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Women in Democracy

A review of Bournemouth University Politics Society’s Parliament Week event - Women in Democracy.

L-R Rachel Rogers, Vikki Slade, Melissa Maynard, Alison Smith, Dr Anna Feigenbaum, Francesca Reed and Molly Scott Cato © Michelle Harris

L-R Rachel Rogers, Vikki Slade, Melissa Maynard, Alison Smith, Dr Anna Feigenbaum, Francesca Reed and Molly Scott Cato © Michelle Harris

Parliament Week is a national programme of events and activities designed to inspire, engage and connect people with parliamentary democracy.

To mark the start of Parliament Week, in the smart surroundings of the Executive Business Centre, BU’s Politics Society hosted ‘Women in Democracy’: an event to celebrate women’s contribution to the democratic life of the UK.

The audience heard from panel of six political women; academics, candidates and politicians from the South West. Each told a personal and engaging account of their political awakenings and their political lives today.

There were six very different stories told yesterday, but a common thread ran through each of the tales. Everyday sexism remains a social and institutional barrier for women entering politics.

Women’s voices are both powerful and necessary and political life inside and outside our institutions is impoverished if they are not heard. We have made surprisingly little progress in half a century, but it was hard not to be moved to a more optimistic frame of mind by such a collection of intelligent and passionate individuals.