Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme

Jo, Jess and Nan at Conference

Jo Cox MP was a passionate feminist who was tireless in her enthusiasm for maximising women’s voices in politics.

Jo was the first ever elected chair of Labour Women’s Network, leading the organisation from 2011 until her election as MP for Batley and Spen in 2015.

Jo’s tragic assassination in 2016 cut short a parliamentary career characterised by guts, partnership working and energetic truth telling.

LWN and The Labour Party created the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Scheme in 2016 in the months following her death to continue Jo’s legacy by investing in a generation of women leaders within The Labour Party who have the skills, experience and networks to change the world and to support other women in doing so.

Open to all women members of The Labour Party, the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Scheme offers places to approximately 55 women each year, from each region and nation.

LWN provides the expert training and carefully crafted course content, while The Labour Party manage the application process.

The Course

The course selects women from across every region and nation. We deliver this course in partnership with The Labour Party, they administer the application process, while LWN does the training content and delivery on the ground.

We know from experience that demand is high to be part of this programme. Well over 3500 women have applied over the lifetime of the course so unfortunately not everyone will be offered a place. If you've applied before, please don't assume you won't be successful next time, so 'persist'!

The selection process is rigorous. To give everyone the best chance, LWN's Training Lead, Sian Humphries, wrote a piece for LabourList, which gives advice and top tips for a good application, click here to read.

If you are thinking of applying, please spend some time reading Sian's advice, don't leave your application to the last minute and get help from sisters in the Labour movement. You will be asked to provide two references on the application, with a statement from each.

The scheme involves both online and in-person sessions plus one residential weekend (all dates are shown on the application page), as well as additional development opportunities and homework to be undertaken between sessions. It’s important that if you apply for the course, you understand your commitment to the course and give 100%!

Applications for Cohort 8 of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme closed on the 17th November 2025.

Some of the Leadership Programme Alumna

The Impact

19 (22% of those who have attended the course since the start) have become MPs.

This includes 7 from Cohort 1, 2 from Cohort 2, 1 from Cohort 3, 4 from Cohort 4, 3 from Cohort 5 and 2 from Cohort 6. Graduate MPs include Preet Gill, Ashley Dalton, Yuan Yang, Sonia Kumar, Abtisam Mohamed, Marie Tidball and many more.

Several have become Council leaders or Cabinet members and others have gone on to take up leadership roles in trade unions, third sector organisations, public sector organisations and more.

However, the impact of the Scheme goes far further than public office - it has created an army of feminist change-makers, rattling cages and working towards equality in their communities, workplaces and local Labour parties.

You can read LWN former Chair, Abena Oppong-Asare MP, paying tribute to the impact of the Scheme and Jo's political legacy in the Commons, here;

Helen Whitehead from Cohort four, testimony: “It is no exaggeration to state that being selected for this programme changed my life. As an autistic woman, I still don’t fit in conventional politics, and I still don’t know exactly what my place is in the world – but this course showed me that I don’t have to fit and, in fact, that it’s rather important that I don’t.

“It showed me that the kind of politics I believe in is possible; that I have abilities and strengths that are important; and that it is worth every effort, and every struggle, to be able to use them.”

Or watch The Labour Party's video about the impact of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Scheme from 2017, which features Preet Kaur Gill MP (cohort one).

Seyi Akiwowo, went on to found Glitch, an award-winning UK charity ending online abuse and championing digital citizenship, which particular focus on Black women and marginalised people, and Bex Bailey, was named in Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for her role in the #MeToo movement, and went on to work for the BBC.