‘Cash has to support women’s projects’

REPLACEMENT EU funding for Wales must support “women-specific” projects, says a newly established cross-party group in the National Assembly for Wales.

The Women in Europe (Wales) Network is calling on First Minister Mark Drakeford to ensure discussions about successor EU funding for Wales take place at the devolved level and include a focus on gender equality. The network has written to him to ask for clarity on how a future funding stream will work.

The new network’s joint chairman, Suzy Davies AM, said: “The network is committed to ensuring Brexit does not result in the loss of funding for successful social projects in Wales. Future funding must support women-specific projects as well as other social projects in which cross-cutting objectives are embedded, including equal opportunities and gender equality.”

The Women in Europe (Wales) Network, initially set up by Jane Hutt AM, brings together a range of women from diverse backgrounds and organisations in Wales with female politicians to promote women’s rights and gender equality in the context of Brexit.

It will do this through monitoring the impact of Brexit on women, raising awareness of the impact of Brexit on women and promoting women’s representation in decision-making around Brexit. The secretariat for the network, which will also act as a contact point in Wales for other national and European organisations, is being provided by the independent campaigning NGO, Wales Assembly of Women.