Welcome to the final pre-election What About Women campaign update!

With less than 7 days 'till polling day, the campaign has been hotting up.

The week that was…

This week saw our much anticipated “What About Women?” pre-election debate take place. More than 450 people turned up to see the major parties’ leading women - Harriet Harman for Labour, Theresa May for the Conservatives and Lynne Featherstone for the Liberal Democrats - lock horns on a wide range of issues.

The women were quizzed on everything from tackling the deficit to how best to achieve a fairer division of parenting responsibilities, and clashed in several areas: Harman and Featherstone mounted a scathing critique of the Tories big society idea as an ‘empty replacement for key state services’, while May accused the Labour party of ‘endangering jobs’ with their commitment to a National Insurance contribution increase.

During a debate about equal pay, Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman said her party was committed to gender auditing any future financial decisions made by the government and, crucially, publishing the results. This means the way in which future budget proposals, for example, would impact on differently on men and women would be known.

The final question - if you could pick three women to be in your cabinet who would they be? – elicited some surprising responses. Featherstone named Shirley Williams as her political hero, but said there had been ‘too much talk about who does what when and with whom.’ Harriet Harman chose among others Arlene Phillips, ‘who would tackle discrimination against older women,'and Amercian Nancy Pelosi; while Theresa May said Kelly Holmes, Linda Bennett and Emma Thompson were women she would be keen to seek advice from.

You can watch a video of the debate, listen to a podcast, or read a summary of the night here. For those of you so inclined, there’s even a ‘twitter transcript’ - search for #fawcettdebate!

Out and about in the media

The debate was covered by GMTV in the morning (an early start for Ceri!) and BBC News at 10 also featured the event. It was mentioned in the Guardian, and Ceri also spoke with the Independent about the near invisibility of women in the election campaign.

Which of your candidates will work for women’s equality?

We’ve written to parliamentary candidates across England asking that they sign our pledge to fight for women’s equality. The information will be available on our website from Monday 3rd May; be sure to check before you cast your vote!

Coming up?

In the final week of the election campaign, What About Women hustings are taking place around the country:

Waltham Forest, 4th May, Waltham Forest Women's Network Hustings
10:30-12:30 at Priory Court Community Centre, Walthamstow London E17 5NB. Candidates from the major parties will be there to answer questions on what matters for women and Ceri will chair this debate. For more info, please contact: wfwnhustings@googlemail.com or call 07939 244 899.

Birmingham, 4th May, What About Women? Birmingham Council Chamber 4th May 2010
Despite the fact that women’s votes will decide this election, consideration of women’s equality and rights is either entirely absent or very low down in the key policy and public debates shaping the 2010 general election. For more info, please contact: shahidachoudhry@aol.com 07968 771 449

Thanks for your support,
Fawcett