International Women’s Day

Baroness Thornton Excerpts

Friday 8th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Thornton (Lab)]

My Lords, like other noble Lords, I always find it slightly strange starting my International Women’s Day speech each year with those words. Perhaps one day we will find a gender-neutral expression with which to address each other, perhaps after we stop being a House of Lords and become something else—but that is a discussion for another day.

We have had a comprehensive and varied debate, as ever, with some outstanding contributions. I loved the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, because she was one of my feminist heroes—and still is—and has lost none of her passion. It was absolutely wonderful. I also loved the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey. I welcomed her maiden speech and, even though I had warning of what she intended to do in addressing the grave matter of female homicide, like others I was indeed moved to tears, as I was by the reading out of that sad list by my noble friend Lady Anderson.

I thank the Library and many organisations that have sent briefings to our deliberations. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Vere, for her opening remarks, which were her usual very optimistic ones on the state of the world. It was a very good way to start the debate, even if we may not always agree about the accuracy of some of those things.

I particularly thank my noble friend Lady Gale for opening the debate from these Benches. I believe that she has spoken in pretty much every single debate in your Lordships’ House on International Women’s Day, and her speeches are always very practical—about practical action that needs to be taken for women’s equality, and about what is happening in Wales. It is also worth noting that, as the first woman to be general secretary of the Welsh Labour Party, she is responsible partly for the equality of representation of women in public life in Wales.

I thank the noble Baronesses, Lady Amos, Lady Anderson, Lady Armstrong, Lady Chakrabarti, Lady Donaghy, Lady Goudie, Lady Merron and Lady O’Grady, and two Lady Taylors—the noble Baronesses, Lady Taylor of Bolton and Lady Taylor of Stevenage—for their contributions: a formidable set of Labour women if ever there was, whose presence and sisterly support always fills me with joy. Of course, I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, and the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, and other noble Lords and men who have made contributions to International Women’s Day because, as the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, said, without the support of men in our lives, the struggle is that much harder.

The timing of this debate coincides with the publication overnight of Sexism in the City, the latest report of a House of Commons Select Committee. It is worth telling one of the stories that was given to it. It is of a City executive, called Selena for these purposes. When she

“logged on for a Teams call with five senior male colleagues in spring 2021, she was gobsmacked.

She had spent weeks warning bosses that the London-based investment firm risked falling foul of European regulations. She had gathered data and presented supporting evidence, but was repeatedly brushed off. ‘Nobody wanted to listen,’ she said.


So her jaw dropped that afternoon when a male colleague raised the issue and immediately gained support from the same boss who had ignored her. ‘I had to stop the meeting,’ she recalls. ‘I said: “Why does it take a white, middle-aged man to deliver the exact same message that I’ve been delivering over the last few weeks?’”


Noble Lords will not be surprised to learn that:

“When her comments were dismissed, and described as ‘over the top’, it was the final straw. ‘The realisation was it doesn’t matter how hard I work, how talented, how committed I am. They will never ever recognise me’.


Prompted in part by the sexual harassment allegations against hedge fund boss Crispin Odey, the inquiry is meant to determine whether meaningful progress had been made since the committee’s last review in 2018. But the shocking stories recently shared with MPs for its investigation—which ranged from office bullying to allegations as serious as rape—suggest the post-#MeToo focus on diversity and inclusion has failed to eradicate widespread misogyny”


in the City of London.

The report was particularly concerned to hear of the widespread misuse of non-disclosure agreements—NDAs—which have the effect of silencing the victim of harassment and forcing them out of an organisation, while protecting perpetrators and leaving them free to continue their careers and go on to abuse others.

I would welcome the Minister’s comments on that report because it is very reasoned but this is, of course, a first-world problem—although it is as potent a discrimination as any that we have heard about today. From the City of London to the fields of Cambodia, the mountains of Tasmania, the streets of Cape Town and the studios of Hollywood and Bollywood, women face misogyny and violence. As many noble Lords have said today, violence against women and girls is an equalities issue. It prevents women being free and living their lives as they wish to live them.

