International Women's Day: Angela Rayner on gender in politics
Deputy Labour leader tells us about how being a woman has shaped her politics
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner MP has told us how important being a woman is to her as the world marks International Women's Day.
Women across the world are marking International Women's Day, highlighting accomplishments and the struggle for rights globally.
The day is observed every March 8th, and shows the world how far women's rights have come and how far they need to go elsewhere in the world.
In the UK, women are represented equally across society, making up 50.6% of the British population in 2020, but that doesn't mean all job roles have an even gender split.
Women are more present than ever in public sector jobs, with just over half of all civil servants identifying as female. Over one-third of all police officers in the country are women.
However, in other sectors, women are not as represented. In politics, only 35% of MPs in the House of Commons is female. Despite the low figure, this is a new record for the presence of women in the chamber.
Speaking to KISS, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner MP said that her being a woman in politics has caused her to be the victim of online abuse.
"If you look at the abuse women get in politics, regardless of political party, women get a lot more abuse than the men do," she said.
"Its toxic to our culture and society and women do get it worse than the men."
However, Ms Rayner said that despite the hate that she receives, the drive to represent her constituents in the Manchester town of Ashton-under-Lyne keeps her going.
"I’m still that single mum that grew up on a council estate and I've got these titles now, but I only use those for posh boys who think they’re better than me," she said.
"So Jacob Reese-Mogg can call me the right honourable Angela Rayner and give me my 4 titles, but in my local constituency, I'm Ang.
"The pressure on me is that I don’t want to let people down, and I think that’s a very working class thing."
Most parents would back daughters to train in a trade
New research from trade company Checkatrade found that most parents would support their daughter specialising in a trade.
A survey of 1,000 adults found that more than two thirds would back their daughters if they decide to train in a trade, while the number of homeowners preferring to hire a woman has increased in recent years.
Government launches pay transparency pilots as ‘stereotypes hold women back’
The Government has launched initiatives aimed at improving pay transparency as industry leaders continued to warn that “old stereotypes” are holding women back from higher paying jobs.
Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, announced two new pilots intended to help improve employment opportunities to coincide with International Women’s Day.
The Minister said evidence has shown that listing salary ranges in job adverts and not asking for salary history typically help provide a fairer basis for women to negotiate pay.
Employers participating in the Government initiative will publish salary detail and stop asking salary history during the recruitment process in an effort to close potential salary gaps.
Figures from the Fawcett Society highlighted that a requirement to provide salary history made individuals less confident when negotiating their pay.
It said it has a particularly negative impact on women’s confidence, with 58% of women saying that they felt they had received a lower salary offer than they would have if the question had not been asked.
The Government also announced a second initiative designed to help women return to Stem (science, technology, engineering & maths) careers.
The new programme is designed to help organisations to recruit and retain talented staff who are often overlooked because of a gap on their CV, by providing training, development and employment support to those who have taken time out for caring.