International Women�s Day

Alex McIntyre Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex McIntyre (Gloucester) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) for bringing this important debate to the House.

It is vital that we honour International Women�s Day to not only recognise the remarkable achievements of women in my city of Gloucester and across the country, but accelerate the drive for equality that is still so desperately needed. Sadly, far too many women come to my surgeries with harrowing experiences of discrimination in the workplace, inequalities in the healthcare system and violence and domestic abuse at home. Many are deeply concerned about the alarming rise in violence, and last year, sadly, we saw sexual and domestic abuse and violence reach record levels in Gloucester.

On the latter point, I am proud to have presented my ten-minute rule Bill earlier this year, which seeks to provide victims and survivors of domestic abuse with the right to access 10 days of paid safe leave. I have had the privilege of working with employers and organisations such as the Hollie Gazzard Trust, Women�s Aid, FearFree, SafeLives and the Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service to develop that Bill. We know that one in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, meaning that the Bill will help many women to rebuild their lives, and I encourage the Government to add that to their mission.

The theme for this year�s International Women�s Day is �Accelerate Action�, and I am encouraged by the Government�s commitment to do just that. We have committed to an ambitious plan to halve violence against women and girls by introducing Raneem�s law; protecting victims of stalking, domestic abuse and harassment; criminalising spiking; improving healthcare and maternity services, particularly for women of colour, and closing the racial mortality gap; tackling sex-based discrimination at work; supporting women during maternity and the menopause; and closing the gender pay gap.

I would like to take this moment to celebrate some of the inspirational women in my city, including the fantastic Gloucester-Hartpury women�s rugby team, who go for their third successive title next Sunday; my good friend Mary Smith, the only female leader of Gloucester city council in the past 30 years; Carol Francis, the first black female councillor in Gloucester, who continues to champion her community; Zafeera Karim, who as the Member of the Youth Parliament for Gloucester and the Forest of Dean gave a brilliant speech in this House just last week; and Julie Kent, who founded the charity Emily�s Gift and will soon become high sheriff.

Earlier this year, we lost Baroness Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, who died in January after years of service to our city. We also thank other inspirational women for their service to Gloucester and the wider county as they step down this year, including Sally Byng at the Barnwood Trust, Anne Whitworth at the Gloucester Law Centre, Sue Cunningham at GL Communities and Mary Hutton at the Gloucestershire integrated care board. I echo the comments of the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) about the Nelson Trust, which does brilliant work in my constituency. I will continue to use my position in this House to celebrate the successes of women in Gloucester, but also to advocate for a brighter future for women, which I hope we can all agree will lead to a brighter future for Gloucester and for our country.