By LOUISE TIMLIN, Evendons candidate for the Women’s Equality Party
The Women’s Equality Party (WE) have always believed that a caring community is a stronger community.
The Covid pandemic has proved this to be true. Nobody has been left unaffected – many thousands have lost loved ones, livelihoods, jobs and their financial security.
Everyone agrees we need to build back better but WE say we need to do more – we need to Build Back Equal. The pandemic has laid bare the inequalities in our society and made many of them worse.
We must rethink how our communities work and we need a local government that is not afraid of radical change.
Our local election manifesto calls for actions in four key areas: the economy, caring infrastructure, ending violence against women and girls, and physical infrastructure (housing and transport).
A snapshot of these actions are listed here:
WE believe in creating a socially just and environmentally safe place for all residents. To achieve this WE will:
- Campaign for a wellbeing budget that includes the value of unpaid care
- Convene an annual citizens’ assembly to scrutinise the draft Council Budget and recommend changes prior to approval
- Establish Citizens Assemblies to ensure women’s and other marginalised voices are heard and heeded in local Carbon and Climate plans.
WE believe in the transformative power of childcare, and that social care is a human right and a crucial part of our infrastructure. WE will:
- Develop a Childcare Strategy and push for inclusive provisions for accessible and affordable childcare
- Campaign for a Real Living Wage for all social care workers
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls must become a political priority. WE will:
- Lobby for statutory funding for women’s services and shelters, including ring-fenced funding for specialist services
- Introduce monthly domestic abuse clinics signposting women to local support services
- Seek to achieve White Ribbon accreditation, working collaboratively with male councillors and Council staff
To ensure our physical infrastructure works for everyone, WE will:
- Ensure the Council’s housing strategy includes the needs and perspectives of minoritised women
- Ensure that women and children at risk of homelessness are prioritised for local social housing
- Lobby for our transport infrastructure to meet the needs of the majority and become accessible to all.
The Women’s Equality Party has seven core policy areas: Equal Pay and Opportunity, Equal Education, Equal Parenting and Caregiving, Equal Representation, Equal Health, Equal Media, and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.
Find out more at www.womensequality.org.uk.
Louise Timlin is standing as the Women’s equality Party candidate in Evendons Ward. Also standing in Evendons Ward are: Daniel Hinton, Conservative; Annette Medhurst, Labour; and Ian Shenton, Lib Dem
