Green Party Women Co-Chair AGM Report

2023/34

Ensure that the needs and rights of women and girls are properly considered in all Green Party England and Wales (GPEW) policy.

There has rarely been a more important time to ensure women’s voices are at the centre of policy making. In addition to being more adversely affected by the climate crisis, women are also being hit harder by the ongoing Cost of Living crisis - particularly women from marginalised backgrounds. As part of the process for collating the manifesto for the next General Election, I will continue to coordinate relevant feedback until the end of my term on policy sections as they near completion on behalf of women and non-binary people across the Party.

Outside of Green Party Women, I supported our London Mayoral Candidate, Zoë Garbett, to run a policy round table for London Green Party members focused on the issues most important to women. Topics we covered included how to ensure women’s voices are heard in our democratic institutions and ensuring politicians are accessible to all women. We then discussed combatting violence against women and girls, and how the police are typically more of a threat to women than a mechanism to receive support and obtain justice. Lastly, we covered the inequality women are still facing in 2023, with the loss of traditional employment opportunities, the diminishment of the high street, and how people with long-term illnesses can be best supported.

This year, I also took up an active role in both the Tax and Fiscal, and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport working groups as women are significantly underrepresented in these policy areas. As someone who is completely new to policy writing, the welcome and enjoyment I have received from getting involved in these areas was significant and would encourage anyone to get involved in an area they care about.

I have also deeply enjoyed being involved in the national cross-functional groups which exist to amplify the voices of Liberation Groups. These include attending the Political Committee (PolCom), the Equality and Diversity (E&D) Committee, and the Special Interest Groups meetings. Here I have raised Green Party Women events, the achievements of women in the Green Party, and suggested some implications to women of current events or policy positions.

Campaign on matters that affect the lives of women and girls.

As mentioned above, economic inequality is significant for women in the UK and an issue that I am deeply passionate about. In addition to providing a gendered lens on developing new economic policy, I have taken part in panel events to promote our existing policies for International Women’s Day and Green Talks, alongside representatives from the Women’s Environmental Network, Extinction Rebellion, and the Women’s Budget Group.

The second subject I campaigned on this year was the decriminalisation of sex work. I am hugely grateful to Megan Hector, from Islington Green Party and Decrim Now, for leading my education on this topic and introducing me to the Sex Worker’s Union and English Collective of Prostitutes. We held a panel event which also included Nathalie Bennett and Dr Carrie Hamilton, to discuss how decriminalisation became Green Party policy and why it is preferable to other legal and licensing approaches. This was the highest-attended event held by the committee all year and was widely considered one of the best Green Party events organised in recent years. In addition, I attended the launch of the Hookers Against Hardship campaign hosted by Nadia Whittome MP at the House of Commons; this campaign is essential to support workers through the current cost of living crises, with its demands aligning entirely with existing Green Party policy.

Abortion rights came to the fore this year following the sentencing of Carla Foster, age 45 and a mother of 3 children, to 2 years in prison for terminating her pregnancy beyond the legal time limit. The Green Party was one of the very early supporters of decriminalisation of abortion, and I attended the protest march along with my fellow committee members Laura Eccott and Devon Osborne, as well as many other Green Party members, organised by the Women’s Equality Party. With input from the Feminist Greens and Scottish Greens, I also drafted some amendments to our existing abortion policy to bring them up to date and in line with current legal timelines, which I am excited to bring to Autumn Conference; I would especially like to thank the Disability and Health Working Groups for their input and support into this process.

The murder of Brianna Ghey shook many of us in the Green Party, LGBTQIA+ and otherwise. It felt shocking and sudden and inevitable to me in the current transphobic climate all at the same time. Like many of you, I mourned at one of the many vigils held across the country and felt some comfort in the space that was held between our chosen communities. I will always be proud to be a member of one of the two UK political parties that are unequivocal in its support for trans rights and have built links with my Liberal Democrat equivalent to ensure we continue to stand up for trans boys and girls at their most vulnerable.

Our current government is attempting to close all rail ticket offices in stations across England. This will have a hugely detrimental impact on older passengers, those with disabilities, and women traveling alone on the network. At a time when we should be encouraging people to use public transport, this is exactly the opposite of the policies we need. Together with the Unions, I attended protests, disseminated consultation forms, and shared petitions on social media to fight this decision.

Along with my fellow committee member Laura Eccott, I enrolled to be a United Nations UK Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 67. This year’s topic centred on how digital tools can be leveraged to create a more equal society, a topic which I have some expertise on as part of my day job. It was fantastic to meet other delegates from all around the world and attend workshops to share ideas on how technology can provide greater access to the workplace and services needed by women. I also signed up for the UN Women Climate Justice Challenge, to travel the circumference of the Earth ahead of COP28, to highlight the heightened challenges women and girls face from the climate crisis.

In collaboration with a Green Party Region Council (GPRC) Co-Chair, Martha James, I coordinated and ran a workshop to discuss potential changes to the No-Fault Suspension process. This was part of an ongoing consultation being led by GPRC to review the disciplinary processes of the Green Party, following concerns raised about fairness and appropriateness of the existing processes. The event was well attended and many members were able to ask in-depth questions they had about the current approach.

