International Women’s Day

Dehenna Davison Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dehenna Davison (Bishop Auckland) (Con) [V]]

I start by echoing the comments and sadness expressed by so many colleagues about Sarah Everard. I cannot begin to imagine what her family are going through, but I send my deepest thoughts and prayers to them and to the families of all those mentioned by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips).

I entered the world of politics completely by accident in 2009. Little did I know that 10 years later, I would be one of the record 220 female MPs here on the green Benches, proudly representing Bishop Auckland. Some of those on the Opposition Benches may groan, but my accidental interest in politics was sparked after watching a video at school about our first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Taking politics out of the equation, because at that time I did not know the difference between Labour and the Tories anyway, seeing a woman so unapologetically powerful and in the highest job in the land meant that I grew up never for a second doubting that a woman’s place could be in No. 10. Again putting politics aside, that is why I so warmly welcomed Kamala Harris becoming the first female Vice-President of the United States, because representation matters.

In the decade since then, so much has changed for women. Lazy stereotypes have been consistently challenged and we are seeing more representation across all walks of life. We have seen the first female winner of the Abel prize for mathematics, the first female Doctor Who, and we have even had the first Marvel film to feature a female solo lead with “Captain Marvel”. I am pleased to say I have a figure of her standing proudly in my office in Parliament.

In this place, much has been introduced to tackle the obstacles faced by women today and to try to demolish them for the next generation. We have had the Equality Act 2010 and the largest ever single investment to help end female genital mutilation. We are leading the world in promoting the right of every girl to quality education. We are protecting women. We have reformed divorce laws for the first time in 50 years. We will soon have the online harms Bill, which is set to challenge how we tackle harmful online content, and we are in the final stages of the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill, but we cannot legislate to change attitudes.

As this year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Choose to challenge”, I want to challenge the double standards that exist in society for women. A female worker is still more likely to face questions on balancing home and work life, as though home is where we women should be. If a man is a leader, a woman is bossy. If a man is considered, a woman is over-emotional. If a man speaks his mind, a woman is oversharing. A man can react, but a woman can only ever overreact.

To any woman wanting to enter politics at local or national level, this is a rallying cry. We cannot allow ourselves to be silenced by fear. We will not stand for abuse, and we will be here to lift one another, because with every female elected, we see greater representation and, with that, the hope that one day a young girl watching this debate will see someone who looks like her, and she will know that she can achieve anything—becoming an MP, Home Secretary or even Prime Minister—because, after all, a woman’s place is anywhere she wants to be.