On 17th November 2024 at a Special Conference, members of the Women’s Equality Party voted to dissolve the party. 78% of members voting at the conference supported the proposal, which required a three quarters majority to pass.

From today, alongside the Steering Committee, we will take forward the directive from conference to close the Women’s Equality Party. 

Although we are grateful to members for their backing on our recommendation, this is undeniably a difficult moment. We are all heartbroken to be saying goodbye to our party. We know that we are not alone in that. 

Today’s decision took enormous courage. Choosing to let go of our party when our mission remains so urgent was never going to be easy. But it is precisely because this work is so important that we had to know when to call time.

We no longer have the resources we need to drive through the changes we are fighting for as effectively as we once did. We could have tried to wait out this period of turbulence, but that would have diverted energies urgently needed for activism now. Not one of us joined this groundbreaking party because we were content to wait around for equality. We must now find new ways to deliver it.

A What’s next? session will take place online on Saturday 23rd November, 10:30am-12:00pm and will be open to all members.

We would like to say a huge thank you to members past and present. Thank you to members who came together at conference today to make this decision, it is only right that doing so sat with you. Thank you to members who have been fuelling the fire of our campaigns over the last decade, every inch of progress we won belongs to you. Thank you to our candidates, our councillors, our fellow party officers, our activists and volunteers, without whom this party would never have taken flight in the first place.

Thank you also to our small but mighty staff team, who have worked with diligence and brilliance despite the difficult circumstances and uncertainty we have faced.

Although this is an ending, it is also a beginning.

WE won’t march together again under a Women’s Equality Party banner.

We will march again, and bump into each other in the crowd.

WE won’t contest another election with a Women’s Equality Party candidate.

We will see more of our number elected to office, of that we are certain.

WE won’t spearhead another campaign from our party.

We will all go on to fight and win the next steps forward for women’s rights.

We can’t wait to see the growth that springs up from the movement we have built together over the last decade. We are already thrilled to see our Basingstoke branch striking out as a new entity. They may be first to forge a new path forward, but we know they won’t be the last.

As we said when we first brought this decision to you: the changes we have won will endure. The communities and friendships we have built together will last. The people who we have brought into politics will continue on in this fight. 

This is our legacy. You are our legacy.

How to take action

Step 1. Sign up below to receive your poster

Step 2. Download and print an A4 copy of the poster

Step 3. Place these around your local area

Why get involved?

Last week, a report revealed police officers making sickening ‘jokes’ about sexually assaulting colleagues, abusing their partners, and using disgraceful racist and ableist language and more.

WE took action by placing 'fake incident' signs around the police station involved in the report, and by making 750 calls to the Home Secretary to demand an independent inquiry into misogyny and a radical overhaul of the Police force. 

Out of roughly 750 Met officers and staff who faced sexual misconduct allegations, just 83 of them were sacked. Priti Patel is responsible for holding the Police to account. She has the power to launch an independent and statutory inquiry into misogyny for ALL police forces.

It is imperative WE continue taking action to ensure our demands are heard.

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How to help:

Yesterday, a report evidenced Met officers making sickening ‘jokes’ about sexually assaulting colleagues, abusing their partners, and using disgraceful racist and ableist language and more.

On Friday 4th February WE will be taking action by making 750 calls to the Home Secretary to demand an independent inquiry into misogyny and a radical overhaul of the FULL Met Police force.

Why 750 calls?

Out of roughly 750 Met officers and staff who faced sexual misconduct allegations, just 83 of them were sacked.

Why the Home Secretary?

Priti Patel is one of the main people that holds the Met Police to account and launched the initial inquiry into the Met Police. However, one inquiry into 'systemic failures' rather than specifically into misogyny with just one out of 180 Met Police stations will never make the change WE need to see.

Are you with us?

Sign up below to receive your full script and phone-number to call at 11am on Friday 4th February. Enough is enough. 

Demand that your MP calls for an independent inquiry into the impact of the Covid pandemic on Disabled people.

1. Follow this link to find and contact your MP.
2. Use the template copy below to send to your MP.
3. Edit the email to include your MP's name and your name, and to include any additional comments.

Dear [Your MP’s name] MP,

I am writing to ask you to act urgently to call for an independent inquiry into the impact of the Covid pandemic on disabled people, which also includes an analysis into the impact that gender has on outcomes for disabled people.

A study carried out by the Office for National Statistics and researchers at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , issued a report in June of this year. The report’s findings included the following: 

[D]isabled people were at higher risk because they are disproportionately exposed to a range of circumstances that actually disadvantaged them, as no single factor explained the results. In addition, we found that disabled people were at higher risk of death from all causes during this period, only a fraction of which involved COVID-19. This finding implies a need to improve services and access to healthcare for disabled people, and tackling the drivers of disadvantage and excess mortality, both during and after the pandemic.

Over a decade of austerity that has targeted disabled people, a fundamental lack of funded social care and multiple barriers to accessing education or work have led to higher mortality rates. While disabled men have also seen a huge disparity in outcomes, the additional discrimination faced by women puts disabled women at higher risk. 

Key facts from this study include:

• People with learning disabilities were approximately 4-5 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19, and 7-8 times more likely to die.
• Working-age disabled women with higher support needs are 91% more likely to die then their non-disabled counterparts.
• Working-age disabled women with lower support needs are twice as likely to die as their non-disabled counterparts. 
• 58% of those who died from COVID-19 in England were disabled people.

When Dominic Cummings shared the whiteboard picture with the words “Who do we not save?” We knew the answer was Disabled women. 

In the summer the Women’s Equality Party Disability Caucus protested for 91 hours at Parliament square to highlight these shocking findings and to demand an inquiry The caucus also held local protests and an online rally to demand change.

Disabled women are not just a statistic you can ignore, but women with full and ordinary lives. We are your sisters, mothers, grandmothers, aunties and friends. We have careers and degrees, and we have hopes and dreams just like everyone else. Disabled women should not have been more at risk of dying from Covid.

As your constituent I am asking you to please join calls demanding an inquiry into the impact of the Covid pandemic on disabled people

Yours sincerely,

[Your name and address]

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