The Fawcett Society - Official

What a powerful day.

On Saturday, we brought together campaigners, researchers, policymakers, journalists, activists and advocates to examine one of the defining issues of our time: misogyny - how it manifests across our homes, workplaces, public life and online spaces, and what we can do to challenge it.

We're incredibly grateful to every speaker, panellist and contributor who shared their expertise, insight and lived experience throughout the day:

Jess Asato MP, Helen Rumbelow, Professor Akwugo Emejulu, Professor Clare McGlynn KC, Erin Stoner, Dr Sajjan Gohel, Katharine Sacks-Jones, Amrit, Akosua, Marisa Bate, Farah Nazeer, Ghadah Alnasseri, Dr Daniella Jenkins, Baroness Geeta Nargund, Melissa Blissett, Rachel Grocott, Michelle Codrington-Rogers, Jennifer Nadel, Professor Olga Jurasz and Maudlyn Akosua Awuku.

With special thanks to Seema Malhotra MP, Minister for Equalities, for her video message celebrating Fawcett members and helping to shape the day's conversations.

Thank you, too, to everyone who joined us in person and online, for asking questions, sharing experiences and contributing to thoughtful and often challenging conversations.

The scale of engagement was a reminder that there is a growing movement of people committed to confronting misogyny and building a fairer future for women and girls.

There is something to be said about repackaging women’s ideas back to them. We’ve seen it happen in board meetings, we’re now seeing it happen with proposed legislation. Reform’s shiny new Women and Motherhood Protection policy promises protections for women at work… protections that have existed since 2010, some of which have existed since the 1970s.

We can't help but wonder about the thought process behind these proposals:

✅ Step 1: Pledge to scrap the Equality Act 2010 (which protects women, disabled people, ethnic minorities, LGBT+ people, older workers, and equal pay).
✅ Step 2: Pledge to bin the Employment Rights Act (day-one sick pay, protections for pregnant women, an end to exploitative zero-hours contracts).
✅ Step 3: Weeks later, announce a brand new bill that… brings back a watered-down version of the things you just promised to delete.
✅ Step 4: Expect women to say thank you?

The most damaging aspect of this ordeal that has not gone unnoticed is the idea that women only deserve protection because they’re mothers or might become mothers.

Our rights aren't a reward for having children. Everyone deserves protection at work, and women in particular make up over half the population, often propping up the entire economy with endless unpaid labour, all while existing and thriving within an unequal labour market.

The law already knows this. That's why pregnancy and s*x are protected separately.

You can't repeal the rights women have with one hand, then expect a round of applause for handing back the scraps with the other.

Fawcett’s 2024 research found that only 34% of local election candidates were women. In 2026, that’s dropped further to 32.4%.

With English local elections less than a week away, men are standing at twice the rate of women and only one major party is led by a woman.

Too many barriers to women entering local government still exist. This impacts representation, weakens democracy, and means missed opportunities for women to lead change in our communities.

Women are more likely to rely on council-run services like social care, yet we’re failing to make real progress on representation at a local level.

And that has real consequences. Local councils make decisions on housing, childcare, safety, transport and public services, all issues that shape women’s daily lives.

We urgently need government to collect candidate diversity data, we don’t even have a full picture of how this impacts Black and minoritised women. And we must make being a local councillor accessible for those with caring responsibilities.

Fawcett will keep pushing for equality in politics and across decision making.

New speaker announced for Misogyny Matters.

We’re thrilled to welcome Jess Asato, Labour MP, to the stage. A passionate voice in the fight against misogyny, she brings insight from her experience as a woman in politics.

She also leads work tackling domestic abuse and violence through her roles as Chair and Officer of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs).

We can’t wait for her to join our community.

Tickets are limited. Get yours today: https://bit.ly/FawcettConferenceTickets

Your face. Your body. Someone else’s AI content.

Deepfake s*xual abuse is now a lived reality for many women.

Others are living with the fear of it.

This harm demands action.

Find out more and download the report: https://bit.ly/Latest-AI-Report

📣 Meet Feature writer and columnist Helen Rumbelow: one of our conference chairs.

