CWU Womens Conference 2011 Report

I am indebted to Pauline Granstan for compiling the following report on our Womens Conference in Edinburgh.

The Difference between Rhetoric and Reality!

CWU 2011 Women’s Conference
Delegates attending the 13th motion based CWU Women’s Conference on 5th February listened as movers and seconders reiterated their fears of the likely impact the Comprehensive Spending Review under the Con-Dem Government will have on women. General Secretary, Billy Hayes outlined some of the proposed cuts still in the pipeline. The public sector, the biggest employer of women will experience a pay freeze in the current financial year. At the same time the government is projecting the loss of half a million jobs all of which will impact disproportionately on women as employees and service users.
  Closures and rationalisation of Sure Start Centres coupled with high inflation will hit low income families the hardest. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of said: in “2011, real wages are likely to be no higher than they were in 2005. One has to go back to the 1920s to find a time when real wages fell over a period of 6 years.” No wonder women fighting for equality and fairness are opposed to what they consider to be ill thought-out policies.
  National Equality Officer, Linda Roy reminded conference of some of the metaphoric miles travelled by women inside and outside the CWU. There have been some first female CEOs, business leaders, academics and sporting legends. We are also mothers, sisters and partners she continued. And due largely to the efforts of women and some men, the previous government introduced a raft of equality legislation and family friendly policies that allowed for the balancing of family and working life.
  However Linda, like most women continues to believe that in many spheres their contribution to society is being undermined. Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys are prime examples of men who believe a woman’s role is that of a housewife and mother tied to the kitchen sink. Women for Messrs Gray and Keys are not strong enough, smart enough or worthy enough. Taken within this context no wonder women who’ve chosen to enter paid employment are angry. They are annoyed because their pay is still less than that of men doing the same job and as they get older the pay gap further widens. They are outraged that in the 21st century the old-boy network is still the status quo and so the glass ceiling persists.
  The challenges women continue to face means the fight for equality is still a long road ahead. And so Motion 11 on Rule 2.1.5 and 2.1.6 on the question of proportionality within the CWU is one that continues to come back at the equality conferences. As Linda Kietz, speaking on behalf of the London Regional Women’s Committee says she will continue to bring this motion to conference if it kills her.
  The open debate on the issue of Reserved Seats further highlights the dichotomy between Rule R.2.1.5, Rule 2.1.6 and the arguments around the principle of meritocracy. Speakers in favour of reserved seats believe the rules in place have done little to influence the advancement of disadvantaged groups within the Union. On the other hand those in favour of meritocracy strongly believes that the introduction of reserved seats smacks of “tokenism” and that we may not necessarily have the best person for the job.
  The 2011 CWU Women’s Conference saw its biggest attendance for many years. Subjects such as surrogacy, gender pay gap; the stigmatisation of sex workers and the way we elect our representatives are topics women believe needs addressing and until such time as a satisfactory solution is found, these topics will continue to reappear.

RD11-02-23
8th February 2011