your policies relate to that?

Here is the background to my question:
I think we desperately need equality for women, and the reason is because we live in a patriarchal society in which men are privileged to use women's personal resources, primarily their bodies and labour, for free.

It seems to me that your policies don't address the fact that the issues women face are at the hands of men. It feels as if you think that men can be asked or persuaded to be fair, and to this end you have constructed all policies to be friendly to men - which, when it comes down to it, retains the status quo and renders them useless to change anything for women.

Rather than go into each policy in detail and ask about it, as I only have one question, here's the question again: what is it about the world we live in that causes us to need a WEP? And how do your policies address that?

Thank you for your question and for sharing your thoughts. The Women’s Equality Party is an attempt to bring the struggle for women’s equality into the political space, for real. 100 years from women’s suffrage women are still under-represented and 45 years from the equal pay act women are still underpaid. The World Economic Forum has estimated it will take at least 108 years to get to gender equality. WE are not willing to wait that long.

We are all equal at the ballot box and by joining and voting the Women’s Equality party we can really make a difference in terms of all those issues you mention. Women’s parties in other countries have succeeded in increasing women’s representation in politics and getting through essential laws and policies, which is exactly what WE intend to do.

Very well-said, HowBad.

That sounds great in theory, Sophie, but it still comes back to the problem of how you define women.

Very well-said, HowBad.

I think that VAWG services should be able to tailor their support to women depending on their experiences. I think women need to be able to talk about their experiences of violence in safe spaces in order to understand the gendered structures that are both the cause and consequence of violence against women. As an example, WE are critical of the 'gender neutral' approach to funding for women's services and WE are designing a funding model that would enable organisations to provide sustainable services that are for and led by women, including disabled women and BME women.

That all sounds great. But does it also mean that VAWG services should be able to exclude people with penises, however they identify? Because that's the core of what MrsTodd is talking about.

Great post HowBad

Can you at least answer Buffy's question about post-natal wards before finishing, Sophie?

The Women’s Equality Party is an attempt to bring the struggle for women’s equality into the political space, for real. 100 years from women’s suffrage women are still under-represented and 45 years from the equal pay act women are still underpaid. The World Economic Forum has estimated it will take at least 108 years to get to gender equality. WE are not willing to wait that long.

DO you think it had occurred to the suffragettes to just identify as men? They could have worn trousers grabbed a pipe, and then BOOM no more discrimination. Bit silly of them to not bother. All that hunger striking instead. Histrionics.

Yes please answer Buffy's question.

Thanks everyone for your participation and questions. We're out of time now. If you're interested in finding out about our policies for London - where WE are standing both in the Mayoral election and the London-wide list for the Greater London Assembly - please click here: d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/womensequality/pages/839/attachments/original/1459956428/Women's_Equality_Party_Manifesto_for_London.pdf?1459956428
For our manifesto in Scotland, where WE are also standing in May 5 elections: www.womensequality.org.uk/scotland_2016
For our manifesto in Wales, where WE are also standing in May 5 elections:
www.womensequality.org.uk/wales_2016

That went as expected...

Well that was a bit underwhelming.

Chocolate teapot?

Are you also aware Sophie how the number one paid "woman CEO" was born with a penis? DO you think that actually someone given all the privileges of being raised a man and given a way in to STEM will do much better than an actual women when they put on a dress and take that grant meant for a woman?