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Elizabeth McWilliams speech to conference.
"Every woman and girl should feel safe in their home, on our streets, in their school or workplace and in our wider community.
I can’t believe that we’re in 2023 and we even need to debate this.
Yet we do.
Every day, women are told how to behave, what to say, how to look.
Comments shouted in the street: ’Cheer up love’
Being wolf-whistled at and being expected to take it as a compliment
The pressure on young girls so that half now use apps or filters to make themselves look ‘better’ on line.
The message that somehow it’s the woman’s fault. She wore the wrong clothes, said the wrong thing, behaved the wrong way.
It is always for women to modify their behaviour. And modify it we do.
The women who pay for a taxi after a late shift because there’s no other safe way to get home.
The women who keep quiet at work for fear of being labelled ‘strident’.
The women who won’t put themselves forward to be councillors because of the risk of serious online abuse.
These behaviours may be deep-rooted but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with them. We no longer should accept that ‘boys will be boys’.
We need to change the story. And we are:
Sadiq Khan’s campaign for men to call it out if their mates use sexist language.
Unite the Union’s campaign to ‘Get me home safely’.
And most of all, the action promised by Labour. To make misogyny a hate crime. To tackle harmful online content. To make sure police forces record all violence and harassment suffered by women.
I want my daughter and all women to have the fundamental right of feeling safe in their every day lives. I want the difference that a Labour Government will make."
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