The Women’s Equality Party welcomes report that feminism will be reinstated to A-level politics syllabus and calls for progress in other areas of education inequality

Today, the Women’s Equality Party (WE) welcomed a report in the Independent on Sunday that the government will backtrack on plans to remove feminism from the A-level politics syllabus.

WE backed campaigns by activists June Eric-Udorie and Jacquelyn Guderley to urge the government to add more female thinkers to the curricula, and party leader Sophie Walker met Education Minister Nicky Morgan recently to discuss plans to drop feminism from the Politics A-level and also remove teaching on the topics of sex/gender, gender equality and patriarchy.

“WE are delighted that June and Jacquelyn’s voices have been heard, along with the more than 45,000 people that supported this petition,” said Walker.

“The Education Minister and I discussed the need to make sure feminism stays on the A-level curriculum, and also the need to offer more female role models in all of the subjects we teach so that we can encourage girls to study subjects like maths and science that are too often seen as only for boys.”

“WE now look forward to progress on our other education goals and think Monday’s Commons debate is a great opportunity to respond to the many people demanding a more equal education for all” said Walker.

Unlike the mainstream parties, WE have a set of clear policies to tackle education inequalities. These include requiring all schools to conduct a gender audit to ensure their curricula promote role models that challenge gender stereotypes.

“Our children are fed gendered expectations about their future life from too young an age. WE want our schools to be environments in which all children can flourish,” Walker said.

“We know that the only way to create change is by becoming an electoral force,” she added. “That’s why WE will be standing candidates in London, Wales and Scotland in May 2016. When WE succeed at the ballot box, we will be able to tackle this kind of sexist bias in education head-on.”

Notes to Editors:

The Women’s Equality Party is committed to equal education for girls and boys, and an understanding of why this matters. WE believe our children are fed gendered expectations about their future life from too young an age, and are committed to making our schools environments where all children can flourish:

·  WE will require gender equality to become a standalone criterion for Ofsted inspections

·  WE will include gender equality in the guidelines for pre-school learning

·  WE will require all schools to conduct a gender audit to ensure their curricula promote role models that challenge gender stereotypes

·  WE will make age-appropriate relationships educations – including on sexual consent – compulsory and ensure it is taught by specialist teachers.

The Women’s Equality Party was founded by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer in March 2015, and launched its policies on 20 October. Read the full policy document here.

Sophie Walker is available to comment on this story. Press enquiries to Catherine Riley, Communications and Partnerships Manager ([email protected]/+447764752 731)