Campaign for Gender Balance would like to say a big thank you and well done to all those involved in the recent PCC, Parliamentary and local by-election campaigns, working in very difficult circumstances and battling high levels of apathy amongst voters. Several strong women candidates stood in the elections, including PCC candidates, Bablin Molik and Jill Hope who fought as candidates in the Cardiff South and Corby by-elections respectively.

There have been a series of announcements and interesting issues last week to flag up - please see below:

We need your signatures!

Please spare five minutes today to sign two online petitions and forward this email on to your friends. It's a free and an easy way to show support for improving representation of women in parliament and political life.

1. Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles could be appointed the first ever female Governor of the Bank of England - please sign this online petition and forward to your friends. The Government needs to show it is serious about shaking up the 'old boys' culture: Sharon would bring truly independent oversight to the banking sector.

2. Lib Dem MPs Lorely Burt and Tim Farron are co-sponsoring a Bill being introduced to allow candidates to stand for parliament on a job-share basis. You can sign the petition here.

Dinti Batstone, Vice-Chair of CGB, has long advocated the idea of allowing parliamentary candidates to put themselves forward for election on a job-share basis (leaving it to the electorate to decide whether to vote for job-share MPs). Evidence suggests this would empower more women to stand for Parliament, since one of the key factors currently holding women back is the difficulty (perceived and actual) of balancing politics with family. Naturally, job-shares would also be open to men. Read more about this in Dinti's article on Lib Dem Voice here.

Shared parental leave policy announcement

Last week, there was an announcement by Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson about parental leave, allowing both parents to share up to a year's leave to look after their new-born children. The changes will allow fathers to play a greater role in raising their child (44% of fathers say they do not spend enough time with their children), help mothers to return to work at a time that's right for them, and create more flexible workplaces to boost the economy. New proposals also announced last week will extend the right to request flexible working to all employees, to give greater choice and freedom to workers and businesses. Please download the briefing here for more details. CGB welcomes this as a major step forward.

Radio 4's Woman's Hour to seek out the most powerful women in Britain today

Woman's Hour launched a nationwide quest to find the 100 most powerful women operating in Britain today.

The Woman's Hour Power List is a long-term project designed to capture a regular snapshot of the evolving influence of women in society. Nominations for the Power List opened on 30 October. Members of the public will be invited to suggest women who they believe exercise power in today's Britain, whether as entrepreneurs, commentators and social activists or in the realms of politics, economics and business. It would be great to see some women Liberal Democrats as part of this list.

Nominations from the public will close at midnight on 30 November, at which point the panel will begin to assess the relative influence of the nominees, as well as some women the panel feels were overlooked by the public. The final list will be drawn from the pool of all these names. Read more here.

Many thanks

Roxana

Roxana Cimpeanu

Diversity Projects Coordinator

Diversity Unit

Liberal Democrats HQ

8-10 Great George Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AE

t: 0207 2271319

e: roxana.cimpeanu@libdems.org.uk

www.genderbalance.org.uk