Women and girls are being left behind by the UK Government’s approach to lifting lockdown. We've united with over 65 women's and charitable organisations to call for action. 

The UK Government has focused on reopening the economy while sidelining childcare and social care infrastructure. Pubs, hairdressers and cinemas will be open again from 4th July but for many parents, a lack of childcare means they cannot go back to work. Women still do the majority of unpaid care and the situation will be hardest for single parents, 90% of whom are women.

Existing inequalities have been worsened by the coronavirus outbreak. Black and Asian women and women from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to say they were struggling to make ends meet and feed their children during lockdown than white women. Social isolation has hit disabled women hardest, with 56% saying they’ve struggled to cope. 

Together as a coalition, we've made recommendations for the UK Government on the following areas: 

• Prioritising care
• Safeguarding women’s incomes
• Public health and protecting women from a second wave
• Addressing the disproportionate impact on Black, Asian and ethnic minority women
• Making women safe from violence and abuse
• Disabled women and older women, and self-isolating and shielding households
• Women in prison
• Women's representation in crisis decision making

Download the briefing here - PDF 
Download the briefing here - word

Please download the briefing and send it to your MP, urging them to make sure women and girls are not left behind as lockdown is lifted. Please share it on social media using the hashtag #MakeWomenVisible. 

This urgent call to action was led by The Fawcett Society with input from the below organisations:

The following organisations are supporting these asks:

Activate, Advance, Agenda, AVA (Against Violence and Abuse), Bread & Roses, Brighton Women's Centre, British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS), Centenary Action Group, Centre for Women’s Justice, Changing Lives, Chayn, Chwarae Teg, Clean Break, Close the Gap, Community Union, DEWA project, Equally Ours, Faith Matters, FiLiA, FTWW, Gingerbread, Girlguiding, Girls Friendly Society, Her Centre, IKWRO, IRISi, Karma Nirvana, Latin American Women's Rights Service, Llamau, Musicians Union, Muslim Women's Network UK, National Children's Bureau, Pregnant Then Screwed, Respect, Rosa, SafeLives, Scottish Women's Aid, She’s the Boss International, SignHealth, Smallwood Trust, One Parent Families Scotland, Solace Women’s Aid, Southall Black Sisters, Standing Together, Surviving Economic Abuse, Tell Mama, The Equality Trust, The Parliament Project, The Women's Centre Cornwall, The Women’s Institute, The WOW Foundation, Time's Up UK, Together Women Project, Trevi House, UN Women, Wales TUC, Welsh Women’s Aid, West Midlands Women’s Voice, Women's Environmental Network, WomenCentre, Working Chance, Working Families, Zero Tolerance.

If your charity or union would like to support our asks for women and girls, please email [email protected].

In this briefing we have focused on ensuring that years of progress on women’s rights is not overturned as lockdown is lifted. Our asks of Government as the crisis began can be viewed here.