Fabian Women

The Fabian Society kicked off this year discussing at the New Year Conference how Labour should respond to the economic crisis, presenting alternatives to the current government agenda.

The Fabian Women’s Network held an event ‘Women, the crisis and politics’ to explore whether, and how, an economic alternative can be rooted in greater women’s participation in the workforce, in boardrooms and in politics at all levels.

Seema Malhotra MP and Director of FWN, Polly Toynbee (Guardian), Vera Baird (barrister and former MP) and David Coats (Smith Institute) discussed with the public what Labour’s priorities should be. The event was chaired by Ivana Bartoletti, Editor of Fabiana. [http://www.fabianwomen.co.uk/2012/01/fabiana-magazine-puts-feminism-at-heart-of-welfare-state-reform-and-economic-growth]

Statistics show how women are bearing the brunt of the recession and of the government’s austerity agenda, being pushed out of the workforce and their income being driven down. FWN believes a truly reformist agenda needs to have women at its very heart.

The discussion was lively and attendees all shared the belief that it is time for Labour to establish a new deal with women and, by doing so, to gain their trust. The issues that were raised by the panel included childcare, representation in Parliament and gender stereotypes, following the successful Hamleys campaign
[http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/12/hamleys_campaign]
led by Laura Nelson of the FWN, which resulted in the toyshop ditching its gender-specific signs.

The event also celebrated the launch of the second issue of Fabiana magazine.
[http://www.fabianwomen.co.uk/2012/01/fabiana-magazine-puts-feminism-at-heart-of-welfare-state-reform-and-economic-growth]

FWN will continue discussing how to create gender justice in tough times.

Winter 2012 issue discusses how a feminist framework can effectively reform the UK’s welfare state and equip it to drive economic growth.

If Labour constructs a new vision of the state with women at its heart, it will be a better designed State, able to develop services rooted in a new partnership between the centre and the communities, and able to unlock all the untapped economic potential of the UK.

Readers remark on the range of Fabiana’s writers. In this issue politicians, top academics, think tanks, and trade unionists suggest routes forward for the welfare state and drive home the message that the UK economy cannot afford to waste its human resources by continuing to limit the achievements of women and girls.

Hilary Cottam makes the case for a more relational welfare and Torbjörn Hållö presents a Swedish perspective.

We are delighted that Ed Miliband uses Fabiana to deliver his vital message on why women are so central, why Labour wants to walk side by side with feminism, and how the party’s proud history of fighting for women is driving its ambitions for this country and its women now.

Also in this issue, Deborah Mattinson explains why we need Fabiana, and why we need women driving a strong, progressive agenda. We also look at women in the company boardroom: Shadow Minister for Innovation Chi Onwurah explains what the UK has to gain by boosting women’s presence at all levels, especially in science and innovation; and Helen Walls makes a strong business case for equal participation of women in boardrooms.

Fabiana is at the forefront of the debate on how we build a new progressive, reformist and winning alliance in this country, knowing it can only be achieved with a powerful women’s presence and the clarity of a feminist lens. So I really hope that all of you readers, women and men, will put some of your personal energy into Fabiana, add your voice and pass Fabiana on to new readers.

Ivana Bartoletti
Editor

You can download the full edition by clicking the image below (PDF) or you can view a Flash based flipbook version here.

Seema Malhotra is Labour’s winning Labour candidate for Feltham and Heston.

Labour polled 12,639 votes, and there was an 8.6% swing to Labour.

Seema said this is “a victory for Labour which shows the progress we are making under Ed Miliband’s leadership.”

She added: “[This is] a vote of confidence in the way Labour is changing; listening harder, winning back the trust of the people we seek to serve.

“This is also a wake up call for David Cameron. This result shows how this Tory-led government is is totally out of touch with families, with business and out of touch with our pensioners too.”

Ed Miliband said the result was a “verdict on this Government’s failing economic plan”.

He said: “This is not just a swing from the Tories to Labour. It is a swing away from Tory ideas to Labour ideas. Labour ideas that put young people back to work. Labour ideas that gets growth going in the economy. Labour ideas that even in tough times, there can be hope.”

Fabian Women’s Network member Seema Malhotra has been selected as the Labour & Co-operative candidate for the Feltham & Heston by-election.

Seema grew up in Feltham, and went to school in Heston. She is co-founder and Director of the Fabian Women’s Network and a former National Chair of the Fabian Society, as well as a former adviser to Harriet Harman during her stint as leader of the opposition last year. She is a graduate of LWN’s parliamentary training, and will make an outstanding MP if she is elected.

Help Seema to win – join the campaign.

Labour Women’s Network and the Fabian Women’s Network are joining forces for a women’s campaign day on Sunday, 11 December from 11am – we’ll be meeting up at the campaign centre at Feltham Labour Hall, Manor Place TW14 9BT so please come and join us if you can.

