I am a strong advocate for the use of AWS to raise women's representation within the party and have supported AWS decisions on the NEC's Organisation Sub-Committee (often in the face of very strong opposition). I am very happy to continue to do so until we have genuine and sustained parity
But we need to take a more strategic and transparent approach to deciding which seats are allocated AWS so we can tackle the, false, accusation that an AWS = a 'fixed' seat.Â
I also want to see us do much more to encourage women to apply for selection - women still only make up 13% of the applicants for Open selections. Â Your organisation does brilliant work in preparing women for selection but I think it also requires a fairer selection process which provides a level playing field for candidates of different backgrounds and resources. Â I have been arguing for that in my role on the Collins Implementation committee and support spending caps in selections.
I think it's also about providing pathways of development through the party. Â I've visited 118 CLPs now in every part of the country and what's really struck me is the fact that there are only about 10% of those that have a woman Chair. Â In the vast majority of cases the CLP Chair is a man and the CLP Secretary is a woman. Â I've asked the party to provide the demographic breakdown of CLP Office bearers across the country to see how much of an issue this is and to start a dialogue about how we develop more of our under-represented groups in the party