I was very pleased to be invited to speak on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show today (25.3.18), particularly on the very thorny topic of equal pay for women. That we have such a persistent and stubborn pay gap is a disgrace. I have long been an advocate of equal pay, helping to form national policy at government level, working across a range of sectors to secure a commitment tackling the gap, promoting a call for mandatory audits. Labour and the trade unions are inextricably linked in the desire to end the pay gap.
It linked easily to the topic of period poverty. I take my hat off to the women of Dover smART project who have set up the #smartknicker initiative, what a great idea! But again, period poverty is symptomatic of this government’s austerity agenda.
Finally, the programme covered a vintage piece of political TV footage which has gone viral online. Baroness Fookes, as she is today, was shown in the 1970s as a young MP facing shocking sexist treatment from male BBC presenters. Although we agreed things have changed for the better, I did point out that equally abhorrent behaviour is very much in evidence on social media today.