Live webchat with Stella Creasy MP Wednesday 13 Feb 11.30-12.30

Please join us rising tomorrow - we'll be outside parliament at 11am with some high profile supporters and all are welcome to join, but there are also events across the country (check out www.obruk.wordpress.com) and throughout the day. And please please tell your MP you are joining in and to support the OBRUK motion tomorrow in parliament- we want OBRUK to be the start of making ending violence against women a priority for all governments. With 203 countries now involved if tomorrow generates a billion people taking part then we can build on this to show why this should be a priority for all - we'll be continuing to work on these issues after tomorrow aswell so please do sign up via the website above to the campaign to keep being involved....

I'm off now to practice my shuffling - remember tell your MP to take part, take part yourself and be part of the rising .....and no you don't have to hate coldplay to be part of this too really....

http://obruk.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/stella-creasy-mp-rising-with-apologies-to-coldplay/

thanks for having me Gransnet! and for all the biscuits!

grrrranny

Do you think the mainstream media will report on One Billion Rising tomorrow?

I hope so- but even if they don't please be part of the rising. In bangladesh there are 25 million involved....Britain needs to step up too! even if its going to be a bit cold and rainy....

CariGransnet

We will pack up some biscuits to keep you going tomorrow

#takenotemumsnet #biscuitstogo

fleeble

Is part of One Billion Rising aimed at doing something about female genital mutilation? It seems to me that sometimes it is difficult for those on the liberal-left to challenge practices like this because of cultural sensitivities. Do you think there are some issues that stand above these sorts of sensitivities and shoould be pursued regardless?

challenging FGM is a key part of OBRUK - FGM isn't a cultural practice, but gender violence and should be treated as such. If FGM didn't exist there would be other forms of violence against women as its about control - check out the amazing 28toomany, Daughters of Eve and FORWARD who are working on this and who we have been supporting within OBRUK!

Am being told I have to go soon- pens down the exam is over apparently.....*looks mournfully at the pile of biscuits yet to be eaten and the long list of tasks for this afternoon...*

dopey

As a London MP, do you understand what caused the riots a couple of years ago.?Do you think there could be a repeat of them?

puts on geeky glasses actually I wrote a lecture for the LSE about this last year and about community resilience. If i could find the link I'd share it! google is your friend?

AnneMaria

What would you do to get my vote? In my area we get some 'newsletters' through the door but no one seems to want to fight for my vote.

Actually I'm your worst nightmare as an MP as I don't see myself as a customer complaint desk - so its not about what I'm going to do for you but how we are going to work together! I learnt when I was a councillor the value of working with local residents to get change to happen and I feel the same way now as an MP. I feel the role of an MP is changing- and this is a good thing in my view!- to being advocates for causes and communities, because that's how change happens. We've still a long way to go- I'd love to have less arm chewers (meetings where I would chew my own arm off to leave early because they are so process driven) if you are interested check ou #7days4stow which is one of our projects in Walthamstow to see the difference we are trying to make and the kind of engagement it entails?

flighty

Women of our age are already hugely stretched by caring roles - grandparents, elderly parents - and many of us still have to work (no pensions). How would you set about squaring this circle?

Its one of the key challenges of our age- my colleague the amazing Fiona McTaggart and Harriet Harman are doing some amazing work on this through the older women's policy review group. Rachel Reeves also fought long and hard to try to change the government's pension policy that penalised so many women and liz kendall is leading the work on social care so definitely worth checking out what she's doing- there's a way to go yet! would be interested in your ideas about how else we do this ?

coldwork

Did your mum and dad support you becoming an MP? It's not the easiest life...all political careers end in failure etc

Ha- my mum and dad have a healthy sense of skepticism about what both their children do (as well as pride I know really) they are also my constituents so they often come to things to heckle.....

fleegle

What's it REALLY like being a woman in Westminster? And I mean REALLY

Hogwarts gone wrong is a strange and marvellous place- its a privilege to be an MP and certainly as a woman there's a way to go to make it a place where everyone can feel welcome. There's the big things- like the outright sexism within our public life culture (seriously if one of you asks if Margaret thatcher is a role model I will bang my head on the desk- just because she was the only woman prime minister does not mean we can't be different!) and the little things- the way in which women representatives are dismissed as 'emotional' or 'excitable', that there's a certain image about what a representative should look like, about how politics is performed that reflect not just westminster culture but cultural expectations as a whole. My workplace is no different to any other in being framed by those attitudes- the point is in all workplaces we need to challenge these so that we don't miss out on the contribution 50% of the public can make!

DillyDally

I saw on twitter earlier something about speaking up about sex education for young people. Can you tell me more about this?

Yes - the vote tomorrow is about making sex AND relationship education statutory in schools. Right now children will get taught the basics fo sex but there's no guarantee they'll get these lessons- especially in academies and free schools- and there's no guarantee that the lessons will cover issues like consent and domestic violence. Young people themselves say they want to talk about these issues and the pressures / harassment they feel so we want to see the curriculum reformed and required to give this guidance. There are some great resources produced by people like women's aid to help too - and we want to make sure boys and girls have these lessons equally. We've had lots of stories about girls being taken in to sex ed lessons and boys being told to play football...both need to be given responsibility to take responsibility....