WLD in Bournemouth (Women Liberal Democrats)

Women Liberal Democrats <women@libdems.org.uk>

WLD in Bournemouth

September 22, 2008 3:30 PM

Miranda Whitehead enthuses the Fringe

A highlight for WLD at our conference in Bournemouth was our joint fringe meeting with Amnesty International 'Trapped in Violence and Abuse - Is the UK Government failing to tackle Violence against Women?' The packed meeting listened to four passionate and informative speakers - Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, Finn Mackay, founder of the London Feminist Network, Baroness Jenny Tonge and Chris Huhne MP. Our second WLD fringe meeting 'Are We Nearly There Yet?' brought Miranda Whitehead's fascinating run-through of how women got to where we now are, first aired at the Bath Forum, to a wider audience. This was followed by lots of useful information and advice for women thinking of standing for our Party Committees.

A full report on the Fringe meetings will be on the website shortly.

At the AGM, as well as the necessary business, there were lots of useful ideas from the members on fund raising, increasing membership, newsletter items and ways in which we can support women standing for office.

Around 20 of us enjoyed an excellent Italian meal on the Sunday evening, followed by the Campaign for Gender Balance auction which raised lots of money in a very entertaining way, thanks to the excellent auctioneering skills of Don Foster MP.

A concern for women's representation cropped up in various places at Conference, including at the launch of the Diversity Engagement Group. Simon Hughes said that, although we have made progress on this issue, women still need better representation in the Party - as do ethnic minority LibDems and those with disabilities. He re-iterated this in his final speech as President on Tuesday.

Also - read Soraya Janmohamed's take on the Conference in her account of being a WLD Intern.