June started with the government
setting out its legislative agenda for the next year in the Queen’s
Speech. For the first time ever both the proposer and seconder of the
Speech were female, with both Penny Mordaunt (Con, Portsmouth North)
and Annette Brook (Lib Dem, Mid Dorset and North Poole) receiving
much praise for their respective work in welcoming the traditional
opening of Parliament. Not being expected to cause any great
political earthquakes, the day conformed to expectations. The
Childcare Payments Bill and Modern Slavery Bill had already been confirmed in the months leading up
to June, so perhaps the announcements that will have the most impact
on women in particular were regarding the two pensions bills or the
Armed Forces Bill.
The government is looking to create
more flexibility surrounding how people save for their retirement,
and how they eventually use these savings, with two new bills. This
is certainly good news for those individuals (often, though not always, female) who have not been in continuous employment throughout
their lives. Flexibility, if coupled with the creation of new
products from industry, will help people to build a plan that fits
them, rather than fitting in to a plan designed for a more
traditional working life. The Dutch style ‘collective’ pensions
that will be allowed by the Pension Schemes Bill will allow savers to pool risk, potentially allowing
for greater returns coupled with greater certainty. Perfect for those
who need a dependable income in old age, yet have been unable to save
small amounts consistently in one of the lower risk schemes that are
currently available.
The Armed Forces Bill will establish an ombudsman to whom military
personnel can refer their complaints, should they feel that they have
been unfairly treated. Such legislation should be of benefit to
people of all genders, but benefit will certainly be derived by women
and LGBT individuals serving in the forces in light of a number of
terrible bullying and harassment cases that have been brought to our
attention in recent months.
With both these bills having only
recently been introduced there will be plenty of developments to
follow, but given that the Speech was otherwise relatively thin on
the ground, the major debates over the next year are likely to centre
around ongoing manifesto development in the run-up to the general
election.
Westminster was not only setting out
the political agenda for the UK in June, Foreign Secretary William
Hague also brought the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict to London, allowing
British figures to take centre stage in the fight.
The conjunction of political figures
and celebrities is often toe-curlingly cringe worthy. However, the
pairing of Hague and Angelina Jolie worked weirdly well, perhaps due
to her unapologetic commitment to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and his good-sense to do his
job and not try to ‘be cool’. Whilst raising awareness amongst
parliamentarians and other political stakeholders, the Department for International Development announced an
extra £5m in funding to address the problem and a new
protocol was launched to increase prosecutions of sexual violence in conflict zones.
At the other end
of the success spectrum last month was the ever thorny interaction
between faith and education. Extremism allegedly imposed by governors
at schools in Birmingham snowballed when the Education Secretary and
Home Secretary fell out over the handling of it. In the ‘Trojan
Horse’ scandal, as it became known, it transpired that Birmingham
Education Authority had ignored warnings regarding extremism creeping
in to the day-to-day operation of a number of schools over the last
12 years. Though all relevant, and plenty of irrelevant, avenues were
pursued at length by the press regarding this case, the government
remained focused on the important, though not all-consuming, issue of
national security with an occasional aside to the possibility that
gender segregation had occurred in classrooms.
Embarrassingly dragged to the Commons
by the shadow home secretary, Theresa May was forced to give a
statement on the government’s counter-extremism strategy whilst
Michael Gove looked on and waited his turn. A number of important
issues were covered, despite the political wrangling regarding
whether the two secretaries of state could possibly work together
moving forward, but there was a glaring omission. When Julian Huppert
(Lib Dem, Cambridge) asked May about PSHE provision at the Birmingham
schools, she said that Huppert had ‘worked hard’ to get this issue in to a debate about extremism in schools, implying that there were no relevant implications of extremism
for the personal, health and social education of children and young
adults at these schools.
As important as different faiths can be
for different people personally; health, social, and the
unfortunately euphemised part of PSHE, sex education, are integral to
progress towards a more equal and respectful society. Without the
provision of unbiased information and education regarding these
integral parts of life, misinformation and misunderstanding will
hinder the empowerment of girls, who will remain unaware of the
choices and rights. It will also allow the myths in the male
community regarding everything from consent to harassment to persist.
This might be preaching to the converted, or perhaps just preaching,
but for the Home Secretary to imply that a perversion of a full and
inclusive education is not a rightful part of last month’s debate
is really quite disconcerting.
Patrice Merrin, Glencore Xstrata's
first female board-member
To end on a positive note, June saw the
last FTSE100 company without a woman on the board, Glencore Xstrata,
appoint one. Have the powers that be been reading last month’s edition of How Was It For You? Well, on top of that,
they’ve been listening to Mr Cable and his team. For all the Lib Dems' issues over the course
of this government, not to mention their lack of female
representatives, they have certainly pushed the women’s agenda
harder than the coalition colleagues. More of this please.
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