Fawcett launches femocracy (27/4/08)

Women's votes for the upcoming May elections are still up for grabs

New campaign launched to boost ethnic minority women's voting

Results from the latest polls indicate that women's votes are still up for grabs the race for London's mayor. Fifty four per cent of women surveyed in an Ipsos MORI poll (1) are certain to vote in the London Mayoral and London Assembly elections on May 1st. However, only 61% of these women have decided their first choice for Mayor (2). Over a third of women said they are likely to change their mind on who they will vote for, indicating there is a mass of women's votes yet to be secured by any candidate ahead of the elections.

Are candidates responding to women's key issues?

Fawcett today releases its interviews with the key mayoral candidates on their campaign priorities to find out how they plan to respond to women's concerns (3). Candidates were asked how they will address women's rights and promote equality between men and women and specifically how they would make a difference to ethnic minority women (4).

The response from Ken Livingstone, Labour Party promises work on economic equality and fair pay for women, including a new Women's Equality at Work Index that will rate London's businesses. He also reaffirmed his commitment to creating a safe city for London's women, making transport more accessible, extending affordable childcare across London and to lobbying government for equal pay audits and tougher measures on discrimination.

Liberal Democrat Party candidate Brian Paddick stated his commitment to promoting the position of ethnic minority women by setting up an office to promote women's participation in politics. He also promises to consult fully with women to ensure he is addressing their concerns; this includes lobbying the London Development Agency to work with grassroots women's organisations and ensuring that women's voluntary groups are fully resourced and supported.

Sian Berry, Green Party candidate reaffirmed an earlier pledge to actively tackle the pay gap by ensuring that the GLA and all private companies that are employed by the public sector carry out gender pay audits. She also confirmed a commitment to address the poverty facing many women by ensuring lower paid workers are paid the London living wage.

Conservative Party candidate, Boris Johnson, has yet to respond to the invitation to participate.

Political exclusion of ethnic minority women

Today the Fawcett Society launches a new campaign, femocracy, to tackle the political disengagement of ethnic minority women. Ninety years on since women in the UK first won the vote, ethnic minority women remain one of the most excluded groups from formal political and decision making processes.

Fawcett's new campaign will work with over 1500 ethnic minority women through a series of nation-wide events aimed at building women's confidence to participate in politics and encouraging them to vote.

Commenting on the new campaign, Director of Fawcett Society Dr Katherine Rake said: The fact that over a third of women in London have yet to decide how to vote on 1st May shows that all the candidates have ground to make up if they are to engage women fully in the forthcoming London elections.

The Fawcett Society has long lead a campaign to engage women in politics. Today, we add to this body of work with our new project femocracy which will work directly with ethnic minority women to ensure they are engaged in the political process as voters. The severe under-representation of ethnic minority women in British politics, coupled with low voter registration rates amongst some ethnic minority groups, means ethnic minority women are not being seen or heard politically. This situation must change.

Notes

(1) Survey commissioned by The Observer and conducted between 8 – 9th April 2008.

(2) In comparison, 53% of men polled were certain to vote. Seventy-one percent of these had definitely decided who to vote for.

(3) Ipsos MORI polling commissioned by UNISON shows that transport is the most important issue for women in deciding who to vote for as London mayor. Women voters are also prioritising environmental, education and health issues more highly than men.

(4) The video interviews and transcripts can be downloaded using the link to femocracy on the right. femocracy also interviewed Merlene Emerson, Liberal Democrat candidate for the London Assembly, on her experiences as an ethnic minority woman candidate in the London elections.