Month: August 2018

Pankhurst Party

In the centenary year when women got the vote and on the birthday of Emmeline Pankhurst the Conservative Women’s Organisation hosted parties up and down the country to celebrate the contribution that Emmeline Pankhurst, and women like her had made to suffrage.  

The NW London CWO hosted a party where leading women from different walks of life were invited to speak. I spoke alongside inspirational women, Theresa Villiers MP, Cllr Alison Moore, Lieutenant Colonel Angela Richardson, Pauline Fynne and Jill Summers.

In 2018 Emmeline Pankhurst’s birthday fell on World Cup Final day and Wimbledon final day. I spoke about how wonderful it was that the England men’s football team was finally equaling the women’s England football team by reaching the semi finals but that the men still had a long way to go in other sports such as the Ashes and World Cup Rugby to be equal with women.  

Unfortunately in other areas such as representation in Parliament, on Councils and on Trust Boards the number of women to men is not equal which is why I am a women’s activist. Women make up approximately 50% of the population so it is not unreasonable to expect equal numbers in policy making positions. I am the only woman on my Trust Board, Ashmole Academy Trust and I promise to remedy that over the next year.

There are some excellent examples right here and now of women succeeding. Children, and having a family does not have to be a blocker. New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden was pregnant whilst in office and had her baby whilst serving as Prime Minister. Benazir Bhutto, the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan also had children whilst in office. They are an inspiration!

Women are able to vote today because of Emmeline Pankhurst and women like her. I want to see more women in Parliament, more women on Councils, more women on Trust Boards and I will do that on my Trust Board!

I’m asking for more women to get involved, I’m asking women to stand! #AskHerToStand

Let’s get equality and empower our daughters!

 


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#IamArkadash

Vision 

Providing a friendly, caring, helping hand to those who have been deprived through crises.

Values

A commitment to provide help to those that have been displaced through conflict

A commitment to building strong, sustainable communities

A commitment for doing good for the whole

A belief that family is of fundamental importance

A belief that all people should be treated with respect

A belief that everyone’s point of view has value

Objectives

To deliver the first action project in Istanbul in the summer of 2019

To provide sustainable logistics for the first and subsequent action project

To build a network of activists, supporters and sponsors


Supporting Women into Public Life Dinner

 

The CWO NW London held a fundraising dinner to support women into public life. Many thanks to our wonderful speakers whose speeches were inspiring to men and women.

We heard from the Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP about her experiences as a woman in politics, from His Excellency Abdurrahman Bilgic the Ambassador of Turkey about how women in Turkey hold key roles and half of Turkey’s Ambassadors are women, Virginia Crosbie director of Women2Win on her experiences as a candidate and from Rehman Chishti who gave a rallying cry for women standing in the forthcoming London elections.

Thank you to the CWO NW London committee for making the event a success.


Women’s Activism

Passionate, Committed, Delivering

Passionate

I am passionate about the aims and beliefs of the CWO. The CWO will have been in existence for 100 years in 2019 and it is sad that women still do not have equality in public life. Women make up over 50% of the population but we do not have equal numbers in national or local government, governing bodies or trust boards. I want to help women get equality and for that to happen we need to have more women raising the issues for debate.

The CWO helped me when I needed help and that has given me the drive to help other women. In 2015 I stood as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate in Edmonton, a no-hoper, ultra-safe Labour seat and the London CWO donated funds to my campaign and since then I have tried to heip more women into public life. 

Committed

I am committed to making the CWO a stronger organisation and have worked hard to produce tangible outcomes since I first got involved. My first experience of the CWO was a training session, I knew I wanted to get involved but didn’t know how to go about it and my fist campaigning session was for Julie Iles who is now the CWO National Chairman.

Since being appointed North West London CWO Area Chairman I created a committee of amazing hard working CWO activists. Each member brings their own unique skills and qualities to enrich our team. The key skill that we all have is team work and the ability to work together in unity to achieve the CWO’s outcomes.

I created and edited the CWO London newsletter and worked with colleagues to get the newsletter emailed to London. 

I have campaigned hard with other members of the London CWO to engage with women on the campaign trail and to make campaigning inclusive, social and fun.

In education I have supported women into roles of Chairman of Committees and recommended women onto Boards and Committees.

Delivering

I have delivered:

a) I have delivered cross party campaign training to women candidates standing for election in Bosnia Herzegovina
b) In education I delivered equality and feminism training to school teachers on the social action project in Rwanda
c) I sat on a panel at an Inclusion and Diversity Conference with an audience of members from the Balkans to discuss how diversity informs policy debate. I used my experiences as a woman of ethnic background to inform my speech
d) I was a key note speaker on a Women on Boards panel to present and discuss my experiences on a Multi-Academy Trust Board
e) I created a NW London CWO committee of wonderful hard working activists who work together to achieve the ambitions of the CWO. We have debated, fundraised, campaigned and created a group that achieves successful outcomes for women
f) I have worked with and supported all of the committee, one of the members has gone on to become a Director of Women2Win and most of the committee were candidates in the London elections
g) I organised a fundraising event which raised money for women standing in elections attended by Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development, His Excellency Abdulrahman Bilgic, Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey and Rehman Chishti, Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Communities 
h) The NW Area committee have donated approximately £1500 to the Greater London CWO committee which will be given to women standing in the next General Election to make a real difference for women into public life
i) I created and chaired a debating event to encourage grassroots level involvement and training for future politicians in a supportive environment
j) I have supported community events such as World’s Buddha Day and Interfaith events with colleagues who promote community engagement.

What do I bring?

In my professional career and in all aspects of my life I would never ask anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.

I lead from the front and provide the expertise and example from experience I have accrued over the years. I want to maintain and energise women’s activities in London. 

I want to encourage further engagement with our supporters to inform about events and training, to encourage their involvement and to encourage them to stand at all levels of public life.

I want to continue the CWO National’s aims to London women. This summer the CWO NW London held a Pankhurst Party commemorating the birthday of Emmeline Pankhurst and her contribution to women 100 years after women got the vote. 

I will share the good work of the CWO and Women2Win and their advice, resources, tools and materials to support more women into public life. I will provide training and development for other women and for the Party.

I work towards creating and providing opportunities for women where I can and support women to get involved in policy debate, training or other areas of the Conservative Party.

I want more women in public life and will work hard for that outcome!