Throughout history women who have been tenacious, determined and, most importantly, empowered have made a profound impact which has roundly shaped our wider society.
Despite being the 380th woman elected to Parliament it’s vital to know we Conservative women are never there to just make up the numbers and never want to be a token or just a symbol.
Therefore, I am all the more proud it is our party, the Conservative Party, who has had three female Prime Ministers – and we now have our fourth female party leader in my friend the Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP.
Whilst we have made great progress towards true equality in our society, so many women have unjustifiably encountered numerous obstacles obstructing their progress to achieving their own success. That’s why the work of CWO and Women 2 Win matters all the more.
But, thankfully, through sheer determination, great support and male allies, many of us women have smashed glass ceilings.
Arguably one woman who broke the biggest glass ceiling of all was Margaret Thatcher.
The effects of Mrs Thatcher’s Leadership and term in office can be felt to this day. Under her premiership more women entered the workforce and became professionals. She truly inspired the next generation of young women who sought to emulate her resolve and strength, which has helped towards achieving equality of opportunity within the once wholly male-dominated political world.
International Women’s Day crucially celebrates our achievements – past and present– as well as all the women who have importantly made their lasting impact in the social, economic, cultural and political realms.
We all need to get behind and fully support this pivotal day because doing so together will crucially encourage our next generation of talented women to join an already amazing Conservative team as activists, Councillors and Parliamentarians.
Take, for instance, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge who should be greatly praised for her significant leadership as a young woman in Parliament, taking on the scourge of deepfake pornography—I cannot even think of the words I want to say about social media impact on woman and girls, at least not in this op-ed and that echoes how I felt in trying to talk about this in Thursday’s IWD debate in the Chamber.
I am keen to mention also the inspiration Helen Tomlinson, the former DWP cross-Government menopause champion. I am proud of her work on “No Time to Step Back” awareness campaign and what we jointly achieved in changing workplace culture around impact of Menopause in the workplace. During our time in government we got 2.4 million women into employment we worked on women’s experiences in the workplace, progression, safety, tackling spiking and standing up for women and girls, and that is roundly supported across the House.
It is abundantly clear from what I have outlined above when women enter politics it undoubtedly results in better outcomes, impacts and more efficient governance.
That is why this year’s International Women’s Day’s campaign – Accelerate Action – is crucial to support because it calls for increased momentum and real urgency in addressing biases that women still face, both in personal and professional spheres.
If – and it’s a big if – we can break down all remaining barriers then even more highly talented women will be able to enter the political fray, many of whom will certainly make their mark here or in economic, societal and cultural terms.
A core part of the campaign, which sadly is often overlooked and needs airing, is the delivery on the fundamental right for women to be safe living free from relationship violence. Domestic violence and coercive control should never be accepted or tolerated, and we should remind women – and anybody – suffering from abuse that there is vital help for them – and we, as MPs, will be there for them to turn to in the community.
The same principle applies for all the victims of grooming gangs – it makes me so angry that these vile acts were perpetrated across our country in towns and villages where young girls and women were exploited and trafficked. We desperately need a proper independent inquiry on grooming gangs to ensure these depraved crimes never happen again.
The Labour government needs to step up on reinforcing actions we did in on the women’s health strategy. Too many women still live in pain and are suffering from health conditions which should not be termed as normal. This outdated mindset we challenged and this Government should not be shirking from their promises on birth trauma, safer births and tackling in built lack of parity of our health system.
It is deeply incumbent upon us all to recognise that more can – and should – be done to achieve full equality and strive to ensure we get under the rocks and stones for the women and girls in our communities and be the champion for the voiceless.
I’m incredibly proud of our achievements – but there is clearly more to do and deliver on. I want women, particularly young women, to strongly identify with our Party and our values, as the arena that they can identify with, so they recognise their hopes, dreams and safety is as paramount to us as any other party.
We need women to come back to us and I am determined to play my part today to make that happen, as our comeback will only happen when many women come back to the Conservative corner, as they did with Mrs Thatcher at the helm.
I am pleased with the work my party has made considerable in celebrating and protecting women. Our leader Kemi helped protect women-only spaces, in offices and public places such as toilets and female-only hospital wards. It was also the last Conservative government that restored sex-specific language for female-only conditions, like cervical cancer, to protect women’s healthcare and ensure they have the support they need when facing these medical conditions. We also issued guidance to NHS trusts to ensure that language such as the term ‘women’ is included in NHS literature.
We will always stand up for women’s safety, fairness and equality in their daily lives – that is at the heart of what we do as a party.
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