According to the Fawcett society, the new coalition’s ‘programme for government’ and the recent Queen’s speech add up to a mixed-bag for women, with proposals ranging from positive to disappointing to downright disturbing.
Positives include a focus on getting more women into boardrooms, support for shared parenting, an extension of the right to request flexible working and restoring the link between pensions and earning.
Disappointments - the failure to include commitments to increasing women’s representation in the bundle of political and democratic reform measures unveiled – especially as this presents a real opportunity to effect a step change for women in our democracy. Take for example proposed reform of parliament – how will this address one of biggest remaining democratic deficits – the lack of women’s and other diverse voices?
Fawcett finds the proposals to give anonymity to rape defendants very disturbing.
This is highly significant as anonymity is not granted to defendants of any other violent crime, and risks perpetuating the myth that false allegations of rape are a frequent occurrence. And we continue to be highly concerned at how the proposed deficit cutting approach will impact on women.
Read the full report here
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