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WATCH: Labour MPs share their stories for International Women’s Day

Ahead of International Women’s Day 2020 on Sunday, March 8th, the House of Commons held a debate during which MPs talked about legislating for women’s rights and shared their personal stories of how misogyny had affected their lives.

Dawn Butler talked about legislative changes, such as stronger protection against harassment and discrimination. The Shadow Equalities Secretary and deputy leadership candidate said: “For too long, politics has been the reserve for a particularly wealthy group in society in the ‘old boys’ club’ and I’m pleased that that is slowly beginning to change.”

Rosie Duffield talked about online abuse directed at women. The MP for Canterbury said: “Part of our job as women in parliament is to receive it, filter it, weather it, police it, ignore it, highlight it, talk about it, help other women, deal with it, tackle it so that other women don’t have to, and fight it constantly, with a view to eradicating it completely.”

Newcomer Alex Davies-Jones talked about her personal fertility story. She said: “To every woman who has walked past a glowing bump in the street… who has been asked ‘when are you having children?’… while suppressing mixed emotions of envy, sadness and self-loathing. You are not alone.”

Naz Shah also talked about her personal experiences, explaining that she is “the daughter of a victim of domestic abuse who served 14 years in prison, and she went to prison because she could no longer handle the abuse and killed the person who abused her”. Shah said: “That was where my real journey into politics started.”

Jess Phillips, as she does annually, read out a list of the names of women who have been murdered by men over the past year. She told the almost empty chamber that the number was going up rather than down, and talked about both violent partner abuse and abuse received by women from their sons.

Tags: International Women's Day / Labour women /
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