You can contact Ivana Bartoletti, Editor of Fabiana and member of FWN Committee on ivanabartoletti@hotmail.co.uk or 07931959521, to let us know that you’ll be there.

You can also help the campaign at any time by coming along to the campaign centre at Feltham Labour Hall, Manor Place TW14 9BT. Email with your contact details today to felthamandheston@labour.org.uk or call the volunteer hotline on 07872 417252. You can also follow Seema on Twitter at @SeemaMalhotra1.

Harlow CLP have selected Suzy Stride – member of the Fabian Women’s Network’s mentoring scheme – as their candidate for the next general election. Suzy works for a grassroots charity tackling social exclusion and worklessness in East London, diverting hundreds of young people away from crime and into education and work. She also works as an advisor to Baroness Jan Royall, Labour’s leader in the House of Lords, on the policy review, ‘What Makes Politics Count for Young People’.

“I’m not asking people to love the EU. I’m asking people to understand what it can do,” said Linda McAvan MEP, when she spoke to the group of Fabian Women who visited the European Parliament on 9 November.

The extent of the work of the EU was one of the main messages that came through clearly in the presentations throughout the day. And what was striking was that many of the achievements are due to hardworking Labour MEPs, such as Linda McAvan and Arlene McCarthy – another MEP who spoke to us.

For example, Labour MEPs have campaigned for and influenced policies on food safety, food labeling, bank rules and climate change. “The EU is not all about flags and anthems – it’s about working rights, consumer rights and the environment,” said Linda.

Another key message was that we will always need deal with Europe, whether we are part of the EU or not. “If we haven’t got a place on the table, like Norway, we need to lobby other countries’ MEPs to represent because we still have to trade.”

As well as the themes about the importance and relevance of the EU, we heard from speakers about the structures – the Commission, the Parliament and the Council of Ministers – and an outline of how legislation passes between them. We also appreciated that a crucial skill that MEPs need to have is negotiating, as many decisions are based on consensus-seeking of MEPs in different parties.

The group on the trip, which was made up of women on the Fabian Women’s Network’s mentoring scheme and others, was full of praise for the excellent organisation of the day and the diverse and informative range of speakers. One delegate summed it up perfectly. “I learned more today than on my politics course.”

Laura Nelson, Fabian Women’s Network Mentee

‘Should women reject or embrace Blue Labour?’ was the title of an event promoted by FWN which was held on Monday 27 September at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

BL is, according to the academic and peer Maurice Glasman, a relational politics in which people resist domination and the power of capitalist society, which has reduced individuals to commodities.

Many have voiced their concerns about BL, but its impact on women has been the most neglected aspect of all. FWN has been engaging with BL for a long time, with a view to identifying its faultlines in relation to women’s roles and power in today’s world.

The meeting was an excellent opportunity to discuss where and how women fit in BL. Helen Goodman MP voiced her concerns, arguing BL uses a male-dominated vocabulary and it is built by a male clique.

Marc Stears (Oxford, IPPR) argued BL is about revolutionising the way power is distributed, and argued true equality can be built through grass roots movements and not only through state led initiatives. Rowenna Davis (Guardian journalist and author of ‘Tangled up in Blue’) explained how exploring BL changed her perspective on its ideas and the society it envisages.

Ivana Bartoletti, Editor of Fabiana, acknowledged the positive challenges BL presents to the feminist movements but warned against too quickly dismissing the role of the state, while affirming the need for reform.

Chaired by Seema Malhotra, FWN Director, the meeting made it clear that further debate is needed. FWN welcomes the challenge to reinterpret the role of the state and will develop this further in the next issue of Fabiana magazine, which had its official launch at the Labour Party Conference. FWN is proud to have this new space to call for in depth discussion, enabling it to fully contribute to the debate and to advocate for a feminist perspective as a beacon for progress, modernity and a better future for all.

We are delighted to welcome you to Fabiana, the new FWN magazine, an arena where the power and potential of women can be heard and showcased, and as a platform for policy analysis, comment and debate.

The first issue is filled with a combination of feminist voices – from Labour Party veterans to those they have inspired who are just setting out in their careers. They all share the conviction that progress for women is inextricably linked to progress for all in society, but come at it from diverse backgrounds and angles. Launched one hundred years after the first International Women’s Day, Fabiana has a UK focus but a very international outlook, looking at the contributions of women from London to Libya and Liberia.

Harriet Harman reveals some of what she will tell her own party at the Labour Party Conference. Authors including Sadiq Khan, Giovanni Allegretti and Rushanara Ali write about a wide range of urgent issues, from shrinking legal aid to participatory budgets and women in peace processes.

In an exclusive interview, Maurice Glasman goes several uncomfortable rounds with the Editor in defence of his often controversial vision of Blue Labour.

