“…I can’t stop but wonder what this world would have looked like had it not been for the limitations imposed by patriarchy…”

(Vjasa Osmani, president of Kosovo; 2024).

Labour Women’s Network women are helping to bring that world about. We are change-makers. We follow great sisters. We bring more after us.  LWN monitored Parliamentary selections, trained and mentored many of us, including our fantastic Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister.  And me!

It’s 2024. We are still not always in the room. There are still decisions which ignore effects on women. Some male colleagues still don’t notice an all-male meeting, panel or decision. Women are subjected to online hate and real-world intimidation in campaigns and in elected office. This is wearing, off-putting, threatening.

The role of LWN chair is to lead us through and beyond all this, towards that time when we aren’t needed. To support and challenge the team. To encourage every LWN member to bring more women in. To model respectful feminist disagreement when necessary, achieve consensus when possible, lead with cheerful determination.

I’ve had nine years in Parliament, four years in Shadow Cabinet, 36 years in work to end violence against women and girls, a lifetime a feminist. I’ve mentored many women. I’ve campaign hard but always with a focus on fun and including everyone. I’ve learned as much from losing as winning, finding new strengths and renewed sense of purpose.

I’d bring all of this, with love and joy, to the role of LWN chair.