Black women die at five times the rate of white women during pregnancy, and the Covid-19 crisis is only making the situation worse.
Political leaders have ignored and underplayed the systemic racism - and to be clear this is driven by racism - in healthcare for decades but there is a growing movement for wide reaching action to tackle structural racism across our society.
More research is needed to understand the full extent of the inequalities in maternal healthcare, but women can't wait for yet another report or investigation.
We are demanding urgent, cross departmental action to tackle the shameful inequalities in maternal deaths.
- Government funded maternal health advocacy line run by black women, for black women
- Aggressive targets to employ more black women in senior roles in the health service
- Mandatory anti-racism training for all healthcare staff and officials
- Annual monitoring of health inequalities, with penalties for poorly performing Trusts and hospitals
- Guarantee the income of women in their third trimester so they can shield during the Covid-19 crisis
Will you stand with us?
The Women’s Equality Party 2020 Conference...
...is going virtual!
Thursday 15th - Sunday 18th October 2020
** SOLD OUT **
Join us online for our most innovative and accessible conference to date.
We will be calling on members, supporters and speakers to Build Back Equal after the pandemic.
It's time to rewrite the present.
Due to these unprecedented times, hosting the Conference online allows us to safely share a space together, enabling us to meet speakers and other members from around the country whilst minimising health risks, vastly reducing CO2 emissions and saving on travel costs.
Our Conference will bring together some of the brightest minds and most engaging speakers tackling subjects including: social care, child care, economics, violence against women and girls, housing and public spaces, and the environment.
You can join from your living room!
With an interactive schedule packed full of individual talks, panels and workshops, attendees are invited to dip in and out of the Conference at their own pace. It doesn’t stop there - we’re also hosting a Comedy Night with lots more entertainment for attendees!
The Conference will be simple to access via Zoom and we will publish guidance on how to use this technology with ease.
-----
What can you do at Conference?
Thursday
Starting at 8am, you'll have the opportunity to visit workshops, panels, virtual cafes and more throughout the day. The first day of conference will end with cocktail making at 6pm, and Open Mic from 9 - 10pm.
Friday
From 8am, to 9pm, Friday will have a mix of sessions for you to make the most of. We've made sure there's plenty of breaks in between, so you can take a pause from your screen, whilst still attending Friday's panels, screenings, cookery workshops and more.
Saturday
Start your weekend right, with yoga at 7:30am. Saturday's exciting mix of interactive sessions will be highlighted by the Leader's Speech at 10am, party business at 1:30pm, our headliner Laura Bates at 5:00pm AND the Comedy Night Fundraiser at 9pm - don't miss out!
Sunday
The day will begin at 8am, and will be rounded off at 9pm. We've scheduled even more energising workshops and motivating speakers, including two more party business sessions, at 9:30am and 3:30pm. You won't want to miss Campaigns Coven at 12pm.
-----
Whether you’re a long term party member or a first time activist...
This is your open invitation to our 2020 Conference!
For Conference updates, sign up to our mailing list here.
Build Back Better: Our vision post lockdown
WE are joining forces with Build Back Better to demand a care-led recovery
Build Back Better Statement
As we emerge from this crisis, now is the time to Build Back Better.
To do so we must heed the lessons it has taught:
That as a society, for many years, we did not listen to the scientists about the risks of such a pandemic and were not prepared.
That for decades our health and social care systems were both dangerously under-resourced and in need of reform.
That many key workers in our economy - many of them women, and many not born in this country - are among the least valued and lowest-paid.
That longstanding inequalities in our society have left too many vulnerable.
And that no country can stand alone in the face of common threats.
Yet we can also draw on new sources of hope:
That when faced with a crisis, government can spend wisely, at speed and at scale.
That care, neighbourliness and mutual support are the threads that bind our communities together.
That clean air and a concern for wellbeing can inspire more sustainable and enjoyable ways of living.
And that by working with other countries we can find common solutions to the gravest problems.
Some have compared this crisis to the Second World War. Then, as now, it was widely agreed that there was no going back.
But #BuildBackBetter must be more than just a slogan. We must answer these profound questions:
- How to ensure health, social care, housing and other vital public services are properly resourced and able to meet our future needs.
- How to mend the inequalities in our society so that everyone, no matter their background or race, can live a decent, fulfilling life.
- How to create secure, well-paid and rewarding jobs for all who want them, particularly for young people.
- And how not just to build our resilience to future pandemics, but to tackle the climate and environmental emergency already upon us.
Many will have other questions too: like how to create a better democracy, to harness technology for public good, to build a fairer and more cooperative world.
