A political support fund for women that aims to emulate the success of the influential Emily’s List in the US has launched with the financial backing of actor Emma Thompson. Announcing the first list of candidates from the Activate Collective, Thompson said women, particularly women of colour, disabled women and women on low income, needed financial backing to overcome multiple barriers to entering politics.
“Our political system was built for men who – generally – had women to do everything else for them – caring for the elderly and the infirm, sustaining the domestic environment and all the endless and unpaid work that that entails,” said Thompson, who donated £50,000 to kickstart the first round. “We need women from all backgrounds and experiences to get elected in order to make the system work for most people and not just a few.” Sophie Walker, former leader of the Women’s Equality party, who co-founded the fund with former special adviser Vanessa Pine said it hoped to emulate the success of groups such as Emily’s List, which backs pro-choice Democratic female candidates for office in the US. “One of the things I discovered as a total novice politician, was the extent to which the amount of money you have makes a difference to the extent to which your voice can be heard,” she said. “I feel very strongly that there is a massive dearth of women’s voices in politics, and that we particularly need to support women from minoritised communities.” According to research by the organisation, less than a third of MPs are women in the UK, while black and minority ethnic (BAME) women make up 4% of MPs, compared with 6.5% of the population. Just two female MPs identify as disabled. There are no female metro mayors, while nine in 10 seats in devolved cabinets are occupied by men. Walker and Pine paid tribute to the #AskHerToStand campaign by 50:50 Parliament, but said that without practical and financial support women would struggle to succeed. Activate, which receives funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, has also created a Community Activist Fund to form a pipeline for future candidates, and is working with academics to research the barriers to better representation. Its first list of candidates includes Labour’s Jessie Joe Jacobs, who hopes to become England’s first metro mayor in Tees Valley, Mandu Reid, Women’s Equality party candidate for London mayor and Molly Samuel-Leport, Conservative candidate for the Greater London Assembly. The list includes eight women of colour, one disabled woman and one care leaver, while seven of the 11 identify as working class.
“As a black woman, I don’t see or think there are enough people from my background in politics,” said Molly Samuel-Leport, who is standing for the London assembly. “Without this financial support or encouragement for women like me, none of this would be possible.” With the UK facing an uncertain future and women at risk of facing the sharp end of an economic downturn, the need for more women in parliament was more pressing than ever, said Walker. “At a time when politicians are really scrambling to get answers to the vast questions we are facing about how we support different communities, how we balance work and family life, how we support carers … we need these different perspectives and solutions injected into our politics,” she said.