Today I had the pleasure of delivering a speech to members of Unite the Union, Barking, Dagenham and Havering Community Branch for International Women’s Day. The full text of my speech can be found below.

Good afternoon! Wow – what an honour to be invited by Christina Freeman, from the Unite Community, to speak in the Unite building in Dagenham on International Women’s Day. As a young, working-class girl from St Peter’s School in Dagenham, I never would have thought this possible.

In the run-up to this event I have been thinking about how other women, both at home and abroad, are getting on. Each generation has their struggles and successes and I think it’s important to recognise how far we have progressed as individuals and as a society, and to look at the barriers we still need to overcome.

The past few years have been very difficult for everyone. We have had a global pandemic, a war that has impacted supply lines around the globe, and now a cost of living crisis. We have had a government that, on the latter, has not chosen to be on the side of working people. We have seen so many women on picket lines in the past twelve months, some for the very first time, who feel that they have no other option to make their voices heard. I have visited many picket lines and talked to women strikers. What is notable about the strikes is who is supporting them and trying to realise a decent standard of living – primarily the Trade Union movement. The fight for better pay and support for industries from healthcare to transport to teaching is a fight for workers rights and renumeration across the board.

I know many sitting here today realise how hard it is to be on a picket line, often forgoing pay to do what needs to be done. The response from the rest of the country has been mostly positive, which makes me optimistic for the future of these kinds of demonstrations. Through the passion of striking workers it seems that, very slowly, the Government is finally turning up to negotiations in good faith and coming to agreements that work for workers – though the struggle to be heard is still very real.

I couldn’t talk on international women day without mentioning women’s safety. There have been some terrible cases of brutal crimes. I think it’s fair to say confidence and trust in the Metropolitan Police is at an all time low, and much needs to be done for people to feel they can trust those who are supposed to protect them. The Labour Party have some reformative policies announced around policing and justice and will work to ensure that all allegations of sexual misconduct, domestic abuse and violence against women are treated seriously and that sentences for perpetrators are proportional to the severity of the crimes.

I would argue that the culture that presently exists on social media, and in politics at times, can be misogynistic. When I meet women, some say to me, “Aren’t you worried about being trolled and vilified online for becoming the parliamentary candidate for Dagenham and Rainham?” which tells me that this culture is sadly putting women off from entering public life.

Which brings me to Andrew Tate. I must be honest, I didn’t have any idea of who he was until social media launched him into the spotlight. He has risen to fame for his sexist and misogynistic views. We are living in a post-Trump, Andrew Tate, era, where it is felt socially acceptable by some to belittle women. The “incel” culture that has created this modern wave of misogyny is deeply rooted in outdated, patriarchal expectations of women’s roles in life, and the expectations for men rooted in toxic masculinity. I think it is important to note that feminism isn’t just about empowering women, but also needs to tackle the roots of the problems that cause men to behave in such a disgusting manner – the onus needs to be on men to be better, not just for women to be resilient enough to cope with the misogyny, harassment, and violence they encounter day in and day out.

Watching this all play out on iPads and phones across the country are our children. I heard this week that more people get their news from Facebook and broadcast media than anywhere else. I think we need to reflect on how social media can bring us together in solidarity, but that the corporations that own these services care only about engagement to sell ads. The amoral algorithms that control what you, and your children, see on these sites have found that the best way of engaging people is through pushing fringe views and stoking conflict, leading to further extremism and deepening conflicts in our society.

Women striking for better pay and conditions is one of the roads to equality, but this is only part of the puzzle. I don’t feel that in this country the responsibility for providing care to children and other family members has been evenly distributed. I think there are some signs of hope. Working from home post-covid is enabling for some women, but for others it can feel like a prison.

If your employer decrees homeworking, you live in a cramped home, and you are the primary carer for your children or parents then I don’t feel that constitutes freedom or help. Caring for children and elderly parents is still primarily left to women. Indeed, in recent months an announcement was made that people shouldn’t move away from their parents and should care for them as they care for their children. Society looks almost solely to women to fulfil this role. Back when a family could exist on a single income this may have been more feasible, but now women are being punished for securing their place in the working world by being expected to work full-time and carry out all of their traditional roles, from care to housework to cooking, while many men feel that their responsibilities begin and end with their day job.

We go back to politics, and the need for a cross party agreement on social care for the country. We don’t realise how entrenched these views can be. My late father, who passed away a few years back, had his last years in a care home for dementia. My sister and I were regular visitors, but when my brothers arrived the home made special mention of their visits, as though they were doing something unusual and selfless by visiting their father, whereas it was just expected of the women in the family. If you look, you’ll see little pockets of misogyny like this everywhere in our day to day lives.

I’d like to finish by acknowledging how special it is to be at this venue, with that fantastic mural of the Ford Women workers that serves to remind us all of our history in the Borough of strong women. I know that we will continue this legacy into the future. The struggle is real, but our list of allies is growing, and I believe that the Trade Union movement and the Labour Party are at the centre of the fight for women to take their rightful place in society – not just as mothers and carers, but as equals.