Dec 10 WNC

                           Women’s National Commission closed down by the Coalition Government

                                              Ann Henderson, WNC Scotland Commissioner, writes:

Originally established under Harold Wilson’s government in 1969, the Women’s National Commission had a remit to consider issues of interest to all women, and to inform government on policy. In the early days, the structure was by invitation to 50 organisations, with a role for the trade unions, for industry, and for many different types of women’s organizations. The WNC today is the UK umbrella organization, with over 670 partners and representing the views of several millions of women. The number of partner organizations has nearly doubled in the last three years.

Since 2000, WNC Board members have been recruited through a transparent public appointment process, and I was successful in my application in summer 2008. Taking up this post as WNC Scotland Commissioner was an exciting prospect, and the new WNC Board captured the energy and experience of a wide women’s movement in the UK. The commissioners from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland soon established regular meetings, and the whole WNC board worked hard to develop a ‘four nations’ approach to policy responses and in all our work. Contributions from women from Scotland had already been invaluable in the WNC Violence Against Women working Group, and on migration and asylum, the International Working Group, and through the Muslim Women’s Network.

In the last two years, the WNC work has included: a programme of events on Women into Public Life; focus groups with vulnerable and excluded women in developing the VWA strategy for England and Wales; tackling trafficking in the context of international sporting events, focused on the Olympics 2012; women and prisons, following up Corston Report recommendations; gender budgeting and women in the economy, focusing recently on the informal economy; participating in the high level Stakeholders group for Government on the Equality Bill/ 2010 Act; and worked in the different parts of the UK to increase the partner base for the WNC, hosting events and listening to a wide range of views.

Ann (left) with Baroness Joyce Gould, WNC Chair (centre) and Marie Kane, Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology

In Scotland, and to an extent in Wales, it has been noticeable that women’s organisations had focused on the devolved administrations, with good results in terms of increasing participation in elected office and in policy making, but maybe not organized as effectively as necessary at UK level. The changes in the WNC gave us an opportunity to shift that balance, and the banking crisis in 2008 reminded us all that many of the economic decisions that would shape women’s lives were taken at a UK and an international level.

The UK Government is the reporting body for compliance with the UN Charters and Conventions. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women commits the UK Government to UN examination on its progress every four years, and the WNC has historically played a role in producing Shadow reports and creating a space for women’s organizations to report their own views on the progress made by their Governments. Some women’s organizations can themselves also submit reports.

The Scottish Government has an obligation to feed into the UK CEDAW report, and this has received more attention this year than has been the case in the past. The Scottish Parliament has yet to place the Scottish Government Ministers under any scrutiny, and this could be work to take forward next year.

For the WNC partners in Scotland, I have been able to facilitate an event in 2008 and in 2009 to bring everyone together, to consider the international agenda and to hear more about each other’s priorities and experiences. This has seen much more input from Scotland into the WNC reports, and in work done each year in New York at the Commission on the Status of Women. Engender and others in Scotland have continued with previously established work too.

Ann with Baroness Joyce Gould, WNC Chair and Marie Kane, Women in Science, Engineering and Technology 

In December 2010 the WNC hosted an event in Glasgow, to look at the CSW priority theme on access to education and employment for women and girls, and to record our views on some of the WNC partner priorities. Although the attendance was reduced, and agenda curtailed, as a result of the bad weather, partner organizations were able to discuss their ideas on the opportunities and barriers for women and girls in the labour market; women in public life; violence against women priorities; and also to look ahead to what may come next after the WNC. There was complete agreement that the UK Government decision to close the WNC was wrong and ill informed, and underestimated the complexities of trying to construct a UK wide network of women’s organizations. Apologies had been recorded too on 2nd December from the Scottish Government Equality Unit, with an indication that a presentation on future plans could be made at another meeting.

The notes from that discussion will be available on the WNC website and circulated shortly. It was agreed that the Women’s resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology would take forward planning an open event in early 2011 with the speakers who had been unable to attend in December, notably Loraine Martin Head of Diversity and Equality at the Olympic Delivery Authority – and that the Scottish Women’s Convention and Engender would convene an open meeting early in the New Year to discuss organising and representation to Government(s), following the closure of the WNC. The Government Equality Office has indicated that it is in discussion with the Scottish Government, on continuing Government engagement with women, so that will be included in the agenda of any future meetings.

The WNC Board, Oct 2010

The WNC Board holds its final meeting in London on 14th/15th December and I will circulate a report from that and include details for signing up to the GEO for updates on their work.

We should acknowledge all those women in Scotland who supported the WNC in different ways in the past, and to those who have been working in recent years in partnership to ensure that Scottish women’s voices and experiences are heard at Westminster and internationally, as well as in Scotland.

Closing down the WNC is a wrong decision, but women will continue to organise – there is too much to lose if we don’t.

For more info contact annhenderson29a@blueyonder.co.uk