Action plan to make city ‘women-friendly’

A CHORUS of female voices are bidding to help make Leeds truly women-friendly.

Hundreds of women working in a variety of fields gathered at Leeds Civic Hall yesterday for a unique summit examining the past, present and future of the city’s journey to gender equality.

Centenary Cities: 100 Years of Votes for Women celebrated the Representation of the People Act 1918, which allowed some women to vote for the first time. The event also featured a series of roundtable discussions about the key challenges women and girls still face – and gave them the opportunity to help to shape the city’s future.

The packed summit heard about the experiences and challenges of women in all sectors, with safety, the disproportionately high impact on women of welfare reform and austerity, and mental health provision all featuring prominently.

The findings of the discussions will now form the basis of an action plan being put together by the Women’s Lives Leeds project.

Speakers at yesterday’s summit included council leader Judith Blake, inset, who said that as well as commemorating the historic democratic milestone, it was about celebrating the “hidden histories” and achievements of ordinary women. She said: “It’s about how we start to up the game – and making sure that women have a voice in all of the issues that really affect them.”