WEST HAM CLP WOMEN’S FORUM Every Women Matters A contribution to Newham Labour Party Local Election Manifesto 2014   February 2014

Every Woman Matters Consultation by West Ham CLP Women’s Forum in February 2014; Focus on policy areas to be examined & leveraged to enhance progress of Resilience agenda to benefit the full diversity of women in Newham; Opportunity to work with the Mayor and Council, alongside East Ham CLP Women’s Group and other colleagues / stakeholders; Development of recommendations to inform implementation of Resilience agenda over the next 4 years

Resilience Agenda and Gender Equality Dovetail with three core pillars of Resilience agenda: Community Personal Economic Focus on: Mechanisms that ensure Resilience agenda works for all women in Newham (incl. those already established) Tangible and positive outcomes Measures that are fiscally neutral

Women & the Newham Context 2011 Census: Men 52.1% & Females 47.9%; Majority BAME population & linguistically diverse; In 2011, 77% of children born to mothers from outside of the UK; 2nd highest London Borough of Families with multiple children; 53.6% of women economically active (2011/12); 45.1% of women employed; 15.7% of women unemployed; Income disparity between genders with women earning less than the London Median (weekly and hourly rates) Poverty (2012): 32% of children in poverty (25,400) 33% of children in poverty in West Ham 31% of children in East Ham

Policy Focus Skills & training, including English as a Second Language; Employment; Violence against Women (incl. Domestic Violence and Sex workers) Equality Impact Assessments to achieve progress on gender equality; Female representation in Newham Council (political and officer levels); Health Inequalities; Housing; Homelessness; Community Hubs.

Economic Resilience: ideas Women learning to speak English impacts on their multiple roles: Their ability to support their children at school; Less time for children to take off school to act as translators for mothers; Ability to enter Labour Market Activities under Community Hubs should all include an element of ESOL teaching:   Parenting classes in Children's Centres   ‘Knit and natter’ model: East London Textiles - people from all backgrounds who talk English while sewing.  Measures that dovetail with community and individual resilience

Individual Resilience: ideas Skills & training to support young women; Range and offer of courses available expanded; Partnership working with local companies good practice (e.g. Thames Water & Costain selling engineering as a route for young women); Build on the good record of Workplace; Set ambitious targets: For successful applicants who are women Attendance at adult education courses and range of courses registered Amplify the role of the community hub to work with adult education  Dovetails with Economic resilience

Community Resilience: ideas Build on the ‘One Stop Shop’ to tackle Domestic Violence; Training for volunteers (through ACTIVE Newham) who could befriend women at times of crisis; Preventative measures targeted at men: Mediation and reconciliation training; Self confidence and self esteem training Other activities through the Public health funding Social housing needs of women alleviated by more support for them to be economically self sufficient  

Community Resilience: ideas cont… Transfer of public health to the Council Commissioning of services that support women to become more self sufficient in key health areas: Cancer (breast, cervical and lung);  Heart disease (related to smoking and unhealthy life styles);   Late diagnosis of these diseases as not enough women are attending the the screening sessions that are being offered Public awareness and education drive targeted at women; Training for all LBN staff on the health issues affecting residents so that all departments can effectively sign-post; Dovetails with economic and individual Resilience.