Jo Swinson's "Feminist Horse" speech to Spring Conference 2015

In her speech to Spring Conference, Liberal Democrat Minister for Women and Equalities Jo Swinson puts violence against women and girls in context of wider cultural stereotyping and media sexism.

You can find out more about Jo's campaign to return to government as MP for East Dunbartonshire here

In government, Liberal Democrats have prioritised issues affecting women. We have:

– Secured £40m to support victims of domestic violence and a further £10m for women's refuges

Introduced a new offence of domestic abuse relating to coercive and controlling behaviour, criminalised force marriage and brought in new laws on stalking ()

Led the fight to ban revenge porn ()

Increased funding to prevent female genital mutilation, help victims, prosecute perpetrators and increase awareness of the issue ()

Secured a measure forcing large businesses to publish their gender pay gap ()

But we recognise that there is much more work to do. That's why we want to:

Implement high quality sex and relationship education in all schools, including educating on sexual consent ()

– Protect funding for violence against women and girls and improve refuge and rape crisis centre provision

Help 1m more women into work by 2020 ()

Extend 15 hours per week of free childcare to all children of working parents aged between 9 months and 2 years old ()

For more Liberal Democrat announcements and policies, visit our website

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