What the conservative party is promising to do for women

In the lead up to the general election on December 12th, we will be detailing what each of the main political parties are promising to do for women. Next up, the Conservative party.

Of-course every promise made by a political party is important and can have an impact on the lives of women everyone so we're not going to detail everything - that's what the manifestos and tv debates are for. Our aim is simple - to identify those promises which call for action to be taken specifically for women so you know where each political party stands when it comes to the women's rights and problems women face.

We're also not endorsing any particular party. We just want to make sure that you have the tools to make an informed decision. Because it's important. Because it's your future.

So to begin with, taken from the manifesto, here is what the Conservatives are promising to do for women:

Work:

To begin with, when it comes to entrepreneurs, the conservatives say they want to "expand start-up loans which have particularly high take-up from women and BAME entrepreneurs." And given that more people, especially women are moving into self-employment, they want to "launch a review to explore how we can better support the self-employed. That includes improving their access to finance and credit (not least mortgages), making the tax system easier to navigate, and examining how better broadband can boost home- working."

Boris Johnson's party say they also want to "conduct a comprehensive review to look at how to fix this issue" of people who earn between £10,000 and £12,500, who are "disproportionately women" and who "have been missing out on pension benefits because of a loophole affecting people with net pay pension schemes".

Maternity:



The party says it wants to reform "redundancy law so companies cannot discriminate against women immediately after returning from maternity leave." They also aim to "legislate to allow parents to take extended leave for neonatal care" and "look at ways to make it easier for fathers to take paternity leave."

Health:

The Tories say they "will make the NHS the best place in the world to give birth through personalised, high-quality support", aim to "end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030" and "lead the way in eradicating Ebola and malaria." They also say they are committed to "extend healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035."

Safety:



The party says it will "support all victims of domestic abuse and pass the Domestic Abuse Bill." They say they will "increase support for refuges and community support for victims of rape and sexual abuse" and "pilot integrated domestic abuse courts that address criminal and family matters in parallel."

The party currently in power says they will "continue to fight crime against women and girls, including rape, Female Genital Mutilation and forced marriage" and their "support for the main carer receiving Universal Credit will help give greater independence to individuals, most often women, trapped with coercive partners."

Diversity:



Mr Johnson's party vows to "protect people from physical attack or harassment whether for their sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability, and expand funding for and protect places of worship." They say they are also committed to "vigorously combat harassment and violence against all religious groups, and against LGBT people."

The party's manifesto claims that they "will tackle prejudice, racism and discrimination and address the complex reasons why some groups do less well at school, earn less at work, or are more likely to be victims of crime."

The conservatives say they want to "support marginalised communities in the developing world" too, by, "hosting the UK government’s first ever international LGBT conference." They plan to "protect those persecuted for their faith and implement the Truro Review recommendations."

Justice:



Also internationally, they say they will "stand up for the right of every girl in the world to have 12 years of quality education". Back home and after Brexit, they want to "improve the UK’s tax regime – not least by abolishing the tampon tax."

Source: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan