Welcome to Labour Women's Network
Val Price
7 June 1940 - 25 May 2008
 Val Price was one of the principal reasons why, when Labour was elected to Government in 1997, over 100 of its MPs were women. She worked tirelessly over the years leading up to that election, and continued until her death, supporting and nurturing women in the Labour Party who were putting themselves forward for selection as parliamentary candidates and then for election as MPs. Val's achievement grew over the years as more of those women won ministerial office, grateful for the encouragement and practical help she had given them at the start of their careers.
In her work for Labour Women's Network and Emily's List UK, Val provided advice, training and mentoring to women aspiring to enter the bear garden of politics at Westminster. Her influence also spread to Scotland and Wales, especially in the first elections for the devolved parliaments, when gender equality was being established as the basis for selection. Val’s contribution was the sheer hard grind of politics, unglamorous and frequently unrewarded.
But her advice was firmly grounded in personal knowledge and experience: since joining in 1964, she had held almost every position in the Labour Party at both local and regional level; had been a Labour Councillor in Windsor; and twice stood for election to Parliament in Windsor and Maidenhead in 1979 and 1983. Added to all of that, she had the ability to make Labour politics sociable and fun.
But hugely important though this work was, it was only a small part of what she achieved in her immensely productive life. In a materialistic and mercenary society, all Val's contributions were made as a volunteer. In 1977, she established a refuge for battered women and their children. She was on a 24 hour rota, taking phone calls and rescuing women at night, on one occasion even delivering a baby.
When she and her much loved husband, Fred, moved to the village of Oaksey in Wiltshire to "retire", Val quickly became a mainstay of village life. She led the fund-raising to rebuild the village hall and organised the official opening in September 2000 by The Prince of Wales.
Val was also instrumental in retaining the village shop and post office and taking them into community ownership. When the shop was without a tenant for two months in 1998, she kept it open until she found a successor. She was editor of the Parish Newsletter, and created and maintained the village's website. To raise money for both the parish church and village hall, Val and Fred produced and designed the Oaksey Cook Book.
Politics, community and family were central to Val Price. Her whole life was focused on making the world a better place, and there are few people who can look back on a life as selflessly lived as hers.
Val is survived by her husband, daughter Juliet, son David and four grandchildren.
- Hilary De Lyon (Emily's List UK)
Gordon Brown's new Cabinet
We are delighted
to welcome Harriet Harman MP in the role of Deputy Leader of the Labour
Party, Leader of the House of Commons and our Minister for Women. We
also congratulate one of our founders, Barbara Follett MP who is
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and
Deputy Minister for Women. And, best of all, for the very first time, a
woman Home Secretary - Jacqui Smith MP. Congratulations to all the
women MPs in the Labour cabinet.
Congratulations
to our Winning Women
Since last year,
parliamentary selections have been taking place. Some of us might argue
that there were not enough All Women Shortlists as we know from
experience that ‘Open’ seats may look open but most of the
time aspirant men will outnumber women. Despite this, women should
still put themselves forward for the Open seats as members are more
astute than given credit, and will sometimes pick the best person for
the job! The same, sadly, cannot be said for the NEC’s
By-election Panel who so far have excelled themselves in not choosing a
female candidate in a winnable seat since 1994. Women should also go
for the less winnable seats as a ‘starter’ to get
experience and ‘rehearse’ the role of candidate. However,
all is not doom and gloom - party members in the following
constituencies have selected wonderful women candidates for the next
General Election. LWN and EMILY know very well what it costs, both
financially and in time and effort, to become a candidate and we
congratulate them all. And we are still in the lead over the Tories and
Lib-Dems for selecting more women in good seats. [Seats currently held
by Labour are indicated with an asterisk]:
| Basingstoke |
Funda Pepperell |
| Bath |
Harriet Ajderian |
| Bermondsey & Old Southwark |
Kirsty McNeill |
| Bethnal Green and Bow |
Rushanara Ali |
| Bolton South East * |
Yasmin Qureshi |
| Bournemouth West |
Sharon Carr-Brown |
| Brighton Pavilion * |
Nancy Platts |
| Broadland, Norfolk |
Allyson Barron |
| Camborne and Redruth |
Judith Robinson |
| Hemel Hempstead |
Ayfer Orhan |
| Hornsey and Wood Green |
Karen Jennings |
| Leeds West * |
Rachel Reeves |
| Manchester, Withington |
Lucy Powell |
| Mid Norfolk |
Elizabeth Hughes |
Training
and Support
LWN
has an ongoing Training Programme for all women in the Labour Party who
are interested in seeking selection to public office. This includes
local government, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh National Assembly, the
Greater London Assembly, European Parliament and Westminster
Parliament. If you are a LWN subscriber we provide a ‘CV Support
Service’ by email. Our subscription for Labour Party women
members is still only £15 for waged, and £5 low/unwaged
(press the button for JOIN US).
We also provide one day events, if enough women are interested in
taking part, in public speaking and presentation skills, and writing a
speech and, on request, training for other relevant skills. If you are
interested, please contact us.
[Last updated July 2008].
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