Over the years, we have all worked hard—and are still doing so—to ensure equal educational opportunities for girls and in taking extra steps to encourage women to go into sectors such as STEM, wherever their talents fit them and whatever they may want to do. We are still fighting for equal pay; there are still 41 years to go, it looks like, but much has improved in terms of pay and prospects for women. Career things are on the up. However, whoever the woman and whatever her career, if she is raped or becomes a victim of domestic abuse, she will be seriously affected, damaged and unable to thrive fully—sometimes for a very long time. Sometimes, these male crimes against women are life-changing and women are just stopped from thriving, full stop. Violence against women and girls is a barrier to women’s drive for equality. No matter how hard one has worked to make good use of one’s opportunities, being a victim of male violence will be a crippling setback.

Some 910,000 domestic abuse cases were recorded by police in 2022—that is probably a quarter or a fifth of the women who suffered it—and 68,000 rapes were recorded; again, that is perhaps one-fifth or less of the women who suffer it and report it. This is a wide-ranging, far-reaching block on women living a life of equality with men. Labour’s mission is to cut violence against women and girls by half, which we think will be a powerful boost to women’s economic equality by freeing more of them from the pain, anguish and trauma of having been a victim of these horribly intimate and undermining crimes. Rape and violence against women are also used often in the conduct of warfare, a most recent example being 7 October and Hamas, which puts the debate about economic inclusion into a very different perspective.

Across the world, women hold less economic power than men, whether it is wages, assets or the disproportionate amount of unpaid care that they take responsibility for; of course, as my noble friend Lord Davies explained to us, that has a clear impact on women’s ability to take on paid, good-quality work and have a sustainable pension later on in life. Clearly, without reproductive work, cooking, cleaning and taking care of children and others, the economy would stall. According to the TUC, more than 1.46 million women are unable to work alongside their family commitments, compared with around 230,000 men; of course, as many noble Lords have said, that has an impact on the type and quality of employment available to women.

Then there are those women whose economic exclusion oftens form an inseparable part of a wider system of denial of human rights. I mention the report from Amnesty International that we received as part of our preparation for this debate. Its recent investigation into the frightening realities of daily life for women and girls in Iran was particularly marked; the same could be said for women and girls in Afghanistan. In Iran, the investigation gathered the testimonies of women and girls who are targeted solely for exercising their rights to bodily autonomy and freedom of expression. Many of them have been targeted economically through, for example, arbitrary car confiscations, fines and denial of access to employment.

We on these Benches are proud of Labour’s record on equality, both nationally and internationally, with the Equal Pay Act, maternity rights and the Equality Act 2010—to name just one or two. Labour has provided a legal and moral foundation for the equality and human rights of this generation and the generations to come.

We, of course, have a plan for if we are fortunate enough to be in government. We will support women at work. We will introduce the right to flexible working from day one. We will modernise equal pay laws to give women the right to know what their male counterparts earn. We will make it illegal to make a new mother redundant, from the notification of their pregnancy until six months after their return to work. We will review the failing system of shared parental leave. We will require large employers to publish menopause action plans. We will ensure that outsourced workers are included in the gender pay gap and pay ratio reporting. We will require employers to create and maintain workplaces free from harassment, including by third parties.

As has been mentioned, on the “Today” programme this morning “Thought for the Day” asked the question: why is there an International Women’s Day and why would we embrace that here in this country? Of course, it is because the discrimination that women have endured over millennia, everywhere in the world, the oppression of various forms of state and organised religion used to suppress women, and the need to create a better world for all of our daughters and granddaughters are common to all women everywhere.

That is why this is a powerful day; a moment to celebrate ourselves and our achievements and to support those women everywhere who need our solidarity and support. I thank all noble Lords for what I thought was a fantastic range of contributions. I believe that we have done honour to this International Women’s Day in a debate filled with passion and determination.