10. Short Debate A century since women gained the right to vote, but does Wales have equality today?

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:11 pm on 24 January 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 7:11, 24 January 2018

Absolutely. That's very much a part of the fair work agenda, and Chwarae Teg are running a programme at the moment that gives accreditation to employers who have a fair work ethos, and that's very much a part of that ethos: making sure that you have no discrimination against anybody who takes parental leave—obviously, it is mostly women who do, but no discrimination against people who take parental leave—and that, actually, men are encouraged to take their parental leave so that they experience the same career breaks as women do, and then you do get some equality, because there are huge issues around that. But, absolutely, Bethan Jenkins—you're completely right about that. We do need to do that. 

So, I'm going to make a couple of announcements before I finish, Llywydd, if you will indulge me. I'm very proud that we're going to spend around £300,000 celebrating the centenary of the suffragettes. Siân pointed out that it was only a partial suffrage. I've just had it pointed out to me that, apparently, Welsh women got the vote at 18 from 1865 in Patagonia—courtesy of my friend Jeremy Miles, who just pointed that out to me. So, that's something to be celebrated. But we also know that women in Saudi Arabia have only just got a partial vote now, so there's a long way to go around the world with that. 

We are going to be celebrating key anniversaries right through this year for the suffrage. We're going to have a 100 notable Welsh women programme led by Women's Equality Network Wales, which we are sponsoring. I hope you will all participate in that, and then we'll have a public vote for those who should be recognised. We're going to have some new statues of actual historical women in Wales, which I'm determined to do. We're going to be donating towards the purple plaque campaign, and we're going to have a grant for innovative community activity to follow that up.

So, there are going to be a number of things, and the reason we're going to do all of those things is this, and I'll finish with this, Llywydd: women's history is invisible. You go around the country and you talk to young women, and they do not know that women did the maths behind the munitions, they do not know that women did the maths behind the internet. Do you know that the only person who ever passed the test to go into the—I can't remember what it's called now—spy network in the world war was a woman? The only person who passed all the tests—all the others partially failed them—and that woman isn't even named. When you go to Bletchley Park—there you are; it came to me—it just says 'a woman', whereas we know who all the men are. So, those silent histories must be spoken of. The purple plaque campaign, which will have the little gizmo where you hold your phone up and it will tell you a lot about that woman and her place in history, is absolutely essential so that our young women understand, in Wales, the contribution women have already made, the contribution they can make and the contribution they will make in the future to make Wales the equal society we want it to be. Diolch, Llywydd.