Labour Women’s Network was founded in 1988 by four Labour women, Barbara Follett, Barbara Roche, Hilary De Lyon and Jean Black. They were disappointed and frustrated by the low number of Labour women elected to the House of Commons in the 1987 General Election – just 21 Labour women MPs.

Since then, LWN has gone from strength to strength. We are an active membership organisation, bringing together women in the Labour Party who want to see more women in Parliament and at every level of the Party.

LWN is a broad-based enabling organisation – we don’t make policy, or seek to represent the views of women in the Party, and we have members from across the Labour spectrum. We exist to encourage, assist and support all women in the Labour Party who wish to stand for public office, and we seek to break down the barriers (in the Party, and in wider politics) that exist to women realising their potential in the Labour Party.