Can I welcome this debate on the report of the standards committee, 'Creating the Right Culture', and can I thank the Chair and members for undertaking this inquiry and producing this report with recommendations that I support?

It is appropriate to hold this debate during the week of the white ribbon, which we wear in recognition of the ongoing drive to eliminate violence against women. As we heard yesterday, in response to my question to the First Minister, this is a scandal of the twenty-first century modern world. We've a responsibility in government—local and national—and as elected representatives, and as individuals in the public, private and third sectors, to respond to this scandal.

We recently debated 'Is Wales Fairer?', the 2018 report of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, where points were made relevant to our debate today, with a statement that said, and the Chair also repeated this:

'#MeToo put the spotlight on women’s and girls’ experience of high levels of violence and discrimination' which are

'too readily accepted as part of life'.

Angela Burns made a very powerful point yesterday, I believe, on this point.

The Women's Equality Network manifesto reported that 55 per cent of girls aged seven to 21 say that gender stereotypes affect their ability to say what they think, and 52 per cent of women report being harassed in the workplace. I think it's that point about affecting the ability to say what they think that is so important.

The Chair of the standards committee alerts us to the evidence received by the committee and reports in the media that suggest that there have been a number of incidents of sexual harassment at the Assembly, and that these haven't been formally reported. It is to our shame that individuals have not felt they could come forward to make these complaints and expose the fact that our culture is not right here in this Senedd. We must now take responsibility to address this.

The Women's Equality Network manifesto says

'We understand that gender inequality is both a cause and consequence of violence against women and girls. We know that to prevent violence we need to educate, challenge and change our unequal culture and society.'

That means that we must challenge ourselves. Yes, we have had the respect and dignity training—I hope this has permeated throughout this organisation and has been made available to both the Commission and Welsh Government teams, about where people have power over other people. It's where power is exercised and abused that the culture can go so wrong.

There are a number of recommendations with a timeline, which I welcome, but we must be vigilant in meeting those timelines and monitoring their delivery, from the five to be delivered immediately—that does mean immediately—through to December and the spring.

I want to finish by updating Members on the new cross-party group on women's equality, which has met twice since its inauguration in May. At its first meeting, we heard from Professor Laura McAllister on 'A Parliament that Works for Wales', with a positive response from the women who attended, including external organisations such as the Women's Equality Network, Chwarae Teg, Women Connect First, Women's Institute and Soroptimist International, who fully endorsed her recommendations regarding job sharing and 50:50 representation of women for this Senedd and the Welsh Government.

This was followed by a talk by Jess Blair from the Electoral Reform Society on their report, 'New Voices: How Welsh Politics can Begin to Reflect Wales', which also endorsed the need to increase the representation of women in the Assembly. This is particularly relevant today, as we mark 100 years since the passing of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918, where women could legally stand for Parliament. This is being celebrated in Westminster, as we can see.

We're now holding a joint cross-party group with the Cross-Party Group on Violence against Women and Children alongside our new group on women's equality, strengthening cross-party support for, and understanding of, these issues we're debating this week. We cannot, in what is largely, sadly, a nearly empty Chamber today, just leave it for this debate—it must permeate everything that we're doing in this Assembly and in Welsh Government. 

A few weeks ago, I welcomed a poll that drew attention to public support for using legislation to ensure we get gender parity in this Assembly. Like smoking in public places, I believe the public are ahead of us in many ways, and yet we tend to think that we are in a good place in this Assembly. We are not yet there on these issues. At our joint committee scrutiny of the equality impact assessments last week, we received evidence from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and they said that the prevalence of societal gender norms in education and employment, and experiences of harassment and violence, is obstructing this progress of women's equality.

We can accept the recommendations today, and clearly, there is much to discuss in terms of the implications of those and from the Welsh Government. We can take them forward, but I think we also need to consider policy and legislation in every aspect of our work here, including legislation to change this Assembly to reflect the Wales we represent. And we should take this on board if we really want to reflect the strength and courage of the suffragettes a century ago, and follow their lead with deeds and not just words. This must include, if necessary, legislation to help to create the right culture in the heart of democracy in Wales.