Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Angela Crawley(2 years, 7 months ago)
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Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)
The Attorney General’s advice to the Prime Minister was reported to have said that the Good Friday agreement takes “primordial significance” over the Northern Ireland protocol. Does she accept that the Good Friday agreement sits alongside other agreements, rather than takes precedence, and that it should not be used as a basis to walk away from the deal that the UK Government signed? Will she commit to publishing the legal advice in full?
International Women’s Day
Debate between Baroness Laing of Elderslie and Angela Crawley
Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP) [V]
As always, it is a pleasure to speak in the International Women’s Day debate. International Women’s Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on the contribution that women make, here and around the globe, and to look at how far we have come in the fight for equality and the distance we yet have to travel. Of course, this debate is taking place at a time like no other. The past 12 months have been incredibly difficult for all of us. Covid has brought disruption and worry, and to some it has brought heartbreak. It has also exacerbated the inequalities that were already present, and the means to challenge these things has been hampered by the outbreak of the pandemic. Sadly, this has exacerbated the inequality between men and women.
Only 9% of working-class women in the UK can work at home. The sectors that are most severely affected are dominated by women, including hospitality, education and healthcare. With schools and nurseries only partially open, it is women who are taking on most of the unpaid care, often reducing their hours or giving up their employment to look after children. It is women who are more likely to care for their older or disabled relatives and neighbours, and sadly, it is also women who will be trapped in their homes self-isolating with an abusive partner. Despite this, women and girls in the UK have been largely invisible from the debate and excluded from decision making.
Hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ pounds have been spent without considering the specific challenges that women are facing. For example, in January the LSE reported that 71% of women in the UK were in some form of employment, but three months later that figure had dropped by 5%. If they have remained in employment, women have seen their work volumes increase and have also experienced job loss. Furlough was impacting 2.3 million women in January this year. Although the extension is welcome, there should not be a cliff edge to that support. The uplift to universal credit, worth £1,040 a year to claimants, is due to be axed later this year. That must not happen at all, at any time.
Women have been adversely impacted and are the worst affected in this pandemic. There have been a few silver linings to the pandemic, and the opportunity for women to work from home and have flexible working is more important than ever. I call on the Government to take into consideration the findings of the Women and Equalities Committee in this regard.
Lastly, how often have we said to a friend on the way home, “Be safe—text me when you get home”? The fear alone should tell us we have a problem.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
We now go to the Father of the House, who, I recollect, has taken part in this International Women’s Day debate on every occasion I have observed over the last 25 years—long before it was fashionable.