What do women want in May?

With the General Election looming upon us, politicians are as usual scrabbling around trying to “win” the “women’s vote”. So I thought I would come up with a few pointers about what women might want to see from a new Government after we’ve put our crosses next to our preferred representative in a few weeks’ time.

Gotcha! 

Of course I’m not going to do that. Doing that would be to make the same mistakes political parties make every flippin’ election – assuming that women are one homogenous mass who share the same concerns and who all want the same thing. As opposed to male voters, who are seen as individual prospects with a range of interests across a range of political issues.

But, because I have an article to write, I am going to tell you what this ONE woman wants in May. Of course, I can’t tell you everything – I’ve got a lot of demands. But here are some key issues that I – as a feminist writer and activist – want to see from a new Parliament. 

1. For our MPs to vote in proper, mandatory sex and relationships education. 

We have a crisis of violence against women and girls in this country. Recent research from the NSPCC and Bristol University reported that 1 in 3 girls experience some form of intimate partner violence – including physical and sexual violence. Increasingly, coercive and violent behaviours are becoming normalised in teen relationships. Many young people are learning about sex and relationships from pornography that teaches them that non-consensual aggression is the norm. 

We are letting down our young people when we don’t give them the information and tools to negotiate their sexuality. By not providing education that focuses on consent and respect, we are creating a situation where young women increasingly have ‘silent bodies’. We cannot tackle violence in teen relationships, and prevent violence in the future, without proper sex education.

2. Proper funding for domestic violence and abuse services 

In the early days of the Coalition, Theresa May promised that councils would not see domestic violence services as an ‘easy cut’. However, as the cuts began to bite, services that provide refuges to women fleeing domestic abuse have been decimated. Women’s Aid did a snapshot survey that found on one day, refuges were forced to turn away 155 women. These women had no-where safe to go. 

Every week, two women are killed by a current or former male partner. Last year, two women in Bristol were killed by violent male partners. One in four women experience domestic abuse, and women constitute 89 per cent of victims who have experienced 4 or more incidents of violence. Domestic violence isn’t going away. Leaving a violent partner is the most dangerous time. Women need safe, secure refuges. They save women’s lives. 

We also need to protect funding for specialist services, including for BME women. Recently the only refuge for Latin American women was saved. But it should not have been facing closure in the first place. 

And, whilst we’re at it, more funding for rape crisis centres please. Around 80,000 UK women are raped every year. Rape Crisis Centres should be funded and supported, so that when women are raped, they can access the support they need.

3. Free childcare, equal paternity leave and support for single parents

One of the aims of the Women’s Liberation Movement was state-funded, free childcare. Sometimes it amazes me how timid we have become in our demands. Let’s get some of that energy back. Let’s campaign for free childcare for parents who need or want it. Let’s campaign for equal paternity leave, so both mums and dads can share the joys and challenges of caring for a baby. And let’s improve our support for single parents. Instead of charging single parents to access the Child Support Agency, let’s instead do more to ensure absent dads pay their child support. And, for goodness sake, stop these attacks on child benefit. 

4. Let’s have a more representative parliament

I mean, come on. The UK Parliament lags behind when it comes to gender representation. Only 22 per cent of MPs are women – there are more women MPs in Afghanistan. There are more millionaires than women in the Cabinet. In fact, at one point during the last five years, there were more alumni from a single Oxford college than there were women in the cabinet. 

None of the arguments against women-only shortlists stack up. Positive discrimination? What makes you think an all-white, all-male shortlist is not positive discrimination?

5. Stop treating our reproductive rights as up for debate

Those rights are won. Our personhood, our bodily autonomy is not up for debate. It is not a bargaining tool. Women die when abortions are illegal. Women’s lives matter. 

So, there we go. Five things this woman would like to see from the next Government.