Today, the Women's Equality Party launched its 'Age of Disappointment' video online.

Women's Equality Party launches 'Age of Disappointment' video online

The video, made by the party's youth ambassador Honor Barber, aged 17, highlights the gap between expectation and reality for Britain's young people.

“I wanted to make a video that showed the frustration my friends and I feel about the choices we’re offered, and how we’re represented,” says Barber.

“When we were younger it definitely felt like any job, and any role, was possible for anyone, regardless of gender,” she adds. “But now as we are nearly adults we’ve realised it’s quite different: certain jobs definitely appear way less appealing because of the lack of women –which is never because of skills but because of stereotypes.”

She adds: “People my age are now seeing the reality: they experience street harassment, limited career choices and different treatment in social situations. This applies to both girls and boys. These limits are really damaging and they need to change, which is why I joined the Women’s Equality Party.”

Honor is calling for all young people to share their stories on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtags:

#icouldbe - share your selfies of your dreams for the future

#whatheytoldme - share your selfies on your age of disappointment.

See Honor's video here

Editor’s notes

The Women’s Equality Party (WE) are doing politics differently.

That means WE are committed to working collaboratively, with other political parties and with organisations, charities and individuals, to bring about women’s equality, for the benefit of all.

WE have a raft of policies aimed at smashing the gender role modelling that is holding our young people back:

• WE will make sex and relationships education – including on consent – a compulsory part of the school curriculum for all state-funded primary and secondary schools, and ensure it is taught by specialist teachers and providers
• WE will introduce shared parental leave and introduce greater support for caregivers to break down the gendered expectation that childcare and caring for others is women’s work
• WE will make gender an criterion of Ofsted inspections in schools to make sure existing gendered role modelling, that limits all our young people, is made a thing of the past
• WE will help encourage girls into STEM careers, and boys into caring work, and WE will end the gap in pay between men and women
• WE will introduce quotas for business and for politics so that girls start to see themselves represented in the highest positions of power
• WE will end sexist stereotyping in the media, so that girls and boys feel free to live as whoever they want to be without fear of ridicule.