Labour launches biggest ever women’s campaign: Woman to Woman

Harriet Harman MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Gloria De Piero MP, Shadow Minister for women and equalities and Lucy Powell MP, Vice Chair of the Election campaign have launched Labour’s biggest ever women’s campaign to reach out to women across the country ahead of May’s General Election.

STATISTICS published last month showed that 9.1 million women in the UK did not vote in 2010.

This is the first time the Labour Party has had such a dedicated women’s campaign tour which is already scheduled to visit over 70 constituencies before the short campaign with a launch in every region, in Scotland and Wales.

Women from across Labour’s team – Women from Labour’s Shadow Cabinet, Parliamentary Labour Party, local government and the Trade Unions will be touring the country to discuss with womenwhat they want from Government and highlighting Labour’s commitments to women including helping them balance work with caring commitments, promoting flexible working, tackling domestic violence and increasing pay transparency.

They will be talking to women voters at school gates, in workplaces, shopping centres, universities, in town centres and on the doorstep.

Representation

A Labour majority would produce a PLP which is 43 per cent women and their target is to get to 50/50. Over half of Labour’s 2015 target seats (53 per cent) have women PPCs and 65 per cent of Labour’s retiring seats have women PPCs.

New figures released by the Labour Party show that only 25 per cent of Conservative candidates in their target seats are women. For the Lib Dems the figure for women in their target seats is 31 per cent.

Labour believes a balanced team of men and women is not just good in principle but it brings a balanced political agenda which works better which is why Labour is committed to working towards a 50:50 men women PLP.

Woman to Woman campaign

Labour intend to show that it is the only Party which will deliver for women in terms of its people, policies and politics by running a campaign which:

• Has a strong offer for women in its manifesto.
• Puts women’s concerns at the heart of the campaign in terms of spokespeople, news stories and events including a tour across the regions and nations.
• Reminds women voters about Labour’s strong record on issues like childcare, family care, equal pay and tackling domestic violence.
• Highlights the Tory and Lib Dem actions which have made life harder for women such as tax changes, a crisis in A&E and the continued pay gap                                                                                     • Harnesses the energy, strength and breadth of Labour’s women, including the 1000 activists who attended this year’s annual Women’s Conference and the hundreds of women across the country who participated in Gloria’s highly successful “What Women Want” tour and Harriet Harman’s Older Women’s Commission.                                                                                                                          • Draws on the talent of Labour women members, trade unionists, MPs, frontbenchers, Shadow Cabinet members, Peers, Councillors, MSPs, AMs and MEPs.                                                                  • And works with women’s organisations and the women’s movement in this country.

Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said: “We believe that this election will be a watershed for women in this country. Women had been making progress in their lives with the backing of the last Labour Government. But now, with this Tory-led government that progress is stalling and the clock is being turned back on equality.

“With ‘Woman to Woman’ we will be discussing with women what they want from government. The campaign will bring politics to the school gate and the shopping centre as well as colleges, offices and factories.

“There’s been a lot of talk about UKIP or the SNP holding the balance of power. The reality is that the 9.1 million women who did not vote in the last General Election will hold the balance of power and decide who walks into No 10.”

Ms Harman brought the Women to Women campaign’s Pink Bus to the Open Art Cafe in Rottingdean last Thursday (19) to launch the campaign in Brighton and Hove.

She said: “The Open Art Cafe was an ideal place for Nancy Platts and I to meet women to discuss their concerns. We chatted to women who did vote and those who had never voted. What came over very clearly is the importance of having Nancy in Parliament – someone who left school at 18 and who is the opposite of a “professional politician”