Dear all,
Further to my previous email about the Speaker's conference, it has been
suggested by a couple of members that it would be good for us to make a
collective submission as an organisation, both for our own reputation and to
throw our collective weight behind an important cause. I propose that we use
the recommendations made in the 2005 Women at the Top report, as it is
highly relevant and was written by three of our members. The
recommendations are detailed below. If anyone has any objection to this,
please do let me know. Conversely, if no-one objects then I hope this means
that you support this proposal for a collective submisison.
Women at the Top Hansard Society Report Recommendations
In order to deliver more representative political institutions in the UK:
1 Political parties should support the principle of equal political
representation of women and men (equality rhetoric); they should
encourage women from a diversity of socio-economic and ethnic
backgrounds to seek political office
2 Political parties should ensure selection processes are nondiscriminatory;
to this end they should employ equality promotion
measures, for example, gender - and Black and Minority Ethnic -
(BME) sensitive training for party selection committees and party
members
3 Political parties should operate internal sex quotas for party positions
which helps to deliver a larger pool of potential candidates
for election
4 Political parties should act to eliminate sexual harassment in their
parties and set a good example in terms of sex-balanced staff
appointments
5 Political parties should act to ensure, not only the selection but
also, the election of equal numbers of women and men by selecting
women for winnable contests
6 Political parties should employ measures that guarantee parity
of representation and recognise that, in the absence of these,
there will be only limited and incremental change and that this is
unacceptable
7 Political parties should monitor their selection procedures using
equality trained monitors and produce reports on the outcomes of
their selection processes after each election
8 The Government should consider introducing prescriptive rather
than permissive legislation; at the minimum, the Government
should, along with the other political parties, actively support the
extension by secondary legislation of the Sex Discrimination
(Election Candidates) Act that permits the use of equality guarantees
and which expires in 2015
9 The Government should implement international protocols and
treaties requiring equality of women's representation
10 The Government should provide funding for political parties to
institute, operate and monitor equality selection procedures
11 The Government should fund research on equal representation
12 Westminster should learn the lessons from Scotland and Wales and
reform itself to be more family-friendly and take more seriously
work-life balance as one factor that determines who seeks elected
political office in the UK
13 Arguments of justice and fairness should be used in support of
women's political representation; although women can make a
difference and act for women, their political presence should not
be dependent upon so doing.
Thanks and best wishes,
Rainbow
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