Who Should You Vote For Today?

So the election is TODAY, have you made up your mind who to vote for?

Reading through each of the three main party manifestos – contrasting and comparing them – is, let’s face it, a bit of a faff, not least since it entails reading over 300 pages of pledges (Conservative manifesto: 88 pages, Labour manifesto: 128 pages, Liberal Democrats manifesto: 100 pages).

Whilst we would certainly encourage all readers to do this anyway – knowledge is, after all, power – we understand at this late stage some may not have the time.

For this reason, we have painstakingly gone through all three manifestos and highlighted times when women were specifically mentioned and laid out our findings in an easy-to-read summary.

Of course, we are aware that all party pledges will affect women, so know that this isn’t the lowdown on what each and every pledge would mean for you (not least because we’d be here till the next election if we organised that – as would you!).

However, we wanted to take a look at some of the things the three parties are doing to target female voters – and with that in mind, here’s what we found...

Women in the workplace

The three leading parties, the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, approached the topic of women in the workplace from slightly different angles. Whilst the Conservatives dedicated an entire section of their manifesto to battling the Gender Pay Gap, Labour focused more on discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers, within a section titled ‘Women’. The Liberal Democrats’ pledges were included under the heading ‘Rights and equalities’, a manifesto segment addressing inequality in a number of ways.

Starting with the incumbent party, the Conservatives pledged to push for more women to sit on boards, and more equality in the number of women hired to public appointments. They stated companies of 250+ employees will be made to publish ‘more data’ on the pay gap between male and female employees.

The Conservatives also said that a new ‘integration strategy’ would be introduced, to try to help women from ‘more isolated communities’ find employment.

The Liberal Democrats echoed some of the above, promising to ‘drive for diversity’ in terms of business leaders and push for at least 40% of FTSE 350 companies’ board member positions to be held by women. They also said they would ensure the Equality Act applies to all companies boasting in excess of 250 employees, and ensure such businesses keep an eye on, and publish, data connected to employee gender and pay gaps.

Whilst Labour has promised to ‘gender audit’ all policy and legislation – and ensure 50% of their cabinet will be women – their ‘women in the workplace’ focus was mainly aimed at new mums and pregnant women. They promised to reverse the employment tribunal fees for pregnant women and mothers forced out of work, and said that women who apply for maternity discrimination will have 6 months (not the current 3 months) to do so.

A risk assessment at work for pregnant women would be made ‘compulsory’ and there would be a review on how women who suffer miscarriages are supported at work too.

Pension credits, under a Labour government, would also be extended to ‘the most vulnerable women’.

Parental Leave

The Conservatives pledged to introduce measures to encourage shared parental leave, and promised to help businesses offer ‘more flexible work environments’ for mums and dads dividing parental duties.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats honed in more heavily on the role of the father. Labour said it would double paid paternity leave and increase paternity pay, whilst the Liberal Democrats said that shared parental leave would be expanded with an extra ‘use it or lose it’ month to ‘encourage fathers to take time off with young children’. They added their intention to provide more ‘back-to-work support’ to reach a target of ‘one million more women at work by 2025’.

All three parties stated they were committed to providing support for families who experience the tragedy of losing a baby. The Conservatives also pledged to introduce a new entitlement to ‘child bereavement leave’ in such cases.

Returning to Work

In terms of women getting back to work after maternity leave, the Conservatives have said such women would be supported by ‘returnships’ – schemes to equip them with the right skills to enable them to find new employment.

On a similar thread, Labour pledged to ensure apprenticeships have a ‘broad representation’ of women.

Childcare

The Conservatives this year will introduce 30 hours of free childcare for children of three and four years old, applicable to working parents who struggle to meet the costs of childcare. Should they be voted in again, they would institute a ‘capital fund’ to assist the primary schools that don’t have nurseries to develop them – with the view to making it commonplace for every new primary school to have a nursery.

