International Women’s Day

Baroness Casey of Blackstock Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Casey of Blackstock (CB)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Malvern, newly appointed Minister for Women and my former and very esteemed boss, for opening this debate on International Women’s Day. I also thank, in anticipation, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, who is also a good friend. Both my noble friends have a lifelong commitment to tackling men’s violence against women, for which they should be respected and thanked by the whole House.

I thoroughly enjoyed the maiden speeches of my noble friends Lady Alexander of Cleveden and Lady Hunter of—wait for it—Auchenreoch. I did it. Okay, good. I would just comment that I am very glad that I did my maiden speech a year ago, so I did not have to follow them, because I feel that the quality just went up quite significantly. I wish well the three maiden speeches to come, from the noble Baronesses, Lady Bousted and Lady Rafferty, and from a new member of the Labour sisterhood, I understand, the noble Lord, Lord Jones.

Each year in the other place, my dear friend and colleague the honourable Member for Birmingham Yardley names the women killed in the last 12 months where the principal suspect is a man. With your kind support and agreement, this year we in this House will also honour those women and their families.

I take this opportunity to read the names, collated by the Femicide Census, of the women and girls aged 14 and above, mentioned earlier by my dear friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Hazarika, and the four children included in that list this year, who have allegedly been killed by men in the past 12 months: Zhe Wang; Pauline Sweeney; Carol Matthews; Ursula Uhlemann; Tiffany Render; Francis Dwyer; Ruth Baker; Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche; Samantha Mickleburgh; Rachel McDaid; Dora Leese; Lisa Welford; Karen O’Leary; Sonia Parker; Tarnjeet Riaz; Anita Mukhey; Bhajan Kaur; Kathryn Parton; Emma Finch; Margaret Parker; Amie Gray; Maria Nugara; Patsy Aust; Veronica Chinyanga; Delia Haxworth; Joanne Ward; Lauren Evans; Maxine Clark; Scarlett Vickers; Sophie Evans; Joanne Samak; Carol Hunt; Louise Hunt; Hannah Hunt; Jenny Sharp; Alana Odysseos; Laura Robson; Kulsuma Akter; Rebecca Simkin; Olivia Wood; Courtney Mitchell; Nina Denisova; Alberta Obinim; Stephanie Marie; Sophie Watson; Vicki Thomas; Eve McIntyre; Montserrat Martorell; Cher Maximen; Brodie MacGregor; Zanele Sibanda; Bryonie Gawith, plus her two children, Oscar Birtle, aged five years, and Aubree Birtle, aged 22 months; Davinia Graham; Barbara Nomakhosi; Christine Everett-Hickson; Juliana Prosper, plus her two children, Giselle, aged 13, and Kyle, aged 16; Rachel Simpson; an unnamed woman who died on 29 September aged 70; Mary Ward; Christine Jefferies; another unnamed woman who died on 8 October, also in her 70s; Luka Bennett-Smith; Anita Rose; Mashal Ilyas; Rhiannon Slye Whyte; Catherine Flynn; Sandie Butler; Rita Fleming; Cheryl McKenna; Carol James; Phoenix Spencer-Horn; Harshita Brella; Alana Armstrong; Margaret Cunningham; Kristine Sparane; Margaret Hanson; Karen Cummings; Astra Sirapina; Mariann Borocz; Gemma Devonish; Joanne Pearson; Teohna Grant; Heather Newton; June Henty; Leila Young; Julie Buckley; Jamelatu Tsiwah; Dianne Cleary; Claire Chick; Margaret Worby; Carmen Coulson; Rita Lambourne; Meghan Hughes; Lisa Smith; Ana Maria Murariu.

Once again, as I did this time last year, I beg the leave of the House to also remember, for personal reasons, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, both murdered in 2020, and, as mentioned earlier, Sarah Everard, murdered in March 2021. May they, the 95 women and four children mentioned here today, rest in peace.