By Zoe Allan and Rathi Guhadasan who are standing alongside Jean Crocker for the WCAC.

Delegates to Annual Women’s Conference (AWC) have now been chosen and they alone will elect the new CLP Reps to the Women’s Conference Arrangement Committee (WCAC). Members of the WCAC play a crucial role and choosing ones who will empower women’s voices, rather than inhibit them, is crucial for enacting Labour Party values in society at large.

Please ask your Women’s Conference delegates to vote for all three of us, backed by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance to ensure the voices of women members are heard. If elected we will be strong advocates for:-

• Restoration of a standalone, two-day, policy-making annual Labour Women’s Conference separate to Annual Conference.

• A Women’s Conference that is inclusive of the full diversity of grassroots women members and trade unionists, including promoting accessibility for disabled women and carers.

• Supporting Women’s Officers and Women’s Branches to fully participate in Women’s Conference through encouragement, advice and guidance on submission of motions and election of delegates, making sure motion and rule change criteria are clear and well-communicated.

• Support for delegates to Women’s Conference including timely advice and information, and inclusive, accessible and empowering composite meetings.

• An agenda for Women’s Conference that includes as much input from grassroots women members and trade unionists as possible.

Jean Crocker

What else can you do?

There is still time for your CLP or Women’s Branch to send in a contemporary motion on policy or a rule change to promote women’s voices through AWC. The deadline for these is 5pm, Wednesday 21st August. Please read Jean Crocker’s previous article for guidance.

The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) has published two excellent model motions (one on women in Palestine, the other on scrapping the two-child benefit cap). They’ve also come up with 5 rule changes which would really help to amplify women’s voices if they were passed.

• Rule change 1 would update things so that the National Women’s Committee (NWC) decides about delegations to Women’s Conference, rather than the National Executive Committee. Fed up of men thinking they know better than a group of women about how to self-organise? This addresses that.

• Rule change 2 empowers the devolved nations’ own women’s structures appropriately. At the moment, a motion sent to AWC from either the Welsh or Scottish Women’s Conferences has to compete with all motions from CLPs and affiliates. Having been debated and passed by very many women with their own perspectives of living under devolved governments, these motions deserve to get straight on to the AWC agenda and not be drowned out.

• Rule change 3 is for raising awareness of both AWC and NWC. In a world where injustice and inequality are rife with women being side-lined, women need to know how to get involved in forums designed to give them influence. NWC organised an excellent day on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls but, how many of us knew?

• Rule change 4 allows AWC to send rule changes to National Annual Conference to affect the Rule Book. Again, this is about women knowing best how to self-organise. Women’s structures in the Party, for example, Women’s Branches, are governed by the Rule Book and women should have the right to suggest changes where necessary.

• Rule change 5 is about giving more opportunity to women members to have their say by allowing CLPs and Women’s Branches to submit both a policy motion and a rule change, instead of either/or.  Annual Women’s Conference is supposed to counter the pervasive culture of women being overlooked and act as a platform for ordinary women members. The more ways this can be enhanced, the better.

If you can get any of these rule changes or either of the two motions sent in by your CLP or Women’s Branch, please do!

Zoe Allan

Why bother?

In short, because austerity has made so many women’s lives so much harder, particularly those of colour, disabled women, lone parents and our LGBT+ sisters. Culture wars and the far right thrive wherever there is poverty and inequality. This must be countered and one way to do that is to listen to women’s voices when making policy.

We mustn’t stoke burning injustices by continuing to divide communities by making people feel they need to fight the ‘other’ people for the scraps because there isn’t enough to go around. Women bear the brunt of scarcity. Only equality and equity will lift us all back up.

If you’re attending Women’s Conference, come along to the CLPD Women’s Conference fringe meeting, 5-6pm at Friends Meeting House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BT on Friday 20th September. You can read more of their advice HERE.

Rathi Guhadasan

Zoe Allan and Rathi Guhadasan are both candidates for the Women’s Conference Arrangement Committee backed by the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA), alongside stalwart incumbent Jean Crocker, who’s standing for re-election.

Image: Arena & Convention Centre, Liverpool. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1039210. Creator: Nick Mutton | Credit: Nick Mutton Copyright: © Nick Mutton and licenced for reuse under cc-by-sa/2.0