We would be very grateful if you could give Fabiana a warm welcome. The magazine is open to all who want to debate politics and innovate policies, whatever walk of life in politics, business, the public sector or civil society.

You can download the full edition by clicking the image below (PDF) or you can view a Flash based flipbook version here.

Participants write about a packed day that included talks by leading MPs, debates in the Houses and committee rooms, and a tour. The highlight, it seems, was the practical ‘Dragons’ Den’-style Private Members’ Bill session.

Malcolm Wicks on Private Members’ Bills, by Vicki Butler
As a mentee on the Fabian Women’s Network mentoring scheme, I was lucky enough to take part in a Parliamentary day on 13 September. The day provided a fascinating insight to the inner workings of Parliament, with a number of Labour MPs and former Ministers sharing their experiences with us throughout the day.

For me, the highlight was Malcolm Wicks MP’s session on Private Members’ Bills, which are bills introduced by MPs and Lords who aren’t government ministers.

By talking through the passage of his own successful Private Members’ Bill, the Carers Act 1995, mentees received a detailed breakdown of what is needed for a Private Members’ Bill to pass.

And it’s not easy. First of all MPs need to win a ballot to table a Private Members’ Bill, and even if an MP is one of the 20 to be chosen, they’re only in with a shot of getting their bill passed if it falls within the top eight due to way parliamentary time is allocated.

Lucky enough to be allocated a high position in the ballot results, Wicks talked through the battle he faced for parliamentary time for the Carers Bill, and highlighted how just one or two unsupportive MPs can ‘kill’ a bill on its first or second reading.

He also focused on how important it is to cross party support for a Private Members’ Bill if it is to have any chance of becoming law, adding that for this reason it is often more effective if a Bill focuses on a non-political issue.

It was inspiring to hear the effort Wicks went to in order to push through his important bill, which was one of the first pieces of legislation to recognise the needs of carers rather than just the needs of those cared for.

The fact that such a Bill was passed through the Private Members’ Bill process highlights how important this parliamentary function is, particularly given that many other historic pieces of legislation were Private Members’ Bills, such as those ending capital punishment (1965) and legalising abortion (1967).

It is a pity then that it remains incredibly difficult for a Private Members’ Bill to become law, given that it only takes a couple of MPs to block a bill, and that they are only granted parliamentary time on Friday mornings, when many MPs return to their constituencies. As many have already suggested, it’s high time that the process is reformed, ensuring that backbenchers have a great influence on law making.

Presenting a Private Members’ Bill, by Sarah Hutchinson
This portion of the day was one of the most rewarding parts. It punctuated the day, starting with us deciding in our groups first thing which of our ideas was going to be selected. In my group, my idea of requiring utility companies to resurface the full width of the road when they carry out repair works, coupled with an incentive to encourage them to undertake work at the same time as other companies was selected. We had half an hour in our groups of four to prepare a presentation – quite a challenge given that I knew most about the topic and I knew really rather little! We tried to incorporate Malcolm Wicks’s tips – keeping the proposal small and practical, and highlighting the benefits it would bring. We’d barely finished preparing when I was called on to begin the session. I fluffed my speech a little, but the rest of my group compensated fully! Then Hilary began to grill us on the practicalities and relevance of the idea, and I was surprised and pleased to find that I could answer his questions, to a level that apparently satisfied him!

The benefits of going first then paid off, as we were able to concentrate on the great ideas being proposed by the other groups – allowing community radio to accept advertising, giving local authorities the power to veto betting shop applications, and appointing an independent guardian to young people rescued from trafficking. The exercise was challenging and nerve-racking, but it was a thrill to find out that we were all capable of doing it. Getting to hear the passion with which the rest of the group spoke about the issues that mattered to them was also a real privilege.

The coalition’s plans for the extra rise in Women’s State Pension Age goes too far and too fast, according to the speakers at the Fabian Women’s Pensions event.

Speaking to an audience of about 50 people in the House of Commons, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, the Shadow Pensions Minister Rachel Reeves, Margaret Creear of Age UK and the Pensions Minister Steve Webb spoke of their concern for the most vulnerable women.

Margaret Creear from Age UK read out the real-life reactions of 57-year-old women on learning they have to wait two years extra for their state pension with as little as six years’ time to prepare for the delay. These women, through no fault of their own, bear the worst brunt of the coalition’s short-notice plan to speed up the rise in women’s state pension age to 65 from 2016 and to 66 from 2018.

The women face a loss of £10,000 in state pension income over two years – up to £15,000 if they could have been on Pension Credit. They will have no time to build up alternative pension provision and could have to draw on modest rainy day savings to survive. Women in manual jobs or in the low-earning work women often find themselves in after taking time out to care of children or relatives have no prospect of replacement pension savings.

Read the rest of this entry →