Tagged news

Last week saw the publication of the House of Commons Speakers Conference recommendations on women's under-representation in parliament. The Conference was set up in November 2008 by Harriet Harman to address the under-representation of women, ethnic minority groups, disabled people at the House of Commons. When I think back to 1997 and that landslide win which saw the biggest ever influx of women into the House of Commons, along with the continued work Labour has done on this issue, it makes me feel proud.

Compass and the Fawcett Society were delighted that over 200 people turned out to attend last night's event "Women in the the Recession: Gender equality and the economic crisis" which was covered in today's Daily Mail and on the BBC, and would like to thank all those who attended and contributed to what was an interesting and stimulating discussion.

This week the Government is expected to publish its white paper on welfare reform. In response to this Compass is delighted that over 600 people - including 100 individuals from across civil society and academia - have signed up to the Compass and PCS coordinated campaign for fairer welfare. We are also pleased to announce that Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society, Comedian Mark Thomas, and world famous children's author and Carnegie Prize winner Berlie Doherty have also offered their support.

Sweden is regularly held up as the model of best practice for gender equality in Europe. In reality, the rhetoric far outstrips the achievements of Swedish social engineering.

Imagine if, overnight, men found themselves being paid nearly 20% less than women, occupying only one in five seats in the House of Commons, and holding just a third of senior managerial roles. There would be uproar. Yet the reverse is the daily reality for British women and, as a report released this week shows, gender inequality has increased in the UK for the third year running.

At party political conferences this year the most sought-after freebie in the exhibitor's hall was the Top Trumps card deck produced by Sky News. It consisted of thirty cards with the picture, statistics and short description of a notable politician on each one, in the style of the classic playground game.

Post second wave feminism many people thought the battle had been won; the tide would now be unstoppable and we would see growing equality across society & business. Inside and outside the home women would have the same opportunities and possibilities open to them as men, without the constraining social norms which bound them to the home and the demands of a patriarchal family.