International Women’s Day

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Friday 6th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

I was just having a little nap there—as if I could be, after all the absolutely brilliant speeches we have had today; they have been quite remarkable. I start by welcoming the newcomers to this House; it was absolutely fascinating learning about the diversity of their experience, and I am so looking forward to hearing from them when they get going. I am absolutely delighted that we have so many very clever women on the Benches now—not that there were none before, but you know what I mean.

It is just impossible to cover all the issues that we have talked about today. I am not going to have to do this again, which I am thoroughly thankful for, because this is my 11th and last speech that I shall be making in this House to celebrate International Women’s Day. I shall be retiring very soon.

[Noble Lords]

Ah!

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

I like that “ah”.

I use the word “celebrate” advisedly, because over the years some issues change, but the basic premise that most women are more vulnerable and have fewer opportunities than men persists—and I am talking only about this country, where we, in the main, have far better treatment and more equal rights compared to men than in many others. We have been listening to harrowing descriptions of some actions by men in power. We do not need to look very far to see the names of those men who are making the lives of women, and men as well, all over the world, just that little bit impoverished. The sooner they go, the better, as far as I am concerned—but I should not really be saying things that are disrespectful to people with whom we are supposedly working for a better world. I look forward to the “better world” bit.

I was just thinking about the world itself and where you would go, if you were looking for explanations or ideas as to how we improve things for women. You probably have to go to the Scandinavian countries to see examples of true equality. I heard a lovely story of a young boy who was talking to his mum, and he was incredulous to discover that his country, Iceland, could have a male Prime Minister. So that is very sweet—but it illustrates the fact that we have a long, long way to go.

I do not want to patronise the House by going into the difference between what is a man and what is a woman. The noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin, was talking about the pornification of society and how it puts girls off growing up to be women. On reflection, I do not think I would want to adopt male attributes; I just want more equal rights. This is not so much the case today, but when I was little, I would have loved to have been a boy, but I have discovered that there are advantages to being a woman and being in that particular club. I kind of get why women would want to change to men, but why, oh why, would a male want to become female and accept fewer rights, unless of course they felt genuinely disembodied—that is, in the wrong body? My attitude to people who want to change sex has always been: “Come on in. Be what you want to be. We’ve got one life, so why live it in the wrong body?”

Ever since I took on this equalities role, I have been trying to figure out why some women do not want people of other sexes to join their club, as it were, but want the exclusiveness of the sex that they were born into. In my personal view, it would be better to welcome them to the ongoing fight because, as we have learned today, there is so much more that we need to fight for—there certainly is plenty. I have never understood why, and I probably never will. As a woman, I have grown to love the sisterhood that we all share. Isn’t it lovely that we can have a day when we celebrate our individuality as the sex that we are?

Anyway, let us leave aside what is happening to women who want to change. I also do not want to dwell on what is happening to women in other countries that repress women. International politics and treatment is too much to cover, and I want my outgoing speech as equalities spokesperson to be positive, just for once. I would love to take a moment to look at the other end of the telescope, as it were, and count a few of the blessings that we enjoy as women. In the UK, men and women fight together to improve the lot of women. We get a lot of support from men, and I am delighted to see the number of men who not only have attended but have taken part today. Of course there is misogyny, harassment and so on, but many improvements are in the process of being made.

In law, we are dealing with the justice Bill, with a more understanding approach to the pressure and challenge of being a witness. Women who are victims are, in the main, supported and more sheltered than they have ever been. Getting justice as a victim of sexual crime is always a huge challenge—the figures for perpetrators brought to court, let alone prosecuted, are, I think everyone here will agree, miserable—but we have champions: people like, as the noble Baroness, Lady Nye, mentioned, Gisèle Pelicot, who refuses to take ownership of the shame of multiple horrible rapes. An inspiration, n’est-ce pas?

The noble Baroness, Lady Davies of Devonport, just pointed out the inequalities in much sport. I was going to put this down as a plus on my list, because I had not realised that there are a lot of issues relating to women’s sport that we do not appreciate have happened—or I certainly did not. There is far less concentration on sports that we are still really good at, but for which we do not necessarily get the funding, or equal treatment as second-class citizens, basically.

Speaking of which, in health we have more complicated bits inside than men. Many areas of health were ignored and women’s pain demeaned because men do not understand or have to endure the same pain. That, however, has improved hugely. I am very happy that we are in that situation now and we look forward to learning rather more. We are becoming more equal, but improvement is glacially paced, I am afraid.

All in all, for British women, things are on the up, not least because there are more of us in positions to make decisions—and we are there with our sisters as well. We can help pull each other up the ladder and we can all be there, men and women. It will not work otherwise. We are the ones who understand and have special skills in abundance—empathy, et cetera—that will make the world better for one another and across the world itself.

Sisters and brothers, it has been a fascinating day. Despite all the bad things, we are on the up. The more we do it together, the better it will be. As a colleague from the Labour Benches said earlier, let us focus on the light and not look too far into the darkness. Let us march forward together.