High Profile Speaker: Thangam Debbonaire, MP for Bristol West

Dawn Webber, Solicitor at TLT and WIBF committee member welcomed attendess from Bank of Ireland, HBOS Lloyds Banking Group, BDO, KPMG, HSBC, RBS, Paragon Costs, Foot Anstey, Ashfords, Thrings, Deloitte, Simmons and Simmons and TLT.

For those attendees who were attending their first WIBF event, Dawn briefly explained who WIBF were and invited people to attend the summer party at Racks in Clifton on Wednesday 6 June after work.

WIBF then had pleasure in welcoming Thangam Debonnaire, who was re-elected last year as the MP for Bristol West, with her increase in vote share being the largest in the county. She remains a member of the shadow front bench as Labour Whip.

WIBF were delighted to welcome Thangam to talk about her work towards ending domestic violence. Thangam was to discuss how that work has informed her subsequent work in parliament and the ongoing need to ensure greater representation for women.

Thangam talked about the challenges her mother faced as nurse and then being expected to be a stay-at-home mum. Her voice was not heard. In her mother’s day women were very much unrepresented in professions but Women are now working in roles that really matter. With the gender pay gap reporting there is still work to do.

When Thangam became the National Children’s Officer at the age of 24 and then when she was elected as a MP she had to pinch herself and this lead to her having acute episodes of the imposter syndrome. When she moved to work for Women’s Aid it planted the seed that politics matters.

When Thangam joined the Labour Womens Network she was told there were a lot of things unfair for women and she was told to “get selected, get elected and change it”. She had a tough mentor but it paid off.
When Thangam got elected she came face to face with the gendered nature of parliament. When she took her parliamentary vow, historically 408 women had been elected to MP which was less than the total number of men elected in that one intake.

Thangam gave a lively overview of her journey to becoming a MP, including her work with the Womens Institute, the Mothers Union, her work with MP Jean Corston and an oversight of her work in parliament. She explained that being a politician and a whip had been a very male affair when she started. She saw things that were wrong and had a chance to put them right. She encourages more women to get into politics to make a difference. “You can make an extraordinary difference if you think of being a MP as ‘service’”.

She mentioned that “if women are starting from a place of inequality, if you do it on your own, its unlikely to work, but if you join together you can make real progress”. Women also need male supporters and more women allies. We need to give men more encouragement to speak up. This isn’t a failing in us but men need to have their voice heard in gender equality in all roles as ultimately it benefits both men and women.
Thangam talked about her mentoring work in the community and encouraged attendess to take on such a role if they can commit to a regular meeting as it’s a two way thing. She encouraged people to look at taking on a mentor from a different background to themselves and both parties can get a lot out of the relationship.

Thangam talked about the gender pay gap reporting. She said “the government had done a good thing and it gave us something to work with”. She wants to give young people the vocabulary to discuss gender inequality.

At the end of the talk Thangam took half a dozen questions, which were well received.

Attendees enjoyed drinks and canapes after the event in TLT’s newly refurbished 15th floor reception offering impressive panoramic views over Bristol.