#WEcount

I’m an identical twin and growing up we found clear ways to differentiate ourselves. I cut my hair short with the kitchen scissors, sitting behind the sofa when I was about four. I wore yellow and my sister wore green. I mostly wore trousers and shorts, and she wore skirts and dresses. I was a “tom boy” (although I think that’s a silly term: I was a girl who wore trousers and climbed trees; but it is a useful short-hand and you’ll all know what I mean by it). At my primary school, the girls wore grey skirts and gingham dresses. I didn’t want to, so I was the first girl at my school to break tradition and my parents had to buy my new, little grey trousers from the “boy’s” section of the shop. Yet, it felt comfortable and natural to me at that age and I didn’t care what the other children or the teachers said. 

Fast forward a few years and by the time I was at secondary school, I was too nervous to wear a skirt, although that wasn’t a feeling I think I would have been able to name, let alone say aloud. There was something about wearing one that made me feel self-conscious, made me feel I’d be looked at. I was extremely tall as a teenager (taller than all the girls, most of the boys and some of the teachers) and it was always a struggle to find a uniform that would fit me, within the strict parameter of my secondary school’s rules. I look back now rather longingly at my skinny long limbs, but at the time - although always proud of my height - I didn’t have the benefit of being popular or cool, so it wasn’t something I would ever have flaunted confidently.

In the summer term of Year 10, when I was 15 years old, I wore a skirt to school for the first time since I was six. I remember feeling self-conscious, like I had a neon sign above my head. And when I got on the school bus at the end of the day, the bus driver pulled me onto his lap, in front of all of the small, shrieking Year 7s, and wouldn’t let me go. I remember I had lots of bags, and the gearstick was pressing into my leg; I couldn’t get off him and I didn’t know what to do. I remember feeling humiliated, but acting like it was funny. One of my male friends came and pulled me off him and made a big show of it, to ‘lighten the mood’, saying “Oi! She’s with me!” and then dragging me to the back of the bus. I remember another friend, a female one, telling me I had it coming, that I shouldn’t have been so friendly. In 2003, I wouldn’t have been familiar with the term “slut shaming”. 

That’s not the end of that story. That’s not the end of the messages I was given around it. Another few years later, at a house-party, that same teenage boy climbed on top of me when I was lying down upstairs, horribly drunk, and said “I really hope you don’t remember this tomorrow”. I remember rolling to face the wall, in the hope that it would form some protection. Fortunately, a couple of female friends came upstairs at that moment and shouted at him and got him off me. Although not before they’d taken pictures, which one girl posted online. That’s not the end of that story either. That’s not the end of the messages I was given around it. That’s also not the worst thing that happened to me as a teenager. 

So when I see the recent articles in the media about school skirts, it doesn’t bring back the best of memories. And what makes me livid, is that for a new generation those memories are being created right now. Right this second. And we haven’t stopped it yet. 

So, I’m trying to stop it. I know I can’t do it on my own. I’m standing as a candidate for the Women’s Equality Party (WE) because I want to end violence against women and girls. I want to end violence against everyone actually. I want young men to stop killing themselves, because we live in a world that sees courage as weakness. I want teenagers to be taught what consent is (which is why that’s one of my day jobs). I don’t want any part of the body to be used as a weapon to inflict pain, or be a source of shame. I want to see an end to the systemic gender inequality that underpins almost every single thing. I’m trying to end it. But I can’t do it on my own and WE can’t do it on our own. WE need your votes. WE need your confidence. WE need your bravery. 

Vote WE on May 5th. Because #WEcount.

Equality is better for everyone

On May 5th, London is being given a new choice: the chance to vote for a party that is committed to doing politics differently. I'm not a career politician, and although I've always thought of myself as political, the jeering-sneering performance of politics has never appealed. I just don't think the route to social justice is lined with posh men in suits shouting at each other. It's dialogue, communication, empathy - it's human connections that make my world go round. So I've thrown myself into a career (in the arts and education) which celebrates them and tries to carve creative paths to a slightly better world for a few people at a time. But I've unexpectedly, and so naturally I almost didn't know notice it happening, become a politician; I've found a possible home for that political passion in the Women's Equality Party. And on May 5th, registered voters in London have the chance to make the city a lot better for a lot of people. For everyone, actually. Because equality is.

The Women's Equality Party (#WE) is a new, non-partisan political party, formed last year and growing with astonishing speed, which is putting gender equality at the top of the political agenda for the benefit of us all. It has six core-objectives:

'WE are pushing for equal representation in politics, business, industry and throughout working life. WE are pressing for equal pay and an equal opportunity to thrive. WE are campaigning for equal parenting and caregiving and shared responsibilities at home to give everyone equal opportunities both in family life and in the workplace. WE urge an education system that creates opportunities for all children and an understanding of why this matters. WE strive for equal treatment of women by and in the media. WE seek an end to violence against women.'

I'm standing as a candidate on the London-wide list for the Greater London Assembly (the orange ballot paper), alongside 9 other inspirational women and Sophie Walker, our leader and mayoral candidate. #WE are also standing in Scotland and Wales.

#WE have a vision for London that would make the city safer and fairer for everyone. #WE have specific, costed policies which would create:

• A transport system that is accessible for parents with buggies and wheel-chair users, where women and girls can travel safely, without the fear of sexual harassment
• An end to the 23% pay gap between men and women, in a city where women can realise their full economic potential (and add £70 billion to the economy!)
• A comprehensive solution to the housing crisis, by making housing more affordable and promoting inclusive design
• Protection for women and children escaping domestic abuse, with ring-fenced funding for refuges and safe housing 
• A system of child-care for all children from the end of paid parental leave at 9 months, and a pan-London approach to meet the demand for care for older and disabled people 
• Compulsory, quality Sex and Relationship Education and PSHE, so that the next generation are taught to respect and protect one another
• A thriving and brilliant work-force, which celebrates and awards the achievements of everyone, and gives them fair access to work - #WE will create work that works.

And LOADS more. Just read our manifesto.

In a political system stacked against new-comers our voice cannot be heard as loudly as the old parties. #WE are fighting to be seen and heard and it can be heart-breakingly, back-breakingly hard. One of the biggest barriers, I think, to us winning as many votes as we could on May 5th is the completely forgivable lack of understanding by the electorate of the super complicated systems by which each of the different votes are counted and awarded. London Elects explains it nice and clearly here. 

So if you are reading this and thinking "I'm super down with the whole equality thing, but I don't want to 'waste my vote' on a new party and risk a big, old party I hate getting in" then FEAR NOT. And then tell all your friends. The orange ballot paper, the London-wide list for the Greater London Assembly, is elected using a form of proportional representation (the Modified d'Hondt Formula, for those for whom that means something), and #WE have enough support that we can and will win seats on it. If enough Londoners know a) about us, and b) that we can win. A vote for equality will not be a wasted vote.

So TELL EVERYONE. And VOTE!