Fabian Women

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.

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Tues 14th June at 7pm prompt – 8.15pm (please arrive at the House of Commons by 6.30pm to allow time for security)
Venue: House of Commons

Women in the UK earn less than men and are more likely than men to take careers breaks to care for children or elderly relatives. Added to the fact that women live longer than men, this has long had a significant effect on women’s ability to save for their retirements. Added to this, the Government has proposed to accelerate the equalisation of the State Pension Age for women by 2018, and then increase SPA to 66 by 2020.

In light of these changes and the increasing retirement savings gap, are women being hit hardest by pension reforms? The event will look at where we are now in terms of the cross-party consensus for pensions reform that was achieved after the Turner Commission, and how we keep a cross-party dialogue on this critical long-term issue. Speakers include:

Steve Webb MP, Pensions Minister
Rachel Reeves MP, Shadow Pensions Minister
Margaret Creear, Senior Campaigns Officer, AGE UK
Baroness Patricia Hollis (tbc)

This event is open to Fabian and non Fabian members. You are welcome to register with a friend/guest who this might be of interest to – but please email names in advance and we will be able to give you final details by Monday. To register, email us at fabianwomen@fabian-society.org.uk preferably by Friday 10th June. Places can still be reserved on the day up to 12pm.

You can also follow the event on Twitter at @fabianwomen and the hashtag is #womenspensions.

Twenty-two women have been selected against stiff competition to be mentored by a senior Labour Party figure in the first annual national political education programme developed by the Fabian Society Women’s Network. The programme, which was advertised in March http://www.fabianwomen.co.uk/2011/03/fabian-womens-network-launches-new-mentoring-scheme/,
is designed to improve political understanding, open up new networks and move women forward in their pursuit of a public life or political career, whether local or national. Mentors include Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP, Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Mary Creagh MP and Kate Green MP.

The programme was launched at a meeting in the House of Commons on Monday 23 May attended by the Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband who congratulated those selected and thanked the mentors for their support of future contributors to public life. He described them as “22 cracks in the glass ceiling” and said he wanted to see 50 per cent women round the Shadow Cabinet table, as well as Cabinet table.

Seema Malhotra, Director of the Fabian Women’s Network said “We want to see an increase in the impact and influence of women in politics and political debate. Political education is vital to giving women the know-how and the tools they need to determine their own way forward in public life.”

The Fabian Women’s Network is launching a new mentoring scheme to develop women’s political skills and increase the impact and influence of women in political debate.

The scheme, launched at the Labour Movement’s International Women’s Day Conference on 5 March 2011, is being piloted in 2011 and is open to any woman member of the Fabian Society. We welcome applications from women of all ages and levels of experience in politics. The deadline for applications to be a participant or mentor is April 7th 2011. The first ‘year’ will run from May to December 2011.

Click here to find out more and for details of how to apply.

Fabian women took part in the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day celebrations for the Labour party on 5 March 2011. At an all-day conference, which brought together Labour party members, supporters, trade unionists and politicians, Fabian Women had their own stand and mingled with Ed Miliband (photo) and other high profile Labour politicians.

Inspiring and insightful speeches came from Harriet Harman, who urged women ‘to be the engine of their own advance’, Frances O’Grady (Deputy General Secretary of the TUC) and Yvette Cooper.

Kate Green MP was also wonderfully coherent, intelligent and memorable, providing a clear explanation as to why the coalition’s cuts are unfair to women. Nan Sloane, from the Centre for Women and Democracy, also gave an interesting account on how countries compare regarding women in politics.

Read Ed Miliband’s post on Labour List.
See blog post by Delilah.

On 8th September, the Fabian Women’s Network hosted the Labour leadership women’s hustings in partnership with Lead for Women and the Labour Women’s Network. Around 200 women attended to hear each of the leadership candidates answer questions ranging from how they voted on gender quotas for the shadow cabinet earlier in the day, their experiences of ‘macho culture’ in the Labour Party and how the party should respond to international abuses of women’s human rights, highlighting in particular the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

The event received write-ups by Rowenna Davis in the New Statesman, Claire French for Left Foot Forward and by blogger Delilah. The hust was also live-tweeted using #lead4women.

***Follow Fabian Women’s Network on Twitter***

We are now on twitter: you can follow us on @fabianwomen.

On Wednesday, 8th September, the Fabian Women’s Network will be hosting the women’s leadership hustings, along with the Labour Women’s Network and Lead4women. The event will start at 6pm, and last for approximately two hours.

***Please note the change of venue: the event will now be held in the Attlee Room, Portcullis House***

You need to register in order to attend. Unfortunately there are no places available at present. Please email fabianwomen@fabian-society.org.uk to find out if any places have come up.

If you have booked a place, please leave at least 15 minutes to get through security at Portcullis House, and bring photo ID with you.

A key strand of the Network’s activities is holding regular networking receptions. These have gone from strength to strength since the first reception in 2005, bringing together hundreds of women, and some men, from the Fabian Society, Westminster and beyond.

The Network was launched at a reception in Jan 2005 attended by over 150 women of all ages from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Keynote speakers included Cherie Blair, Julie Mellor (former Chair, EOC) and Dr Beverley Malone (General Secretary, Royal College of Nursing).

The Network’s next reception was held in the summer of 2005, and included a speech by the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP. The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP and the Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP spoke at the 2006 autumn ‘Equalities’ reception, which was held at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

In spring 2006 the FWN hosted a series of events on the theme of Women and Work in the House of Commons. At the first, titled ‘“Mind the Gap” – Gender Inequalities and the Women and Work Commission’, the Network heard from Margaret Prosser (Chair of the Women and Work Commission), the Right Hon. Harriet Harman (Solicitor General), Meg Munn MP (Minister for Women) and Rachel Pillai (IPPR) on the causes of, and potential solutions for, the gender pay gap. Issues discussed included the need for institutional pay audits, careers advice that encourages girls to take subjects and follow careers that are lower paid, and the need to look at the influence of race in the pay inequality.

The second Women and Work seminar “What works? Changing workplace practice?” hosted Trevor Phillips, then Chair of the Equalities Review and the Commission for Racial Equality, Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for Children and Families, and Penny Barber, from Brook in Birmingham. This session examined the ways in which workplace practice and flexible working can be effective in reducing gender inequality in employment, the role of training and careers information in encouraging women back into the workplace and into better paid jobs.

The final event “Who cares? Valuing carers and caring responsibilities” was held in conjunction with IPPR and featured Christine McCafferty MP, Duncan Fisher from Fathers Direct, Barbara Keeley MP, Imelda Redmond (CEO Carers UK) and was chaired by journalist Mary Riddell. The experience of providing care was examined, and the need for support in caring highlighted – including improved pension rights, improved educational support for young carers and drop in centres. The need to support fathers in providing family care was also discussed, as well as the importance of flexible working and policies designed to help carers combine paid employment with care.

On 11th June 2007, the Fabian Women’s Network hosted a hust for the Labour Party Deputy Leadership contest.

This was the only hustings event held specifically for women, and it was organised in conjunction with the Labour Party Women’s Committee. Candidates included Fabian Women’s Network members Harriet Harman MP and Hazel Blears MP, as well as Hilary Benn MP, John Cruddas MP, Alan Johnson MP, and Peter Hain MP.