Conference is deeply concerned at the cuts to women’s services throughout the country and particularly at recent proposed cuts in Devon. In January one of the major stakeholders, Devon County Council announced that it proposed to withdraw £1.2 million in funding for the Against Domestic Violence Abuse Project (ADVA). The severity and rapidity of these […]
Conference motions
This Conference recognises that some aspects of government’s proposals published in ‘Universal Credit’ (November 2010) to reform the state welfare system are reportedly designed to make it easier for a single assessment of need. Such a system should relieve some of the burdensome pressure of women to make duplicate applications to a number of statutory […]
Conference welcomes the news that the TUC has called a national demonstration for 26 March 2011 and understands that opposition to the austerity measures is gradually building up in the UK with demonstrations having already taken place as well as lobbies of Parliament and protests nationwide following the Con Dem announcement of eighty three billion […]
The adverse impact of motherhood on the gender pay gap is well known. The Labour Government has postponed its proposed extension of maternity pay to fifty two weeks, claiming it is inappropriate during the recession. We know that the coalition government will make no commitment to increasing maternity pay. The CBI attacked the Labour government’s […]
Conference notes the disproportionate effects the cuts on public services will have on women, in particular cuts to Sure Start. Users of the services are almost exclusively women as are the staff employed. Sure Start provides vital services such as Early Years play and development, family bonding, speech and language and family support services to […]
This National Women’s Conference notes the attack on women that is being instituted by the ConDem Government. Their first budget showed a disproportionate effect on women which was highlighted by the Fawcett Society. We are all aware that the public sector is being made to pay the price of the excesses of the banking and […]
All political parties in the run up to the General Election had campaigns around fairness and equalities and the importance of family. As soon as the ConDem Government came into power they could not wait to introduce measures that had a disproportionate impact on women. Particularly in their sights on universal benefits such as child […]
Conference notes with concern the economic hardship public service cuts will have on women. Sixty five per cent of public sector workers are women and almost a quarter of working women are in public sector jobs. Women are also the greatest users of public services. With one in five women acting as carers for adult […]
This conference is delighted to see the resurgence of a feminist movement that is gaining media attention and that is campaigning on a broad range of women’s issues. Young feminists are organising conferences and summer schools to raise awareness of feminist principles, and building coalitions to successfully campaign on specific and general issues. These groups […]
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, affecting around six thousand and eight hundred women. It is the highest gynaecological killer of women in the UK and the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women, with two out of every three cases of ovarian cancer being […]
Conference applauds the UNISON campaign to Defend Your School. The schools workforce is predominately female, with women part-time workers outnumbering part-time male staff by ten to one. The majority of these women will be in low paid jobs – as teaching assistants, schools meals staff, admin and clerical staff etc. Now, government proposals for the […]
In 1945 the UK national debt was 215% of GDP – however the government chose to invest in public services and we saw the creation of the national health service. In April 2010, the UK national debt was 71% of GDP, and yet the coalition government has used this as an excuse to try and […]
Conference notes with concern the government’s “big society” proposals. Whilst conference agrees that volunteers provide valuable support for many third sector organisations, they cannot and should not be replacing staff in properly financed and resourced public services. A UNISON report in 2009 found that massive cuts in funding were affecting the ability of community and […]
Conference is disappointed to note the failure of the Equality Act 2010 to address some of the fundamental inequalities in our society, at a time when public services are under attack, budgets are being cut, services are being outsourced and pay frozen. Conference further notes that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is facing an […]
The Women Chainmakers’ Festival is held in September at the Black Country Museum in Dudley West Midlands. This festival is held to celebrate the victory of the women chainmakers who in 1910 challenged their employers to pay them fairly. Led by Mary Macarthur four hundred women of which three hundred were union members staged a […]