Young Women's Justice Project
Engaging with young women, front-line staff and other experts to build an evidence base about the needs of girls and young women in contact with the criminal justice system.
9 Jul 2024
Agenda Alliance welcomes Anneliese Dodds and Bridget Phillipson to the roles of Minister for Women and Equalities. Whilst we’re disappointed that Labour has not appointed a standalone Secretary of State for Women and Girls, we look forward to working with them both to help meet the needs of women and girls at the sharpest end of inequality.
We’ve been really clear that a dedicated Cabinet post is what is needed to bring about change, launching our 'We're calling SOS' campaign in the lead up to the General Election. We wrote to Sir Keir Starmer, supported by over 60 organisations, calling on him to create a dedicated Secretary of State for Women and Girls, were he to be appointed Prime Minister.
We maintain there is an urgent need for a champion at the top table to fight the corner of women and girls, especially those facing the greatest adversity. We know that multiple unmet needs are often interconnected, complex and gender-specific. Single-issue policy responses, which try and address these problems one at a time, ignore the connections between them, causing trauma and harm to escalate. Early intervention from relational, holistic services, which provide gender-, age-, culture- and trauma-responsive support, is critical. This work needs senior political backing to have a lasting transformative impact.
We have also warned of the risk of adding the role of Minister for Women as a ‘bolt-on’ on to other Cabinet positions. Political focus on the issues women and girls face has been diluted for too long. Since the inception of these roles, Ministers assigned to support women and girls have only had a position in Cabinet because they also hold other full-time government roles, such as Home Secretary; Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; or Secretary of State for Business and Trade. With Bridget Phillipson also appointed Secretary of State for Education, and Anneliese Dodds Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, this status quo remains unchanged
Women and girls deserve better. We will continue to call for a dedicated Secretary of State and we look forward to working with the new Government to achieve this.
