International Women’s Day

Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway Excerpts

Friday 6th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (Lab)]

My Lords, ladies, sisters and brothers, I congratulate everyone who has chosen to give their maiden speech on International Women’s Day. I have to admit that I struggled with how to begin my contribution today— I hope I am not the only one—at a time when partial publication of the Epstein files, thanks only to the persistence of survivors, has exposed a transnational network of wealthy men steeped in greed, exploitation and rape; when major powers are dominated by self-styled strongmen who glorify machismo, so-called tradwives, ethnonationalism, state violence and war, with the lives of women and children dismissed as collateral damage; and when the Middle East is on fire. The best antidote to despair is hope, so on International Women’s Day I send solidarity to the courageous women around the world calling for peace, justice and equality, especially those in Palestine, Israel and Iran.

There is hope at home too, and noble Lords will not be surprised by what I am going to talk about. Whatever different views there may be on the Employment Rights Act, no one can deny that women workers stand to gain most. For years the UK has been blighted by a two-tier workforce, with women much more likely to be stuck at the bottom on low pay and insecure contracts. As a trade unionist friend once said to me, “Never mind the glass ceiling; working-class women are still trying to smash through the glass skirting board”. I am proud that Labour’s Employment Rights Act will make working life so much better. From this April, everyone will get sick pay from day one and 1.7 million low-paid workers will become entitled to statutory sick pay for the first time, the vast majority of them women. Soon, workers will have the right to guaranteed hours for the first time, reliable hours and a reliable income so that they can plan family finances and childcare. Young people, Black and ethnic-minority workers and women will disproportionately benefit. Social care workers who looked after our loved ones during Covid, even when they lacked proper PPE, will get their first-ever fair pay agreement, and eight in 10 of them are women.

There is so much more to celebrate. Women from across this House worked with Labour Ministers and the wonderful Zelda Perkins to tackle non-disclosure agreements. Thanks to the Employment Rights Act, NDAs designed to silence women who have suffered sexual harassment or any worker who has reported discrimination will no longer be enforceable—no more impunity for powerful harassers.

I hope that this is just the beginning—I am a trade unionist, forgive me. I want to see more. I want to see a better deal for new parents. I want young dads to know that, as a society, we are on their side too and that we can do better than a paltry two weeks’ paid paternity leave, so that they get proper paid time to bond with their babies and support their partners. The TUC has calculated that, at the current rate of change, it will take another 30 years to close the gender pay gap. We can turbocharge progress by boosting support for young families who want to share care more equally but, currently, simply cannot afford to do so.

Finally, for International Women’s Day, I make a plea to the Minister for overseas workers here in the UK. We must not replace one form of two-tierism with another. New rights will mean nothing if workers do not feel that they have the power to enforce them, and the evidence is that workers, including women in social care who are waiting for settled status, are less likely to report sexism, racism or any other form of labour abuse for fear that it will jeopardise their chances. Everyone—men and women, Black and white, whatever our background—deserves a fair rate for the job and the right to dignity and a voice at work.