fabiana ISSUE # 5 The Fabian Women's Network Magazine SPRING 2013 Women and work: redefining the rules of the game Featuring Ed Balls · Seema Malhotra · Aysha Raza Frances O'Grady · Meg Munn · Fiona Mactaggart Fabian Women’s Network e-magazine Fabiana Spring 2013 Contents Fabiana is the magazine of the Fabian Women’s Editorial 3 Network (FWN). Ivana Bartoletti The articles represent the views of the writers only The working strategy 4 and not the collective view of FWN. Seema Molhotra MP Is One Nation Labour building 5 an economy Editor: Ivana Bartoletti Interview with Ed Balls MP Deputy editor: Suki Ferguson Fullfilment after fifty 6 Designed by: jamesenglishdesign.com Fiona McTaggart MP Illustrations: Amy Wolfe (amykatewolfe.blogspot.com) Let’s stop the ‘back to the kitchen-sink’ policy 7 Interview with Frances O'Grady Reshaping business norms 8 FWN Director: Seema Malhotra MP Karen Landles Email: [email protected] Book Review 9 Twitter: @FabianWomen Felicity Slater Website: http://www.fabianwomen.co.uk Working together: 10 Joe Dromey A matter of choice 11 Fabian Society General Secretary: Andrew Harrop Sarah Hayward Fabian Society membership: Giles Wright 020 7227 4904 How is gender inequality being 12 Young Fabians: www.youngfabians.org.uk challenged in the EU? Interview with Zita Gurmai MEP Defending the ECHR 13 Fabian Women’s Network Maeve McCormack c/o Fabian Society Where are our female scientists? 14 11 Dartmouth Street Meg Munn MP London SW1H 9BN The four stages of disillusionment 15 Telephone: 020 7227 4900 Fax: 020 7976 7153 Sue Ferns Budding female potential in STEM 16 Dr Aysha Raza Standing together: partners in peace 17 Lee Webster Abortion and the law 18-19 Lauren Milden Workplace sexism and sexual harassment 20 Twitter: @FabianWomen Laura Bates Want your voice to be heard? 21 Kate Talbot Making a lasting difference 22 Holly Dustin Farewell, Greta Karpin (1932 - 2012) 23 facebook.com/FabianWomen Jennette Arnold Fabian Women’s Network e-magazine Welcome to the fifth issue Ivana Bartoletti of Fabiana! Editor ur magazine is growing from strength too often opt for the latter. It is not just ties and creating our shared values. A few Oto strength, and so is the Fabian Wom- unfair to them but is also a great loss for days later, Tory MP Richard Graham sug- en's Network. My heartfelt thanks go to our country and its ability to recover from a gested that high heels and a mini skirts Suki Ferguson, Felicity Slater and Sarah long recession. are not the best way for women to protect Hutchinson for playing a key role in put- Affordable childcare and better themselves from rape - as if violence is a ting this issue together and to the fantastic paid jobs for women are key to get the consequence of a choice of clothing, rather team of Fabian women, whose relentless economy going. It was a great pleasure than a man's brutal behaviour. There is work has put FWN at the forefront of femi- to discuss these issues at length with still so much to be done in this area, and I nism in Britain. Frances O'Grady. The TUC leader speaks would like to highlight the many fantastic This issue continues the debate in Fabiana about how we need more organisations working with both women on how One Nation Labour can work for women in the economy to grow the econ- and men to put women's dignity and free- women. The coalition government perse- omy itself. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, doms at the heart of the policy agenda. veres with their reckless plans to foment in a wide-ranging interview with Felic- Austere times mean that women's a divided Britain. Not only have their aus- ity Slater, makes a similar point, stress- rights are at risk of being pushed back terity policies failed, as the International ing how a One Nation economy will only thirty years. This is happening not just in Monetary Fund recently remarked whilst work if 'you use the talents of all.' Britain but everywhere across Europe. encouraging Osborne to prepare a plan Other writers explore further Zita Gurmai, MEP for Hungary and Presi- B, but these policies are undermining our themes which underpin a One Nation dent of the Party of European Social- social cohesion, pitting old against young, economy: Fiona Mactaggart MP discusses ists' Women's organisation, discusses those who are in work against those who the 'sandwich generation' and the contri- in Fabiana how the policies of austerity aren't, British against migrants. And bution it can make to our society. Now that are impacting women, who often rely on they are