Image credit: Tina Gue The launch of a new regional women’s commission is underway, backed by West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - with a women’s health panel organised for this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations in Bristol.
The idea for the partnership stems from West of England Mayor Dan Norris' engagement with Bristol Women’s Commission about what he would do to make things better for women and girls. He later attended a meeting of the commission to speak about action the Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) was taking to support women, including supporting Women’s Work Lab to expand across the region and subsequently to become a national organisation.
The new commission is influenced by the work, over the past decade, of Bristol Women’s Commission, which brought together partners in Bristol to identify and address issues impacting women and girls and standing in the way of women’s equality. Achievements included helping inform the first Women's Health Strategy for England, launching the Bristol Women in Business Charter and running a successful campaign which boosted the number of female councillors from 22% to over 40%.
Chair Penny Gane has been working closely with representatives from the MCA and its constituent authorities – ahead of the launch the new women’s commission for the West of England. The membership of the new commission is currently being finalised, with new commissioners set to be announced from across Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire as well as Bristol.
Penny will chair a panel discussion at 2pm on International Women’s Day (tomorrow, Saturday 8 March) at City Hall as part of the Bristol Women’s Voice celebrations with panellists that include: Minister for Health & Social Care and MP for Bristol South Karin Smyth; Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire’s Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB)’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Geeta Iyer; Bristol City Council’s Director of Public Health Christina Gray; Black Mothers Matter’s Founder Sonah Paton; and Womankind’s CEO Kyra Bond.
“It’s an exciting time, to be able to build on the work we’ve done in Bristol to help more women and girls across the region,” said Penny. “Our ability to bring together women leaders to collaborate on campaigns, research, initiatives and events to shape policy at a local and national level in pursuit of women’s equality is unrivalled and we’re very much looking forward to stepping up for women across the region.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re very grateful to the Mayor and West of England Mayoral Combined Authority for supporting us as we embed into the region and grow to have an even bigger impact.”
Dan Norris, the Mayor of the West of England, said: “I’ve always been very impressed by the work that Penny and the former Bristol Women’s Commission have done in pursuit of women’s equality. So I’m delighted to be able to support them to develop a new regional women’s commission.
“It’s exactly this sort of partnership working that we need to change things for the better. Fifty years on from the implementation of the Equal Pay Act, we need everyone to step up for women’s equality. I hope that by investing in this new regional women’s commission, we can help accelerate action.”
The first meeting of the regional women’s commission is due to take place next month (April), with an official launch due to take place later this year, following the election of the next Mayor of the West of England on 1 May.
