Suggested activities

Welcoming new women members

Once women have joined the party it is important that they are made to feel welcome, and that they are encouraged to play an active part. Try sending new women members a welcome letter, and a questionnaire about their interests and any training or information needs.
Another idea is to invite new members to a social event, to meet other women members and local Labour councillors or the MP.

Training events

If there is a demand for training among local women members, the women’s forum may be able to facilitate this, particularly in encouraging women members to take up elected office.
You may be able to set up training sessions jointly with other women’s forums in neighbouring areas, and this will make it easier to get good speakers and a good attendance. Try to involve local Labour women councillors in this.

Recruiting women members

Women are under-represented among the party’s membership. All parties should therefore make particular efforts to recruit women, and women’s forums can have an important role to play.
The women’s forum may want to set up its own women’s recruitment ‘taskforce’ to target recruitment activities at local women, such as visiting or telephoning women that voter identification has identified as strong Labour supporters and inviting these women to social or discussion events. Or you could encourage existing women members to bring a woman friend to a social or other event.

Campaigning with women

It is particularly important that Labour maintains women’s electoral support. Women have traditionally been less likely to support Labour than men, but this ‘gender gap’ closed at the 1997 general election. Labour in national and local government has introduced many policies from which women will benefit.
You may want to set up a women’s campaign team to run campaigning events with women locally. You will also want to ensure that all Labour’s local campaigns are of relevance to women, and that campaigning activity (leaflets, meetings, street stalls, etc) properly reaches women.

Policy discussions

Most women’s forums hold some meetings where women can discuss policy issues. If you do this, avoid too much formality and do not feel that you must have regular meetings just for the sake of it.
Try and build your discussions either around a speaker – maybe from a local women’s organisation – or around a document such as a National Policy Forum document or government consultation paper.
The Women’s Unit in the Cabinet have produced reports detailing the Government’s initiatives and priorities on issues which impact on women. These would be a good basis for a discussion.

Links with women’s voluntary organisations and community organisations

There are many women’s organisations which operate in the community, which the Labour Party could benefit from building links with. These include trade union women’s groups, carers’ groups, and other community organisations. The women’s forum should try and keep in touch with these groups, who often campaign on issues of key concern to Labour women.
You could also try doing an audit of which women Labour Party members are currently members of these groups, and could act as a link person. Contact details for these organisations should be available at your local library

Consultation meetings

It is very important to the Labour Party to keep in touch with women in the community, to ensure that Labour policy – at both local and national level – is delivering what women need. One good way of ensuring that women’s voices are heard is to hold women’s consultation meetings. These might focus on a particular policy document or initiative, or on a presentation from a local MP or councillors.
The key to a successful consultation meeting is for the women invited to feel they have had a proper chance to have their say. Plan the meeting carefully so that this happens.

Social events

In addition to formal political work, the women’s forum may want to hold social events for women. You might even want to open some social events to local women who are interested in joining the party, or to other women active in the local community. You could simply invite women members to bring a woman friend (and to save on costs, bring a bottle!) You could also hold events jointly with other neighbouring constituencies, to encourage links.