Women’s Equality Party Reveals Its First General Election Manifesto

The Women’s Equality Party has launched its General Election manifesto which contains plans for universal free childcare, investment in a caring economy that values social as well as physical infrastructure, a just immigration system that values the work of migrants and a final vote on the Brexit deal to ensure women’s rights are protected.

“If implemented these policies would transform the countries of the UK into the most-gender equal in the world,” said Sophie Walker, party leader and its candidate for the seat of Shipley. “Our manifesto sets out plans for 40 hours of free childcare each week for every family from the end of parental leave right through to primary school. This is the single biggest idea on offer in this election.”

She continued: “It is one of the most ambitious proposals since the creation of a national health service. Families will be able to make real choices about how to balance work and family life, they will have more disposable income to invest in the local economy, and women and single parents will never again be trapped at home unable to afford to work.

“We will also implement a fully equal system of parental leave so that each parent gets three months away from work on 90 percent of pay and an additional three months that they can share. No more must men drop out the family when they become fathers, as so many women drop out of the workplace when they become mothers.”

The party is also calling for a reimagining of the value of migration. “We will take a radically new approach, building an immigration system that sees women, and has social justice at its heart,” said Walker. “We will protect the rights of EU citizens already living in the UK, and ensure that those who have taken time off to care are not denied indefinite leave to remain. We will also end the government's categorisation of women as dependents.”

And on Brexit, Walker was clear that there should be a vote on the content of any final deal. “We will insist on a meaningful vote to ensure that the final deal reduces inequalities rather than increasing them — and whereby we can reject any deal that is not fair for all,” she said. “Our manifesto sets out a new vision for fairer and more transparent trade deals, as well as bringing back to Parliament power over EU-derived secondary legislation. We will not allow women’s rights and protections to be rolled back.”

She added that the party’s seven constituency candidates would be fighting for every vote on 8 June. “This election could see the first feminist party win a seat. The first collaborative party, willing to work with progressives on both sides to bring about equality for everyone. We are on the brink of making history.”

In Brief:

The Women’s Equality Party has an eight point plan for a flourishing economy and an equal society that works better for everyone:

1. A caring economy — WE offer a fresh approach that will  build a sustainable caring economy that works for everyone.

2. Shared parental leave — WE will implement a fully equal system of nine months shared parental leave on 90% of pay, with a 3-month use-it-or-lose-it provision for each parent.

3. Free universal childcare — WE will implement full-time, high quality, free childcare for all children from the end of shared parental leave.

4. An end to violence against women — WE will repair the broken funding model for specialist services, including services that are for and led by BAME women. WE will put prevention, protection and provision at the heart of all our policies and WE will not rest until all women and girls are free from violence and harassment.

5. Unleashing women’s talent — By reforming our education system and tackling the reductive and often hypersexualised depiction of women in the media, WE will unleash the talent of all.

6. Equality in health and social care — WE will make sure our healthcare system works for women and men  alike, putting the furthest from equality first, and ensure that social care is recognised not as an adjunct to economic activity but as its underpinning.

7. Brexit — WE will build an immigration system with gender equality and social justice at its heart. WE will design trade deals that work for everybody. WE will make sure Brexit does not turn back the clock on gender equality through secondary legislation.

8. Invest in what matters — WE will invest in what matters and make sure our social infrastructure works as well as our physical infrastructure. WE will invest in homes, not houses, and restore our education, health care and social care systems. All our policies are costed and will not increase the burden on low and average income households.

The Women’s Equality Party has now announced a total of seven general election candidates:

•Sophie Walker - Shipley

•Nimco Ali - Hornsey and Wood Green

•Harini Iyengar - Vauxhall

•Sally Carr MBE - Manchester Withington

•Kirstein Rummery - Stirling

•Sharon Lovell - Vale of Glamorgan

•Celine Thomas - Tunbridge Wells

The Women’s Equality Party was established to highlight and dismantle obstacles to gender equality in the UK: a political and economic architecture rigged against women and diversity, an education system riven with unconscious bias and gender stereotyping, a media that reinforces these stereotypes, a society that assigns little value to caregiving and therefore assumes it to be women’s business, that underpays women and invests less in women's health and permits endemic harassment and violence against women.

The Party currently has 65,000 members and registered supporters. It aims to put equality for women at the top of the national political agenda by being an electoral force that also works with other political parties; in addition to party membership it also offers joint memberships to members of other political parties.

You can download the manifesto here: