WATCH NOW: Women Voters - What's the Verdict So Far?

How do women feel about the government response to coronavirus? What does life under lockdown mean? How confident are we on the government’s strategy to end lockdown?

As a part of our #CoronaConversations series we will be asking a panel of experts to discuss women's views on the lockdown and the government's approach, as well as what this could mean for the future. The panel will be drawing on a range of data on public attitudes and behaviour, as well as diaries being written by women across the UK.

Chaired by Ayesha Hazarika, we will also be joined by Deborah Mattinson from BritainThinks, Kully Kaur-Ballagan from Ipsos MORI, Jen Williams from Manchester Evening News, and Fawcett’s Gemma Rosenblatt.

SPEAKERS:

AYESHA HAZARIKA - POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & BROADCASTER, FAWCETT TRUSTEE

Ayesha Hazarika was a special adviser to Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband from 2007 to 2015.

She was a speechwriter, prepared leaders for big parliamentary debates including Prime Minister’s Questions, managed media relations, specialised in women’s issues and helped draft the landmark Equality Act 2010. She is now a much sought-after political commentator and broadcaster. A columnist for the London Evening Standard, the Scotsman, the i paper, Grazia and other national publications. She frequently appears on television and radio including the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Newsnight, Sky News, Good Morning Britain, LBC and CNN International.

DEBORAH MATTINSON - FOUNDING DIRECTOR AT BRITAINTHINKS

BritainThinks, a research agency that puts the people that matter to its clients at the heart of their thinking. Through its work for businesses like McDonald’s, Lloyds Bank and LinkedIn, for charities like Shelter and Joseph Rowntree Foundation and government and local government BritainThinks, and its international arm WorldThinks provides research based strategic advice.

One of Britain's leading commentators on public opinion, Deborah frequently writes and broadcasts about the mood of the nation. In 2010, she published Talking to a Brick Wall - the story of the New Labour years through the eyes of the voter. She is currently working on a book about the Red Wall.

KULLY KAUR-BALLAGAN - RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT IPSOS MORI

Kully Kaur-Ballagan is a Research Director within the Social and Political Research division of Ipsos MORI.

Kully joined MORI in 1999 and is an experienced social researcher specialising in research among harder to reach communities. Kully is Head of Ipsos MORI’s Cohesion and Security research team, which leads on Ipsos MORI’s work on social cohesion and integration, equalities, crime and justice, race and religion as well as public opinion on immigration. Kully also has a keen interest in Ipsos MORI’s political polling work and over recent years has led Ipsos MORI’s work for International Women’s Day exploring attitudes towards gender across the globe.

JENNIFER WILLIAMS - SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

Jennifer is the MEN's social affairs editor. She covers political developments across Greater Manchester - including at Westminster and the region's 10 councils - and has broken a string of national exclusives. As well as writing about politics she helps oversee a team of journalists covering social affairs issues including transport, education and health.

GEMMA ROSENBLATT - HEAD OF POLICY & CAMPAIGNS AT FAWCETT

Gemma joined Fawcett in June 2019 as Head of Policy and Campaigns. Prior to that she led the research programmes at the Advertising Standards Authority and the Electoral Commission.

She is a trustee of Working Families and sits on the advisory board of the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College. She is also a school governor. 

We would like to ask if you would consider making a donation towards the cost of the event. We want to keep this event series free so that our events are as inclusive as possible, but right now we urgently need more funding, so if you feel you can afford to make a contribution we would be very grateful. Details for this are also via the booking link.