I joined the new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Mums this week.
A very simple concept you might think but one which will draw the pressures and challenges mums face which are inevitably far more complex.
Some of the stats supplied by Mumsnet, who will be the group’s secretariat, were illuminating.
Only 7% of mums would consider standing for election due to fears about the macho culture, abuse and politics being incompatible with family life.
Even more worrying was that 96% of mums felt having children affected their careers while just 9% think that’s true for fathers.
Single mums have a hard time too with 83% telling the Child Maintenance Service their ex-partner has financial control over them post-separation.
I look forward to joining my cross-party colleagues to highlight and seek action on these issues and more. We need more women in public life but having received threats and abuse myself, I understand why women are reluctant to enter the fray but it is vital they do to drive change in these areas.
I also want to champion the very real issues that confront men most particularly. So, this week I met with my colleague Nick Fletcher MP who is leading the call for a minister for men and a men’s health strategy. Nick chairs the APPG for men and boys which I also sit on.
The figures around this are sobering. Today 13 men will commit suicide. Some 75 percent of suicides are men. Life expectancy of men is 3.7 years lower than it is for women. Men are more likely to die of cancer and covid. Some 83 percent of rough sleepers are men and 96 percent of the prison population is men.
Sex clearly matters.
By chance, I had a coach party of Eastbournians in Parliament on Monday to hear me ask the Secretary of State about the government’s review into this area of the curriculum following a report into serious safeguarding concerns.
It was my absolute pleasure and privilege to welcome the group to Westminster and you can see signs of the Coronation to come now starting to take form in London too.
