6. Statement by the Leader of the House: The Centenary of Women's Suffrage

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:49 pm on 6 February 2018.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 5:49, 6 February 2018

I think today, whilst we look back, has to be an opportunity for us to pay tribute, not only to those women who delivered the vote, albeit restricted, 100 years ago, but for the struggles that went on and those women who delivered us here to the Assembly. I'm particularly thinking here that it was in 1918 that we had the vote, albeit limited, but it was 1999, 81 years later, that women took their rightful place to represent their constituencies in this Assembly, and that didn't happen by accident, those numbers. Those numbers came about by a vision and determination by Baroness Anita Gale—commonly known as 'Anita' to all of us, as she would say—the then general secretary of the Labour Party in Wales. And she seized on an opportunity, where there was an absolute blank sheet of people representing 40 constituencies and the regions, and she persuaded and cajoled people to support her vision, and that vision was to select 20 men and 20 women on behalf of the Labour Party to go forward and do their best. And I say she persuaded and cajoled; actually, there were—and there are many of us here who know—hugely heated and highly contested discussions that went on across Wales. And eventually, through those, we arrived at the trade unions and the membership to support that move. There are many of us here who still bear the scars as a consequence, but it was a good move, and it did deliver what we have now. Now, does that make a difference? Not by itself. It will never make a difference in and of itself.

So, again, we need to pay tribute to those women who came here very, very early on, and inserted protection for women within the legislative format that is Wales. We had, in the very first constitutional arrangement, an absolute duty to equality that was put in. We also had legislation—well, not legislation, because we wouldn't make it, but statements that we would look after women and girls fleeing domestic abuse and make sure that they were safe. So, it isn't simply about getting women into an institution. It's about getting the right women, with a vision, into this place. And I thank Anita, and I'm sure that you will also, for that. But on Friday, I took part in the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians event in Jersey, and I went to speak to women and girls as part of a programme—a wide programme—that is to encourage women to stand for or take part in politics, at whatever level that might be. So, it is really being part of a wider movement, and I'm really pleased that we've got some money for areas like mine, rural areas and all areas of Wales, to actually think about what it is they need to do in their own communities. And I suppose my question on that is: how are those communities going to know that that money is available to them, because we want as many organisations to apply for it as is possible? Thank you.