- Conference
- 2017 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2016
- Decision
- Carried
The exit of the UK from the EU has profound implications for women’s rights. The implications were recognised in our debate at Women’s Conference 2015 but have now became a reality.
Some of the key policy areas where key equality law and related measures derived from EU membership include:
• women’s rights and representation;
• employment
• police, justice and victims’ rights;
• human rights;
• social security;
• disability;
• immigration and asylum.
All of these areas directly impact on women’s lives and women’s rights. We are now being asked to accept that the current UK Government will ‘protect’ these rights when there are clear indications to the contrary. The Human Rights Act remains under attack; the provisions of the ECHR are to be removed from the armed forces, setting a dangerous precedent for further regression; and the bedrock of anti-discrimination law and statutory duties on equality of opportunity are now under threat.
Conference therefore calls on the National Women’s Committee to work with the NEC and with relevant organisations to:
1) assess the impact of EU exit on our women members in particular and women’s social and economic rights in general;
2) press the UK Government and the Devolved Governments to conduct equality impact assessments on the consequences of EU exit for women, particularly under the above headings and to make public their proposals for alternatives or mitigation where adverse impact on women is likely to occur;
3) press the UK government on how it intends to implement the outstanding CEDAW recommendations in the context of EU exit;
4) press the relevant equality and human rights enforcement bodies to conduct research and make proposals for the protections of women’s rights;
5) work through the TU Council of Isles and the Women’s Council of the Isles on a co-ordinated campaign to protect women’s rights across all jurisdictions.