Stephen Lawrence Women's Awards 2013
8th March 2013
For some people, making a difference is a career path. But for most of us it’s an accident of time or place and not uncommonly, as in Doreen’s [Lawrence] case, it's adversity or tragedy that spurs someone on to take up a cause.
Any difference I made in my early life came from a hatred of injustice and a commitment to human rights. Those values were not mine by chance, but rather the product of the influences of both my family and the wonderful women teachers at my girls’ grammar school in South Wales.
My first ‘making a difference’ moment came in 1979 when I was living in Newbury, Berkshire and Margaret Thatcher announced that US nuclear armed cruise missiles would be stationed at the local air base at Greenham Common. Anyone who didn’t live through the Cold War, when a nuclear exchange between the US and Russia was always possible, could not now begin to understand the significance of nuclear cruise missiles on British soil. They were weapons of first strike – not of deterrence - and they changed the course of my life.
With local friends I set up the Newbury campaign against the missiles and became the national chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) two years later. It was a bruising experience. We were vilified by the right wing press, phone tapped by MI5 and constantly followed around by Special Branch. The establishment will never concede that the peace movement played any part in removing cruise missiles from Britain. But we know how we made a difference – our demonstrations – and particularly those of the women, who I supported at Greenham Common, went round the world.
We made contact with dissident groups in Eastern Europe and in the then Soviet Union - we campaigned against nuclear weapons east and west. Eventually we got disarmament talks. A young man who worked with President Gorbachev paid our peace movement the ultimate compliment: “we learned by your example”.
In 1987 I became the MP for Lewisham Deptford. Immediately - making a difference became a matter of infinite opportunity. There is no job description for an MP. There is a basic time commitment driven by the whips – i.e. voting on every piece of contested legislation – but beyond that the job is what you make of it. An MP has limited power but often quite a lot of influence.
In 1987 there were just 41 women MPs and over 600 men. I described the place as a cross between a boys’ public school and a working men’s club – with all the worst elements of both. MPs can make a difference in all sorts of way, but I was determined to be a woman MP and to do whatever I could to advance equality.
In Tony Blair’s first government I became a full-time Minister for Women, with Harriet Harman taking responsibility in Cabinet. We created three policy priorities for 1997 – provision of child care, action on violence against women and increasing women’s participation. We pushed hard at our agenda, confronting civil servants as we went and creating a radical women’s unit within government.
But we were not popular in No. 10. A year later Harriet and I were sacked but we had made a difference. After a bit of a hiatus part-time Ministers for Women were appointed and the women’s unit survived – albeit as an equalities unit today.
One of the very best ways an MP can make a difference is with a Private Members Bill. Each year several hundred MPs put into a ballot for a place. The top 6 winners get guaranteed time to bring in their own legislation. Amazingly, I’ve twice won a place.
PMBs only become law if the government of the day agrees to support them. My first attempt started with the opposition of the Tory government but ended in success: I brought in the laws, still in use – to deal with fly-tipping. My second bill was to introduce door-step recycling – this time initially opposed by a Labour government but finally successful. I’m proud to say I do think it’s made a difference.
So I’ve had lots of opportunities – in some cases as unpredictable as the throw of a dice. But from time to time I’ve taken an initiative quite outside my comfort zone.
For some years I was aware of the plight of Afghan woman under the Taliban and after 9/11 my thoughts turned to what would happen to women in a new political settlement. So I sought out Afghan women in London and set up the UK Afghan Women’s Link. Those who had escaped and settled here were able to tell me their incredible stories and what might be done to assist those left behind. Time doesn’t allow me to go into all that followed but on the first anniversary of 9/11 I was in Kabul meeting the newly appointed Minster for Women. So much has happened since and so much has been changed by Afghan women, but so much is now in jeopardy and their future remains fragile.
Throughout my career I have had the enormous privilege of meeting some of the world’s most significant women. I’d like to pay tribute to 3 of them on this International Women’s Day.
I first met Mary Robinson when I was Minister for Women and she was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 8 years earlier she had been elected the first woman president of Ireland, transforming the face of Anglo-Irish politics, making a huge contribution to peace and liberalising Ireland’s regressive laws on contraception and homosexuality. Today Mary is still active as a member of the Elders group of world leaders, which includes Archbishop Tutu and former US President Jimmy Carter.
I met the Kenyan Wangari Maathai when I was an Environment Minister. Wangari had the most remarkable, courageous life, establishing the Green Belt movement which encouraged women to plant trees and save the environment. She was often harassed, arrested and on a target list for assassination. In 2004 she won the Nobel Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace, sadly dying in 2011.
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Dame Joan meeting Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012
Finally last year I met one of my all-time heroines, Aung San Suu Kyi – the democracy leader who suffered arrest, imprisonment and being kept under house arrest for 15 years for opposing the military dictatorship in Burma (now Myanmar). Through her enormous personal sacrifice she is making an incredible difference to the progress to peace and democracy in Myanmar and I’m hoping to visit her there in May.
For a girl who grew up in a small town in South Wales where most people still lived their lives within a 50 mile radius, I’ve had a life of remarkable opportunity. It’s much easier to make a difference in such circumstances, but my work here in the community brings me into contact with so many other women who are making a difference within a local context.
Women are the mainstay of every voluntary organisation, of support groups for carers, play groups for toddlers, volunteers for community libraries. Each and every one of them – of you – makes a difference every day. So it is with gratitude and admiration that I join with you in celebrating all the achievements of women on our special day.
For a girl who grew up in a small town in South Wales where most people still lived their lives within a 50 mile radius, I’ve had a life of remarkable opportunity. It’s much easier to make a difference in such circumstances, but my work here in the community brings me into contact with so many other women who are making a difference within a local context.
Women are the mainstay of every voluntary organisation, of support groups for carers, play groups for toddlers, volunteers for community libraries. Each and every one of them – of you – makes a difference every day. So it is with gratitude and admiration that I join with you in celebrating all the achievements of women on our special day.