succeeding in widening the gap life is much longer and the welfare state the essential services now under threat. between men and women too. so lean, older women are often squeezed We have had another taste of what this As Seema Malhotra MP writes between looking after their nieces and means: in his recent speech on Europe, in our magazine, 'this government has a nephews as well as their older parents. designed to appease his vociferous euro- deep prejudice against women - a preju- Joe Dromey analyses how the culture of sceptics, rather than standing up for Brit- dice so deep that it has seen women hit workplaces needs to change too, to tackle ain's best interest, David Cameron said he hardest every time.' Seema explains how presenteeism, introduce more flexibility wants to repatriate powers from Brussels. 'long term unemployment has increased and encourage employees to achieve a As women in Britain, we know what he by over 100,000 since the election, but better work-life balance. is alluding to: the set of employment and with a shocking 89% of that increase to be How women can grow the econ- social rights which protect our maternity found among women. Two-thirds of those omy and in the economy is what we will be rights and champion equal pay. affected overall by the 1% benefit and tax focusing on in the months ahead. And to The reality is that just when you think credit freeze are women, and new moth- do so, we will keep up our close work with it could not get any worse with the Tories, ers are losing a shocking total of £1,300 Your Britain and the policy review team. it does. If it is true, as the polls show, that during pregnancy and the baby's first year Our work will encompass other issues too. women are turning their backs to them, then due to cuts to maternity pay, pregnancy Just a few weeks ago, we hosted Diane we need to make sure we capitalise on this. support and tax credits.' Abbott's keynote speech on hyper-sexu- And not just in terms of votes, but also as an Families are struggling to make alisation of our society and the pressure it opportunity to propose a radical plan which ends meet. Costs of childcare are spiral- places on children. Once again, address- people can trust, rooted in women's every- ling. In the UK, we have the second-most ing this issue is not about being moralistic. day lives, opportunities and choices. expensive childcare costs in Europe, just It is about asserting that as a society we after Switzerland. This, coupled with the need to embrace women's self-determi- I hope you enjoy this issue of Fabiana gender pay gap, explains why women, nation, choice and freedom as the healthy and, as always, please do get in touch with when facing the stark choice of return- values underpinning our relationships; as ideas and if you wish to contribute. See you ing to work or putting their career on hold, the tenets holding together our communi- soon at the next FWN event! Fabian Women’s Network e-magazine 3 Seema Malhotra is the Labour Co-operative MP for Feltham and Heston and The working the Director of the Fabian Women’s Network. strategy Neither Labour nor the country can afford to leave women behind By Seema Malhotra ust when you think it couldn’t get However, this government’s deep to the UK economy - incredible espe- Jworse with the Tory-led coalition prejudice against women - which has cially when women are only half as likely government, it does. Yet again, this gov- seen women hit hardest every time - as men to set up a business to begin ernment has hit women hardest with its also manifests itself in other ways. Last with. Home Office research also sug- benefits changes, as ordinary people year I met a woman in my constituency gests that £42 billion would be added to pay the price for ministers’ economic who had lost her job and had decided the UK economy if we had the same level failure. Long term unemployment has to set up her own business. Having got of female entrepreneurship as in the US, increased by over 100,000 since the through the set up stage, she was strug- and if women started businesses at the election - but a shocking 89% of that gling to make it grow and had no idea same rate as men there could be an addi- increase is among women. A recent arti- where to go to seek advice and support. tional 150,000 extra start-ups each year cle in the Guardian showed that 98% Looking further at recent data in the UK. of those hit by Child Benefit changes on new women-led businesses suggests from 7 January 2013 were also women - also a gender gap in entrepreneurship.