On Wednesday, February 6, a group of like-minded women together with key organisations, coordinated by Manchester Metropolitan University and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, will launch a new “Pankhurst-Fawcett Scorecard” initiative calling for mutual accountability and a charge for progress on gender equality.
The launch will take place at midday at Manchester’s Chamber of Commerce, where those involved in initiating the coalition will speak.
These include: Helen Pankhurst, convenor, Stella Bowdell from the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Dr Kate Cook from Manchester Metropolitan University, Councillor Eve Holt, Founder of Diva Manc, Sally Penni, Founder of Women in the Law UK, Gemma Nash from Breakthrough UK, Caroline Pankhurst, Founder of Be Braver and youth campaigners from schools and universities in Manchester.
The campaign will continue with a gathering at the “Our Emmeline statue” at 1 St Peter’s Square, with social media activity calling on organisations, institutions and the community of Greater Manchester to support and become involved. The group, GM4Women2028, will call for “Deeds not Words” that are still needed 101 years on.
GM4Women2028 is a coalition dedicated to advancing the gender equality agenda across Greater Manchester, a region that has long flown the flag for women’s rights.
The Pankhurst-Fawcett Scorecard is named after Emmeline Pankhurst and Millicent Fawcett, two iconic figures who were among the first leaders of the campaign for women’s suffrage.
Reseach shows that 73,000 fewer women than men are employed in Greater Manchester while the gender pay gap in median hourly earnings for all workers living in Greater Manchester is 14.7% and the gender pay gap in mean hourly earnings is 7.2%
Across Greater Manchester 34% of councillors are women, and only two out of 10 Greater Manchester councils are led by women. This means that only two out of 11 voting members on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Cabinet are women
Just 29% of court judge appointments for the North West are women 55% of undergraduates at Greater Manchester universities are women. However, 89% of first year undergraduates studying education are women while only 18% of first year undergraduate engineering and technology students are women.
2% of construction apprentices; 7% of engineering apprentices and 17% of ICT apprentices in Greater Manchester are women.
In culture,40% of the most senior strategic decision makers in Arts Council National Portfolio Organisations in Greater Manchester (i.e. galleries and museums) are women.Women make up just 33% of Greater Manchester’s cyclists
With the launch of the scorecard, people living and working in Greater Manchester will be encouraged to pledge their support by using the hashtag #GM4Women2028 on Twitter and stating what action they will take for equality.
Supporters can also help by joining the group, sharing the scorecard and commenting on the statistics.
The full scorecard is available at www.GM4Women2028.org.