I produced an initial draft of a guide to misogyny, following a request from GPRC to have such information provided as supplementary materials for the revised Code of Conduct. Should anyone like to take this task forward, I would be happy to share the work compiled to date and work with those from other intersections to ensure we are providing a holistic guide on the most pertinent challenges women still face.

Lastly, in relation to specific member concerns, I have offered and held multiple conversations with those members of Green Party Women who describe themselves as having Gender Critical thoughts and beliefs. I have held these 1-to-1 conversations in an open and constructive manner with the aim of building a shared understanding of the different sides of this conversation and exploring common ground on other Green values. These conversations have had mixed success, but I will endeavour to continue to take this approach moving forward with anyone who wishes to build bridges within the Green Party.

Monitor and work to improve the balanced representation of women and men in all internal and external elections.

One of the greatest joys I have experienced this year was traveling around the South East of England in the run-up to the May 2023 Local Elections, meeting women and non-binary candidates hoping to get elected as Local Councillors. It was a fantastic learning experience as an organiser experiencing the best practices across different local parties and a great way to stay motivated in the middle of the 4-year election cycles we have in London. I would especially like to congratulate Laura Edie from Dartford, Laura Manston from Sevenoaks, and Ben Foley from Bedford - thank you for letting me join your campaigns.

I have also really appreciated the support and guidance from the brilliant cross-party campaigns for women: Ask Her to Stand, 50:50, and Centenary Action. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the workshops, panel discussions and other learnings I have taken part in this year and strongly encourage any women to sign up for regular updates from these organisations.

Lastly in this section, I want to emphasise the importance of encouraging the women and non-binary people in your lives to put themselves forward - whether as a candidate or someone behind the scenes (we know both are just as important). As I write this, I am just about to kick off a Hackney Mayol by-election campaign for the brilliant Zoë Garbett. Zoë, together with the equally awesome Alice Spendley, are the reason I got so involved with the Green Party - they are passionate about politics, welcoming to everyone, and know how to get the best out of people. Thank you for asking me if I’d like to get involved in that first campaign.

P.S. If you have any spare capacity and would like to help out with Zoë’s campaign, please head to hackneygreens.org.uk

Bullying within the Green Party

I have worked with thousands of people, from multiple countries, backgrounds, cultures and industries. I have never in my life witnessed such vile and inappropriate behaviour as I have witnessed from within Green Party Women. Such behaviour includes dehumanisation, harassment, intimidation and gaslighting. It is important to stress that this is a tiny minority of members, but it does have a disproportionate impact on the party as a whole.

I have sadly had to use Green Party disciplinary processes for the first time. Navigating this process has been a learning curve and unfortunately taken up a significant amount of my available capacity. I believe the disciplinary process, in its current form, is not fit for purpose. Cases take far too long to be heard for both parties, the process is opaque, and the system is inaccessible.

As part of the disciplinary process, I have also engaged on repeated occasions with the Mediation process. Conversely, with the rest of the disciplinary process, I have found the Mediation aspect of the process helpful, constructive, and well-organised. While I agree with comments made by our E&D Co-Chairs that people who have been facing discrimination should not have to explain why they have been upset by someone’s behaviour and that this process could benefit from being moved to an external body, I feel those who currently give up their time to run these sessions do so with the best of intentions and in a skilled manner.

Personally, I have experienced bullying from Green Party members on a large number of occasions. This started in my first month in the role, when I was prevented from having access to the Green Party Women social media accounts because my views on gender are aligned to those of Green Party Policy. This unkind behaviour towards me has continued throughout my time as Co-Chair and has included name-calling, shouting and being talked over, being prevented from speaking ay Green Party Women meetings, such as the EGM, and having lies being told about me at Green Party events.

On repeated occasions I have begged the Leadership, GPRC, and GPEx functions for help; little action has been forthcoming. I know that everyone is exhausted and trying really hard, but at the moment our best simply isn’t good enough.

Conclusion

As much as I have taken great enjoyment over some parts of my role as Co-Chair of Green Party Women, I will not be standing for any Green Party Women committee positions in the new year and would recommend that anyone who cares about all women in the Green Party instead join me in focusing their efforts to get their fantastic local women and non-binary candidates elected across the country and to support them on an ongoing basis in their roles. No volunteer role is worth crying yourself to sleep over. We have so many intelligent, passionate and hardworking candidates and I look forward to working with the Feminist Greens to see more of them achieve their political aspirations in the future.

I would like to thank every single member and non-member who has reached out to me with support over my term to date; I could not have kept going without your kind words, gifts, and actions of encouragement. And I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to make this year a more positive experience for us all.

Having witnessed this Group from the inside, I am clear that it is not a safe and welcoming space for all Green Party members, especially those who are trans or non-binary. Therefore, I recommend that Green Party Women be disaffiliated from the Green Party as it fails to meet one of the two basic requirements of a Liberation Group.

Author: Chesca Walton

Last edited: 30th September 2023