I’ve been emailed by a Real Woman

By Alex Foster | Tue 18th August 2009 - 12:50 pm

A Real Woman has been in touch to tell me about new Lib Dem policy proposals for Real Women.

As readers of the Voice should know by now – Jo Swinson MP penned a piece on Perez and photoshopping last week – the Lib Dems have a policy paper on women’s rights. The full paper is available at www.RealWomen.org.uk, and here’s the summary from the front page:

Women face pressure from all directions these days. Hit hard by the recession, trying to juggle family commitments with work and home life, it’s easy to feel like you’re running just to stand still. The media screams out an endless list of things still to do: get a bikini body in 20 days, plan the perfect children’s party, how to look 10 years younger. Despite great strides forward in equality, women still get paid less than men, and generally still end up taking more responsibility for childcare and looking after elderly relatives. This can be hugely rewarding, but combining this with a job can seem almost impossible.

There’s a lot the Government could do to give a helping hand. Making employers check for pay discrimination would help women get the money they deserve. Providing 20 hours per week free childcare would allow parents to make real choices about returning to work. Enabling everyone to ask for flexible working would help to change the rigid work culture, and make it easier to juggle different commitments. And it would be nice to inject some realism into the media’s portrayal of women, instead of the suggestion that nothing less than perfection will do.

Today’s email was asking us to spread the word:

We want to make sure as many women as possible (Liberal Democrat or not) to benefit from the policies in Real Women and the advice contained on the site.

Help us spread the word about Real Women:

Send an email about Real Women to 5 people you know, regardless of whether they are Liberal Democrat supporters or not
Post this site to your social networking page(s)
Blog about it / Tweet about it
Print out a copy and send it to anyone that does not have online access

2 Comments

James Graham 18th Aug '09 - 1:01pm

I think it would be more fun trying to email 5 imaginary women.
Cllr Patrick Smith 18th Aug '09 - 3:55pm

There are some brilliant but not enough inspirational younger L/D Women M.P`s, including Sarah Teather : someone who has refuted the requirement of a mandatory 82 Day vacation from Parliament and is known to work non stop in Brent East for her constituents.

Jenny Willot ( Cardiff Central),Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) and Julia Goldsworthy (Falmouth and Cambourne) are all among my Conference favourites they ought to have many more gender colleagues, like for example Kirsty Williams, after the next General Election and legions of Liberal women.

My own views on the `Real Women’ policy are as follows:

1.The pressure on young girls from a paranoid media on `air brushed photos ‘ is important but I believe that teenagers should attempt to be aware of a heathy lifestyle and feel happy in themselves, as the foremost consideration ,in terms of body weight image and fashion and maintain humour at all cost etc.

2.Healthy lifestyle should include a balanced diet and daily exercise and this is seen to be so with more girls taking up `Boxing’ and self defence martial arts and plenty do football competitive league, at school, nowadays.

3.Good role models for lifestyle are very important and should include all our talented L/D woman MP`s but also Kelly Holmes,Jessica Ennis (future prospect for BBC Sports Personality of the Year) and all women who demonstrate liberal leadership skills, in very difficult global oppression, like women in Afganistan,Iran and Durfur.

4.The battle to obtain equality for Women in Pay,Work,Management and so on is key to an understanding of the real role of women in the 21st C .However, I believe that these gaps are likely to be closed more rapidly, as girls now out perform boys in the majority of GCSE subjects, except a few important ones like Maths and Physics and there is an over demand for more sigle sex schools in London to increase their vocational and academic chances for Britain to capitalise on their incredible range of skills and greater achievement, in many areas of study and life.

5. I would also encourage more young women to take on the moral crusades of eminent social reformers ,like Josephine Butler, who helped reveal the sexual transmitted disease communicated by the serving military in the 19thC, and Octavia Hill who helped reform social Housing in London and Elizabeth Fry, who was the first women to enter prisons to obtain permission to cast her eye on reform.There was also Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson the first trained female hospital doctor, who gave her name to the hospital of that name in Westminster.

6. The `Real Women’ paper should also address the incalculable human suffering of many thousands of `sex slaves’ transported each year into our inner Cities and most but not all being forced into the demeaning occupation of prostitution. There must be more police stings like `Operation Sapphire’ launched to root out the ruthless gangsters and Mafia organised criminals responsible,for `sex trafficking’ based in Moldova and Eastern Europe.

7..Domestic Violence is on the increase and the Mayor of London`s failure to support required funding for all possible existing `Rape Crisis Centres’ in London lamentable, as they are vital to remain resourced with an open door to women, who can receive individual and confidential help and counselling and human support to rebuild their lives.

Finally, watch out for the role of girls and young women in the GCSE and A Level results this week, as again most will out perform their counterparts.