More than half of current women MPs say they faced gender discrimination during their selection or election, according to a ComRes poll for Young Women’s Trust. 

The charity, which supports young women on low or no pay, found that 55 per cent of women MPs were treated less well when trying to get into parliament because of their gender. Labour MPs were the most likely to report gender discrimination (24 per cent of all Labour respondents), followed by Conservative MPs (21 per cent of all Conservative respondents). 

Domestic abuse victims in England have been unable to get emergency court orders stopping their abusers from harming them. The National Centre for Domestic Violence said 6,000 victims were denied free legal representation last year. Legal Aid applicants for non-molestation orders are means tested and often told to pay towards the cost. Read the full article on the BBC News website.

From 6 April that year, any woman claiming the equivalent of £53 per week for a third or subsequent child would have to fit into one of several exceptions – including declaring she had been raped or that she had the child within an abusive relationship. Read Rachal Revesz’s article in the Independent on the impact of the two-child policy.  

As Secretariat to the APPG on Sexual Violence, Rape Crisis England and Wales have announced speakers for the event on 17th April: Professor Clare McGlynn, Dr Maddy Coy and David Austin (British Board of Film Classification). Email appg@rapecrisis.org.uk for an invitation to attend.