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If you could ask the government to do one thing to improve women's lives, what would it be?









Labour Women
I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you to Cities of London and Westminster Labour Party and introduce myself as the constituency women’s officer.

I am here for all women in our local Labour Party – as a point of contact, a friendly face , someone you can find out information from and put questions to.

Labour has a proud history of campaigning for and delivering real improvements to women’s lives. From the introduction of the national minimum wage, to establishing over 2300 Sure Start Children’s Centres, Labour is in the business of winning for women.  Locally, women’s members often come together for campaigning, topical discussions and some well earned fun.

Regards, Jacqui - Women's Officer

New Measures to Support Victims of Sexual Assault.

Saturday, 04 July 2009 17:26
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On 15 April the government announced a package of measures to improve the investigation and prosecution of rape and provide support to victims. The package includes up to £1.8 million of new funding for Sexual Assault Referral Centres and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers, provision of specially trained officers, best practice guidance for the police and CPS and the establishment of a Police/CPS Rape Performance Group to monitor and assess preformance.

Introducing the package, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker minister for Schools at the Department for Children, said, "There are few crimes more horrific than rape and we know it is a uniquely difficult crime to investigate. Every force has a responsibility to ensure that officers who come into contact with a rape victim are trained to support that victim. The package of measures we are announcing today will help ensure that the police and prosecutors are further equipped to investigate allegations of rape and secure justice for the victims."

The announcement of the new package of measures follows the successful consultation on violence against women launched in March. Labour is deeply committed to tackling the issue of violence against women. In a recent major speech on crime and crime reduction, the Prime Minister highlighted the government's successes in combating violence against women and continued commitment to improvement: over the past five years more than £11 million has been invested in this area, including the funding of 28 Sexual Assault Referral Centres, up from only five in 2001, with further increases planned until each police force has one of these centres by 2011. Success in applying new technology to fighting crime, specifically the use of DNA evidence in violence against women cases, was also highlighted in the speech. The number of crimes detected through improved DNA technology has nearly tripled over the last ten years to 17,000 last year. The Prime Minister said, "Violence against women is an obscenity and fighting it  will always be a priority for this government".

Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 July 2009 18:21 )
 

Equality Bill

Friday, 03 July 2009 00:00
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Fairness for Women 

The Equality Bill will make life fairer for women by:

 

Bringing in gender pay reports. This will apply to the public sector first. The private sector will follow in 2013 if insufficient voluntary progress is made in the meantime. It will help to make our workplaces more transparent. The Bill will also ban secrecy clauses that prevent employees discussing their pay with colleagues. 

 

Using public procurement to improve equality. We want public services to meet the needs of our diverse society and promote equality in their workforce. For example, a Government department contracting out its recruitment services requires that all jobs must be advertised on a part-time basis or with flexible working unless there is a business reason why this is not possible. This will help to ensure that its work is available to all groups of people, in particular women. 

 

Extending the use of positive action in the workplace. Employers can choose to make their workforce more diverse when selecting between two job candidates who are equally suitable. 

 

Extending the power of employment tribunals. The Bill will ensure that employment tribunals can make recommendations that benefit the whole workforce and not just the individual who brought the claim, who often ends up leaving the company. 

 

Putting a new Equality Duty on public bodies. The Duty will mean public bodies need to think about the needs of everyone who uses their services or works for them, whatever their gender. This will specifically apply to pregnant women and new mothers. 

 

Extending the permission to use women-only shortlists to 2030. This will help to increase the proportion of women in Parliament. 

 

Protecting carers from discrimination. The Equality Bill will protect women (and men) who are, for example, caring for a disabled child or an older relative. They will be protected by virtue of their link to that person. 

 

Protecting breastfeeding mothers. The Equality Bill will make it clear that it is unlawful to force breastfeeding mothers and their babies out of places like coffee shops, public galleries and restaurants. 

 

Ensuring private members’ clubs do not discriminate against women. Women will have to be treated equally if they belong to clubs with over 25 members. 

So for example, women members of golf clubs cannot be prevented from playing at particular times if men are allowed to play whenever they like. 

 

 

Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 July 2009 18:07 )
 


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