Katie Holloway, chair of the FBU national women’s committee, looks back at a quarter of a century of work for women and forward to the future
The National Women’s Committee (NWC) was inaugurated in 1999, at a one-off special meeting at Wortley Hall near Sheffield.
The meeting gathered women activists from all over the country to progress issues for women and ensure proper FBU representation of all women members.
25 years on, it seemed only right to celebrate the anniversary at our annual national women’s school at Wortley Hall.
The weekend in March consisted of guest speakers including Laura Bates (Author of Fix the system, not the women), Nikki Pound (TUC Policy officer) and Denise Christie (Former NWC secretary and EC member).
The theme was “enough is enough” and covered workshops on sexual harassment, challenging behaviours, the history of the NWC and much more.
I now have the tools to challenge some of the behaviours that have no place in our profession
Women gathered from all over the country to celebrate the successes of the NWC and discuss improvements that can be made in future.
The past 12 months has seen the launch of our Fight for 52 campaign, asking for 12 months’ full-pay maternity leave in the fire and rescue service.
We discussed the next stages of our campaigns and explained how members can help be a part of them.
The feedback from the weekend has been extremely positive with women wanting to become more involved in the union movement.
Comments included: “It has been really empowering and thought provoking” and “I now have the tools to challenge some of the behaviours that have no place in our profession”.
The NWC would like to thank FBU members and officials for their support of the committee over the past 25 years, which has allowed us to continue improving the rights of women in the service. We look forward planning our 2025 women’s school.