Labour have said they would ‘overhaul’ the current childcare system – that which allocates subsidies direct to parents ¬– and ensure that childcare places in ‘mixed environments’ would be subsidised by the government instead.

Labour have said they would stick to the Conservative’s commitment to 30 hours free childcare a week, but extend it to all two-year-olds as well (and work towards including one-year-olds). This would be applicable to all parents regardless of whether they worked or not.

They also said, the workforce responsible for childcare would be ‘graduate-led’ and receive pay increases and more training opportunities. Finally, Sure Start ¬– an initiative designed to give kids a better start in life – would be allocated more financial support.

The Liberal Democrats have also pledged to extend the Conservative’s free childcare initiative to two-year-olds in England, first for 15 hours, but with the long term goal of extending it to 30 hours-a-week for all parents with children of two to four, as well as working parents with a child from the end of paid parental leave to the time their child turns two. Working parents with children of nine months to one year would also be ‘prioritised’ and eligible for 15 hours free childcare.

A Liberal Democrat government would also see that parents with ‘unsocial’ working hours would not miss out, and free childcare hours could be used up during school holidays.

Domestic Violence

All three party manifestos stated their dedication to combating domestic violence.

The Conservatives promised to bring forward a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill to ‘consolidate all civil and criminal prevention and protection orders and provide for a new aggravated offence if behaviour is directed at a child’.

They said they would ‘legislate to enshrine a definition of domestic violence and abuse in law, providing the legal underpinning for everything in [their] new act’ – currently no statutory definition is in place – to enable them to work with victim support groups, help survivors ascertain ‘more easily’ whether they have a case, and provide a more ‘reliable basis’ for the Criminal Justice System to work from.

If re-elected, the Conservatives will also see that women who find themselves victims of domestic violence will be supported to leave their abusive partners, and those who leave with have lifetime tenancies, will be allocated new lifetime tenancies automatically as well.

Finally, the role of a ‘Domestic Violence and Abuse Commissioner in law’ would also be created under a Conservative government, to protect victims and hold both police and the Criminal Justice System to account.

Labour have also promised to appoint such a figurehead. The Violence Against Women Commissioner would ‘enforce minimum standards in tackling domestic and sexual violence’ whilst also providing funds for women refuges and rape crisis centres.

Labour said that ‘community resolutions’ to domestic violence would be banned. They also said that under the Istanbul Convention, they would ensure violence against women with disabilities would be reported annually.

The Liberal Democrats vowed to review the ‘investigation, prosecution, procedures and rules of evidence in cases of sexual and domestic violence’.

They also said they would stop the ‘two-child policy’ on family benefits and abolish the so-called ‘rape clause’, which allows women who have more than two children to receive benefits if the third (or subsequent) child was conceived as a result of a non-consensual conception (because in order to obtain the benefits, the woman must reveal that their child was conceived in that way).

Women in prison

The Conservatives stated that women offenders would receive ‘dedicated provision’, whilst the Liberal Democrats stated they would create a ‘Women’s Justice Board’ tasked with providing for the ‘special needs’ of female offenders.

Women around the world

The Conservatives promised to initiate a ‘global campaign’ to provide education for women and girls worldwide. They also said they would use their aid budget to work towards eradicating the ‘subjugation and mutilation of women’.

Labour pledged to appoint a series of global ambassadors for women’s rights, to spread the word of gender equality beyond British shores. They also said the Civil Society Challenge Fund, which supported women’s organisations, would be reinstated.

The Liberal Democrats said that supporting, protecting and ensuring equal rights for women and girls would be a priority. They also said they would focus on eradicating female genital mutilation across the world within ‘a generation’.

They would also seek to protect global spending on ‘vaccination and family planning’ like that which is currently under threat in the US by the Trump administration.

And on a similar thread, Labour promised to work with the Assembly in Northern Ireland to extend the right for women to have an abortion there.

We hope all this has helped.

To find out more about each party manifestos, click on these links: Conservative Manifesto, Labour Manifesto:, Liberal Democrat Manifesto:

Happy voting!