| International Women's Day |
| Tuesday, 08 March 2011 17:24 |
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Today is International Women’s Day – and marks the 100th anniversary of the first ever International Women’s Day (IWD) in 1911.
Today I joined my Shadow Cabinet colleagues in meeting Hetty Bower, a 105 year old former suffragette, who remembers the foundation of International Women’s Day. She reminded us of how far we’ve come, but also the struggles that women have gone through to gain the most basic equalities, such as the right to vote and hold public office. There are currently only 150 female MPs out of 650 in the House of Commons. I’m proud to say that 81 of those are Labour MPs (making up a third of our parliamentary party) which is more than all the other parties in Parliament put together. But it’s still a shocking figure, and demonstrates the distance our politics has to travel before it can be said to be truly representative of the British public. Today women are still more likely to earn less than men in the same job, more likely to lose their jobs upon starting a family, and more likely to be victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse, or be killed by a partner. I want my daughters to grow up in a more equal world, where no career or opportunity is arbitrarily blocked off, and they do not have to fear for their safety because they are girls. It’s not an overly ambitious aim – but it is something we need to continue fighting for. Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench have both starred in a video which highlights these facts, and more, which you can view below. For more information visit www.internationalwomensday.com and www.weareequals.org. |
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