Answering these questions, and more, is a challenge to us all; to political parties, businesses, trade unions, civil society and citizens.
But it is a challenge to which, together, we can rise.
With the best of human values, and the determination of politicians and citizens, we can emerge from this crisis a stronger, fairer, greener country.
We must #BuildBackBetter.
Sign up to get involved >>
Care workers have risked their lives to work during the Covid-19 crisis. Demand the government stops legislation which could leave them facing deportation.
Without the vital work of our care workforce - many of whom come from abroad - the UK would not have got through the coronavirus pandemic. Care workers have risked their health and in some cases even lost their lives while continuing to do highly skilled and essential work supporting people at a time when they needed it most.
This month MPs will be voting on a bill that would leave many migrant care workers facing deportation. The immigration bill classes care work as ‘low-skilled’ and sets an income threshold that workers in the chronically undervalued care sector will not be able to meet.
It is currently easier to migrate to UK as a strawberry picker than it is as a care worker.
We went into the Covid-19 crisis with 120,000 vacancies in care work, a staff shortage that was exacerbated by failure to provide testing or protective equipment. It is clear that the government has learned nothing from the tragedy that unfolded in our understaffed, underfunded care homes. By introducing a bill which categorises carers as ‘low-skilled’ and prevents these crucial workers from entering the UK from overseas, they have shown once again how little it values care, care workers and those who rely on them.
It’s not enough to clap for carers any more - we must fight for them.
Sign our petition to demand that the government:
- Removes the discriminatory income threshold from the immigration bill.
- Ends the insulting ‘low-skilled’ label for care work.
- Guarantees that vital care workers will be able to migrate to the UK.
Join the protest
Protest for Care - Saturday 23rd May ✊
In the face of an unprecedented national crisis the UK government has consistently failed the millions who receive care and the carers who work tirelessly to support them. Twenty five percent of Covid deaths are now in care settings and carers are twice as likely to die of Covid as the general population.
Political decisions worsened this crisis, we need urgent political action to help to lift us out of it.
Why protest?
Our protest calls for: guaranteed PPE and a real living wage for every care worker, and urgent funding for the sector. Help us make this a reality for care workers and those who rely on care.
Join the rally at 2pm and hear from:
- Mandu Reid - 2:00
- Sandi Toksvig - 2:10
- Dr Sarabajaya Kumar - 2:15
- Dr. Hannah Barham-Brown - 2:20
- Karolina Gerlich - 2:25
BSL interpretation will be available.
Sign up below to receive the link & tune in via Zoom!
Why is it important to post on social media:
Political decisions worsened the care crisis and we must create pressure for urgent political action to help to lift us out of it. To do this we need to keep this issue in the media and online and we need to demonstrate that there is a political cost to the government for continuing to ignore and underfund care - participating will help to do both.
Covid means that we can’t physically gather and protest, but we can still show the overwhelming support for urgent action by marching remotely and making noise on social media and in our communities.
Become a volunteerSign the petition
Nurses and carers are on the front line of the Covid-19 crisis. Demand that the government gives them fair pay and protection.
If this crisis has demonstrated anything, it is what we already knew: care matters. Our economy, our whole society would not function without it. We must protect and value those who deliver it.
Seventeen percent of residential care workers live in poverty, half do not receive a real living wage and student nurses are being charged tuition fees to work on the front line.
Boris Johnson said he owes the NHS his life, but without action those are just empty words. What he really owes them - and the thousands of carers and other key workers who are holding our country together - is proper protective gear, better working conditions and a living wage.
Our care workforce is overwhelmingly female, disproportionately BAME, undervalued and fighting to protect all our health.
Last year already saw 44,000 NHS nursing vacancies and a shortage of more than 200,000 staff across NHS trusts and adult social care, with 30% of adult social care workers leaving annually. Meanwhile the lowest NHS pay band for a nurse is under £20,000 and many carers earn little more than minimum wage.
Our petition calls for:
1. Guaranteed PPE for every front line worker
2. Guaranteed real living wage for all carers
3. A pay rise for every nurse
4. The reintroduction of pre-coalition bursaries and an end to nursing tuition fees
5. End the migrant NHS surcharge for nurse and care workers *Campaign win - Government has now ended the NHS surcharge for all migrant NHS and care workers*
Sign our petition today to call for urgent action.
You can take further action by writing to your MP, and demanding that they commit to guarantee a real living wage and full PPE for all care workers, increase care funding to pre-2010 levels, and reinstate councils' duties under the care act.