150 Putney Women Descend on Parliament

They were there to attend an annual event organised by Fleur Anderson MP and were addressed by Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry, Jess Phillips MP, Alex Davies-Jones, as well as local women Chantelle Bent and Rhiannon Llewellyn.

Topics covered included equal opportunities, equal pay, tackling abuse of women on our streets and online as well as discussing advocating for enhanced maternity support, expanded scholarship opportunities, and the recognition of the invaluable contributions of voluntary work.

Ms Anderson said, “A journalist asked me this week whether in 2024, International Women’s Day is ‘patronising’. Far from being patronising, International Women’s Day is a celebration of women and our achievements, and a time to rally together to look at how far we have to go. I hold these events every year to bring women together, celebrate our achievements and reflect on how far we have to go. I was delighted to be joined again this year by hundreds of women from Putney, to listen to our wonderful speakers. We heard so much about the importance of equal healthcare, childcare, pay, opportunities. In increasingly tough times this is needed more than ever. I also hugely enjoyed the big International Women's Day celebration in Roehampton this year. Again, hundreds of women came together to celebrate, with food, singing and dancing.”

Emily Thornberry, Labour’s Shadow Attorney General, spoke on the history of women in Parliament, achieving parity and three changes in our legal system that Labour says it will bring in if elected.

Jess Phillips spoke on her decades of work tackling violence against women and girls, and Alex Davies-Jones spoke broadly on what a Labour government will do for women in practical terms, about the increase in misogyny online, especially targeting at black women, and what more can be done to have positive role models for young men as one of many challenges.

Chantelle Bent, a local Roehampton woman, spoke on her experience of setting up a community kitchen in the heart of Roehampton, which provides groceries and over 200 hot meals per week to local families. Rhiannon Llewellyn, director of Putney Music School and Putney Music Festival, led the group in song before explaining the importance of music to community, and the integral role it plays in supporting women across Putney.

Afterwards Ms Anderson said, “It was a truly wonderful evening and filled me with pride in the women across our community and hope for the progress we have still to make. The progress we have made as women over the last century is encouraging and it is brilliant to see more women in positions of power. But our assessment of this progress must be rigorous. It is positive that more women have a seat at the boardroom table – but what does it mean if the women who clean the boardroom continue to live on precarious contracts with low pay, working multiple jobs with poor working conditions, without good childcare options, in a cost-of-living crisis?”

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.