The main political parties have a lot of work to do if they're going to win the votes of women in the general election.
Female wellbeing is falling faster in the UK than in the EU, with UK women sadder and more stressed out. Young women have become the highest-risk group for mental ill health. And just last year, 92% of women surveyed by Adidas said they felt concerned for their safety on a run.
We've had 14 years of Conservative rule, the party that has always claimed to have women’s rights at the forefront. They have had three female prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990), Theresa May (2016-2019), and Liz Truss (2022), who lasted an embarrassing 44 days in office. But can this really be celebrated if all our instances of female leadership simply lead to more instability and chaos?
Now that all manifestos have been released, let's take a look at what Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party claim they will do for women in the run-up to the general election on 4th July…
The Labour Manifesto
Women and work
- Labour says equality is at 'the heart' of their missions and they plan to 'make work pay'.
Reproductive healthcare and maternity rights
- The party has pledged to strengthen rights to equal pay and protections from maternity and menopause discrimination and sexual harassment.
- They have promised to train thousands more midwives with the aim of closing the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap.
Violence Against Women and Girls
- Labour party has a "straightforward vision for policing and criminal justice". They say they will reintroduce visible neighbourhood policing, and introducing a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, funded by tackling waste, to make the streets safer for women and girls.
- It will also says it will introduce specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force, as well as introduce domestic abuse experts for victims to speak to specialists.
Online safety
- Labour plans to strengthen Stalking Protection Orders and give women the right to know the identity of online stalkers.
- They acknowledge an increase in misogynistic content online driving a culture of violence against women, and plan to "build" on the Online Safety Act.
Finding your political voice at nineteen is not easy, particularly if you’re a woman.
The Conservative Party Manifesto
Women and work
- The Conservatives have pledged to continue to invest in women first programmes such as the Invest in Women Task Force and the Lilac Review to encourage more female and disabled entrepreneurs.
- The party will also push to secure a £250 million Invest In Women Fund to support female entrepreneurs. But there are questions over what will be done to close the gender pay gap.
Reproductive healthcare and maternity rights
- The Conservatives' manifesto reiterates its plans to expand their international campaigns on reproductive health, though detail on this is limited.
- They also pledge to expand Pharmacy First, including for menopause support, contraception and treatment for chest infections. They hope that this will free up 20 million GP appointments a year.
- Age limits on what children can be taught in regard to sex, relationships, and gender will also be introduced.
- The party plans to conduct more research into disparities in maternity care but detail does not go further than this. They will also "bring forward" a detailed national strategy for maternity care.
- They also say they will include a pledge to deliver more funding for maternal safety, improve access to mental health services for new mums, improve perinatal pelvic health services and more.
Violence Against Women and Girls
- The party reiterates that it has strengthened the law to punish predators, with new offences for stalking, controlling or coercive behaviour and more. It also plans to introduce a 25-year prison term for domestic murders.
Online safety
- They plan to create new offences for spiking, the creation of sexualised deep fake images and taking intimate images without consent.
“I will ask my dates straight up about their politics on the first date."
The Liberal Democrats Manifesto
Women and work
- The Lib Dems pledge to make Statutory Sick Pay available to the more than one million workers earning less than £123 a week, and they acknowledge that most of them are women.
Reproductive healthcare and maternity rights
- They have promised to protect everyone’s right to make independent decisions over their reproductive health, as well as enforce safe access zones around abortion clinics and hospitals.
- The party has also pledged to tackle a number of economic barriers, including ensuring women are not charged more than men for practically identical products or services, and ending period poverty by making period products free.
Violence Against Women and Girls
- The Lib Dems say they will provide greater support for female survivors of violence, as well as introduce mandatory training for police and prosecutors in understanding the impact of trauma on survivors.
Online safety
- A Digital Bill of Rights will be introduced to protect everyone’s rights online, the party says, and social media companies will be required to publish reports setting out the action they have taken to protect women and girls online.
The Labour MP is – once again – the victim of racism and misogyny.
The Green Party Manifesto
Women and work
- The Greens pledge to extend pay-gap protections to all protected characteristics including ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation.
- The party also pledge to advocate to extend the outgoing government’s offer of childcare to 35 hours per week from nine months.
Reproductive healthcare and maternity rights
- No mention
Violence Against Women and Girls
- The party vows to introduce a number of policies, including making misogyny a hate crime across the UK, and ensuring that domestic abuse and gender-based violence is a key measurable priority for all police forces
Online safety
- The Green Party also says it will amend the Online Safety Act to protect democracy, and prevent political debate from being manipulated.
The results are in.
