The role of a women's forum

You should prioritise work which aims to support women members of the party to play an active part in all party’s activities. In particular, training, mentoring and networking among women to encourage them to:

• hold elected office within the party
• stand as councillors, MPs, MEPs and other forms of elected representative for the party
• become involved in the community, for example as school governors/board members, on committees of local organisations, as magistrates, members of community health councils, etc
• take part in all forms of party activities, in particular: campaigns, recruitment, party committees, meetings and policy forums.

Your forum should also seek to build links with women in the community through, for example:

• building relationships with organisations in which women are active, such as women’s voluntary organisations, tenants’ groups, trade unions and other organisations
• working with the party and Labour councillors and MPs to consult women in the community about their views and concerns
• targeted campaigning and recruitment activity with women, including campaigns on issues of particular interest to women such as women’s health, childcare, violence against women.

Last but not least, you should seek to ensure that women’s voices are properly heard in the party, through the above activities and through, for example:

• feeding women’s views on policy into local and national policy forums
• encouraging women to play an active role in these and other bodies
• bringing any problems about women’s involvement, including the filling of quotas, to the attention of the CLP secretary, other officers or the regional party
• holding local policy forums for women.