Green Party Women Online Conferences
Here you can find videos and information about the online conferences organised by Green Party Women
April 26 2020
We held our first Green Party Women online conference via zoom in April with some excellent guest speakers. Videos and information about the speakers and the campaigns are below. The conference was organised and chaired by Dawn Furness, Co-chair of Green Party Women
Session 1
Mental health during Lockdown - Kat Boettge
Women in Prison during covid-19 pandemic - Dr Kate Paradine
Session 2
Women in Leadership - covid-19 Crisis and beyond - Georgia Taylor
50:50 parliament campaign - Andrea Carey
Session 3
GPW Climate Change Campaign - Britta Goodman
Mental Health During Lockdown - Kat Boettge
Cllr Kat Boettge has been a prominent Green Party representative in Nottingham and the East Midlands for some time. She works as a psychotherapist, mainly with NHS clients
These are unprecedented times. Some people are stuck inside with families and increased levels of conflict, sometimes escalating to domestic violence. Others are completely isolated and alone. We need to recognise difficulties from both sides and find strategies to adapt.
How can we develop more tolerance and mental resilience in times of such high stress, when exponential levels of anxiety often turn into aggression?
Women in Prison during covid-19 pandemic - Dr Kate Paradine
Dr. Kate Paradine is CEO of Women in Prison
In March 2020 the Government announced that arrangements would be made for early release from prison for those with less than two months to serve and for pregnant women and those women and babies held on Mother and Baby Units in prison. Yet despite this, very small numbers have been released. Women in Prison, INQUEST and hundreds of charities, the Prison Governors Association and others have called for significant reductions in the prison population to save lives in prison and in the community. Overcrowded prisons pose significant risks of spreading the disease and creating a public health catastrophe, with consequential impact on the NHS.
Women in Leadership - covid-19 Crisis and beyond - Georgia Taylor
Georgia Taylor has worked all over the world on UK Aid programmes that save women’s lives, address trauma from conflict, and build sustainable communities. She has run leadership training focussing on women’s economic empowerment for the European Union.
Why do women make such good leaders during the Covid Crisis? Is it because they are more adept at listening? To being more open to receiving scientific advice? We have statistical evidence that a more diverse board leads companies to be more successful and yet Women are continually under-represented in leadership. She has seen how the climate and ecological emergency is already leading to extreme flooding and drought in countries in the global south, which is increasing conflict and economic hardship for millions.
50:50 parliament campaign - Andrea Carey
Andrea Carey is the Green Party organiser of the 50:50 campaign. Her background is in human rights and community rights law, previously working for the Red Cross.
Men outnumber women 2:1 in Parliament, but how do women get more women elected? Parliament is meant to be representative but there are twice as many male MPs as there are female MPs. At the last election only 12 extra women MPs were elected. At this rate it will take 50 years to achieve gender equality in Parliament. 100 years after women won the right to vote 50:50 are aiming to achieve better gender balance in Parliament sooner than this. #AskHerToStand campaign is seeking out inspirational Women leaders and can provide mentoring and support to women at various stages in their political careers. The Green Party already has nearly 100 women members.
GPW Climate Change Campaign - Britta Goodman
The battle lines are already being drawn up for the shape of the post lockdown recovery.
On one hand, Conservative forces are positioning for a return to the pre-Covid status quo, intending to lock us into a fossil fuel based economy for the next decade or more. Last week, George Osborne toured TV and radio studios to begin making the case for even deeper Austerity to pay back the borrowing required to keep the business as usual economy afloat.
On the other hand, the Committee for Climate Change, Guardian Editorial and even Conservative UK Climate Secretary, Alok Sharma, have started making the case for a Green Recovery, and Just Transition towards net zero emissions.
The public are on our side, with only 9% telling a 5,000 person UK RSA survey that they wanted to return to their lives as they were before lockdown. People love the cleaner air, greater appreciation of the value of food, and stronger sense of community – not to mention spending more time at home, and needing to spend less money (for those fortunate not to have lost some or all of their incomes)
Now is the time for us to be brave enough to act with Green Party leadership, by making the case to rebuild from the Coronavirus tragedy with the economic and social renewal mapped out by the cross-party Green New Deal.