Emma Thompson has never been one to shy away from airing her political views. The Oscar winner will always stand by a good cause worth fighting for – which is why her latest move couldn’t be more timely.
While the world is watching Joe Biden begin his role as America’s 46th president, the women by his side have got everyone talking. From his professor wife and now First Lady, Dr Jill Biden to the country’s first woman and woman of colour Vice President, Kamala Harris, the political landscape is turning. Now, it’s time for a shift in the UK, too.
Enter: Activate Collective. The political support fund aims to help women from all backgrounds enter politics. To get it started, Thompson has donated £50,000. “Our political system was built for men who – generally – had women to do everything else for them – caring for the elderly and the infirm, sustaining the domestic environment and all the endless and unpaid work that that entails,” said Thompson. “We need women from all backgrounds and experiences to get elected in order to make the system work for most people and not just a few.”
The support fund is set to emulate the success of Emily’s List in the US, which aims to get disabled women, women on low income, and women of colour into politics without having to face financial barriers. “One of the things I discovered as a total novice politician, was the extent to which the amount of money you have makes a difference to the extent to which your voice can be heard,” said Sophie Walker, former leader of the Women’s Equality party, who co-founded the fund with former special adviser Vanessa Pine. “I feel very strongly that there is a massive dearth of women’s voices in politics, and that we particularly need to support women from minoritised communities.”
The initial list of candidates includes Mandu Reid, the Women’s Equality party candidate for London mayor and Labour’s Jessie Joe Jacobs, who wants to become England’s first metro mayor in Tees Valley. Research carried out by the organisation found that Black and minority ethnic women make up just 4 per cent of MPs, compared with 6.5 per cent of the population. In 2020, less than a third of MPs are women in the UK. A figure that looks set to change in the (very) near future.
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