Helen has been writing for The Times since 1997, starting as a health correspondent before moving into political reporting at Westminster. She later became a commissioning editor on the Comment desk and spent time at The Washington Post as a Laurence Stern Fellow. Today, she is a feature writer for Times2 and a columnist.

More recently, she has tackled some of the most urgent and difficult stories shaping the conversation on women’s inequality. From Jeffrey Epstein and Gisèle Pelicot to the impact of po*******hy, bringing clarity and insight to complex, uncomfortable but much-needed conversations about misogyny, power and violence against women and girls.

Join us on 13th June in central London or online and be part of the conversation
Book your tickets now👉 https://bit.ly/FawcettConferenceTickets

📣 Meet our writers...

Join us at this year’s conference, where we’re bringing together some of the sharpest voices in feminist thinking and current affairs.

Our panel chairs are writers who are shaping the conversation right now, including feminist writer Marisa Bate

Marisa was the first member of staff at the Webby award-winning ,The Pool and has gone on to become one of the UK’s most respected feminist journalists, writing for The Guardian, The Times, The i Paper, Grazia, Vogue.co.uk and more.

She’s the author of The Periodic Table of Feminism and And Still We March, and her work continues to explore motherhood, inequality and power through a feminist lens.

She’s also an ambassador for Surviving Economic Abuse, and her recent podcast series Echoes of Harm, exploring the psychological toll of violence against women and girls across Europe, was nominated for a British Podcast Award.

We cant wait for Marisa to bring her skills, expertise and passion for feminism to our day, book your ticket now and be part of it too 👉 https://bit.ly/FawcettConferenceTickets

Where are the women?

Last week’s Scottish Parliament debate: all men. Not one woman at the table.

And yet, not so long ago, things looked very different. In 2015, three women were leading Scotland’s main political parties, visible, powerful, shaping the debate.

So what changed?

Is the rise in misogyny pushing women out of politics?
Are women being shut out, or choosing to step back from increasingly hostile spaces?
And what does it say about our democracy when half the population isn’t represented on stage?

This isn’t just about optics. When women aren’t in the room, our voices, experiences and priorities aren’t either.

We will keep pushing against the rollback in gender equality across public spaces and in leadership.

AI is outpacing equality protections.

Without action, discrimination risks being scaled and embedded.

We are calling for enforceable safeguards.

Our upcoming white paper sets out what needs to change.

Find out more and download the report: https://bit.ly/Latest-AI-Report

Last Thursday, in collaboration with the Misogyny & AI Network, we brought together an incredible group at the House of Lords to talk about something that cannot be ignored: how Artificial Intelligence is already shaping women’s lives.

From MPs and peers to barristers, trade unions, researchers, civil servants and leaders across the women’s sector, the room was full of people committed to getting this right.

The discussion centred on our new white paper, Can We Afford to Automate Gender Inequality?, alongside emerging evidence from our work with Responsible AI UK. The reality is clear. AI is not neutral, and it is already influencing women’s employment outcomes and the gender pay gap.

A few things really stood out.

Procurement has real power. If public bodies and large organisations demand better from the systems they buy, we can drive change at scale.

Transparency is non-negotiable. Without understanding how these systems work and the data behind them, there can be no accountability.

And the big question. Should individuals have to prove harm, or should those building and deploying these systems be responsible for proving they are fair and safe from the start?

What was genuinely encouraging was the level of agreement in the room. There are practical solutions. We do not have to wait for harm to happen before acting.

This is just the beginning. Next steps include:
• Submitting evidence to parliamentary committees
• Developing the research further
• Publishing insights from the roundtable
• Working collaboratively to push forward practical recommendations

Grateful to everyone who contributed to such a thoughtful and urgent conversation. This is how change starts.

Fawcett Society • Misogyny & AI Network • Open University • House of Lords • Members of Parliament • Imperial Policy Forum • 7BR Chambers • Cloisters Chambers • IPPR • Open Data Institute • Responsible AI UK • TUC • UNISON • Working Families • Pregnant Then Screwed • Young Women’s Trust • Women’s Budget Group • Hawkins Laxton • BCG • PwC • DSIT Women in Tech Taskforce • AI Strategy team