4. Statement by the Leader of the House and Chief Whip: International Women's Day

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:00 pm on 6 March 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:00, 6 March 2018

The Member makes a very important point—that last point, in particular, is a really important point. We have been working extremely hard in a range of areas to make sure that reporting and prosecution takes place. They tend to be very complex cases to prosecute and, actually, prevention is better than prosecution anyway. So, we've been rolling out our training across all professionals who have contact with young girls, particularly young girls who are in the at-risk category, so just before puberty, to spot the signs of a young girl that's at risk and start the protection programme as early as possible. But also, we've been working very carefully with the criminal justice authorities across the UK to make sure that we have the right training in place, so that the police and the first responders also pick up the right signs. And also that we work inside the communities so that communities themselves start to self-police. So, it's hugely complicated, but we will be seeing some more prosecutions shortly. I don't think it is just about the prosecution. It's much more about changing the culture—as you say, the patriarchal culture—in some of those, although, actually, in a large number of the cultures, it's the women themselves who are actually involved in it. So, there's a huge cultural issue here that we have to be very cognisant of and we have to work very hard to change. That's partly why we're having the whole-society approach to the gender stereotyping issue, because that's the fundamental basis of this. 

In terms of some of the specifics that you asked me about—in terms of physics, for example—one of the contributors to the Val Feld plaque unveiling that we had just outside the Senedd now said something that really resonated with me. She said she was looking forward to the day when somebody addressed a young woman about her figures, and what they meant was her contribution in maths or scientific advancement, and not what she looked like without her clothes on. I, too, would second that. I hope you've all seen the film Hidden Figures, which was a very good demonstration of the contribution that women have made throughout scientific history, which is then hidden over completely. I have to say that I was completely unaware of the contribution of black women on the space programme until I'd read the book and seen the film.

That's what the unveiling of that plaque was about. It's about making sure that young women across Wales understand the contribution that women have made in those fields, and therefore aspire to that contribution themselves. Because if you haven't seen it, how can you aspire to be it? So, I think the plaque was a very good first step. My next step, Deputy Presiding Officer, is to make sure that we have one of those QR codes on the bottom of it so that when you put your phone up to it, it gives you a biography of the woman being honoured in that way, so that young women across Wales can have the positive role models that will make them succeed. 

But in terms of how we'll know we're succeeding, when the number of women in Wales goes above 20 per cent taking A-level physics, that will be a very standard place. That hasn't moved for 40 years, so I'm very much hoping that, in the next five, the measures we're putting in place now will move that.