Bristol Women’s Commission was established on International Women’s Day in 2013 – when the city signed up to The European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life. It is the only commission of its type in the UK.
The Commission brings together representatives from across the city working in partnership to identify and address issues that impact women and girls. Within the Commission, there are dedicated Task Groups: Women’s Safety, Women’s Health, Women and Transport and Women and the Economy. Each task group has a mix of academics, leaders and women working in the field.
The full commission meets every two months, with the task groups meeting separately and bringing in non-member organisations and representatives. The commission is an independent body which works closely with Bristol Women’s Voice, the city’s charity, which supports and empowers women.
Until women and girls are equal and women hold equal power in the city, Bristol Women’s Commission will work to redress this imbalance by identifying and addressing this inequality.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
- Successful 50:50 campaign to increase the number of women councillors in Bristol. The last local elections saw 30 women elected to Bristol City Council, taking women’s representation from 28% to 43% in two years
- Launched Zero Tolerance pledge, with more than 70 organisations signing up to take tangible steps to make Bristol a Zero Tolerance City when it comes to gender- based violence, abuse and exploitation
- Launched Bristol Women in Business Charter with over 40 signatories, now a Community Interest Company engaging with businesses across the city to improve things for women in business
- Created and commissioned a series of key reports to help inform council city policy including: Bristol Women’s Health, Delivering an Inclusive Post-COVID-19 Economy and Women and Transport in Bristol
- Secured Government Equalities Office funding to deliver a year-long programme of events for ‘Deeds not Words’ : Women’s Suffrage Centenary celebrations, including a Lantern Parade attended by 4,000+ people in Bristol
- Ran high profile events, including a Women’s Health Conference and Our Lives Our Choice conferences in which hundreds of girls at Bristol secondary schools came together to hear from inspirational women
- Added a chapter on Women’s Health to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), the only one in the country to include such a chapter – embedding the needs of women and girls into a key strategic document
- Set up a meeting with the Mayor, Cabinet member for Housing and stakeholders on the issue of women escaping violence and housing – resulting in women in danger being placed in category 1 for accessing social housing
Read more in our Chair’s blog.