New government funding plans threaten to dismantle our life-saving national network of refuges and put the lives of women and children trying to escape domestic abuse at risk. A Women’s Aid survey of refuge services showed that the proposed new model of funding could force over half of refuges responding to close or reduce their provision - resulting in 4000 more women and children turned away from the lifesaving services they desperately need. Already there are not enough refuge spaces to meet demand; data from Women’s Aid shows that 60% of total referrals to refuges were declined in 2016/17. When on average two women a week are killed by a partner or ex partner across England and Wales the stakes could not be higher. Under the new plans, rent money which would have in the past gone straight to domestic violence refuges would instead go to local authorities - effectively forcing refuges to compete for funding with other local services. Refuge managers have warned “if the plans get implemented it will be the end of domestic violence refuges." Visit the Women’s Aid website to find out more about this campaign: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigning-and-influencing/campaign-with-us/sos/

The changes, giving LA’s the money for refuges, will lead to refuges being closed because local authorities that are already stretched will be unlikely to want to pay for a woman and her children who have come from out of town( for safety reasons). The LA will want to use the money elsewhere, meaning more women will be killed and injured at the hands of abusive partners. It will also lead to more emotional trauma for children living in abusive households

This is important to us as we feel strongly that the benefits of wearing trousers hugely outweigh the negatives. Some of which are; The policy of wearing only skirts encourages the objectification of young girls, and therefore has led to many girls becoming extremely self conscious of themselves, when they should be focused on their learning. It is understood that we can be penalised for having our skirts too short, this would easily be avoided if we had the option to wear trousers as the boys do. We live in the 21st Century where there are millions of women in the work place who have highly demanding and professional jobs, most of which wear suits, with trousers therefore it cannot be argued that trousers on girls does not look professional. Gender fluidity is a common thing in today society, we should allow everyone their rights to express themselves how they feel they want to, under the school rules of course. However not allowing females to wear trousers when that is how they want to present themselves in plainly immoral and depressive.

Imagine fleeing domestic abuse, finding the courage to start a new life, only to discover you can’t find work, claim benefits, or even rent a home. That’s the reality for many domestic abuse survivors, whose abusers often steal or destroy their identification documents – passports, birth certificates and driving licences. Emergency ID would enable survivors to prove their identity and citizenship and allow them to access benefits and housing support immediately. It could also be used to support them when trying to gain DBS checks, driving licences or passports.

Tower Hamlets council is evicting over 100 vulnerable residents from Hopetown women-only hostel in Whitechapel. The council is closing the hostel and cutting women-only hostel beds in the borough by one third. They have issued eviction notices and are forcing residents to move to mixed gender accommodation or sending them miles away out of borough. Hopetown Hostel in Whitechapel is one of the last women-only hostels in East London. Most homeless women and non-binary people are survivors of violence or abuse. With refuges closing their doors and a housing crisis, gender specific hostel services like Hopetown provide a vital space for survivors. Tower Hamlets council are treating survivors and other vulnerable women appallingly and are putting them at risk.

The Bank of England's policy making committees make decisions which have a huge impact on everyone in Britain, yet their members come from a narrow range of backgrounds. Over the last decade, the Bank’s policies have disproportionately benefited the wealthiest in society, while doing very little for the rest of us. [1] Unless its most powerful committees are representative of society as a whole, they won’t fully understand how every community is affected by their decisions. 75% of those on the Monetary Policy Committee, which is in charge of setting interest rates and policy such as quantitative easing, were working in the City or for large companies before taking up their post. There are no members with recent experience working on behalf of the interests of the rest of society, such as in trade unions or civil society organisations. And out of the 23 members on the Bank’s most important committees, only two are female, and BAME communities are underrepresented. Appointments to the Bank’s most senior positions are made by the Chancellor. We support Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Nicky Morgan MP's recent call for Philip Hammond to seek out and appoint a more diverse range of candidates. ----- [1] Researchers at civil society organisations like Positive Money have shown that quantitative easing and low interest rates - the Bank of England’s main policy responses to the crash - have benefited the richest households by almost 200 times as much as the poorest. See our website for more details.

Low self-esteem, poor body image, anxiety and depression are increasingly rapidly in young women. Powerful advertisers and retailers would have the women of tomorrow believe that to be beautiful, acceptable and successful you must be the epitome of thin; measuring a size 4 or less. Whilst retail chains aimed at older women are starting to use mannequins that represent normal, wonderful women, retailers aimed at the 14-24 group still have below size 4 mannequins in their window. Their message is that unrealistically thin, unhealthily thin is beautiful. Girls come in a myriad of sizes, they need to be represented and celebrated not ostracised from main stream fashion. Beautiful bodies deserve beautiful clothes whether skinny or curvy. Our daughters deserve more. Statistics show that, "The 2017 version of Miss Average [woman] is 5ft 5in, weighs 11st, wears a dress size 16 and has a shoe size of 6." Retailers have a responsibility to support positive and diverse body image in young women, not to perpetuate the cycle of self-loathing. All girls are beautiful; retailers step up and make a change for positive body image for life.

The rights of millions of Trans and Non-Binary people is at stake! Our Government is exploiting us into 'outing' ourselves to obtaining birth certification! We need this reformation of the Gender Recognition Act, in order for the birth of future Trans and Non-Binary people to obtain certification no matter where on life's journey they are. It will change the way society accepts us as members of society = no questions asked It will generate employment and better immigration rights It will make government run things quicker than today. My case story My name is Alexandria Aileen Adamson, I am an autistic woman. There was complications earlier on in life. My grandparents raised me a girl, but then at 10 he (the biological father) threatened to murder me, and from then on I was forced to pretend for him for 15 years until my mum had enough of his abuse. Mum moved me with her away from the abuse, From then on I was a free women with severe medical complications, that resulted in intense physical therapy and now awaiting surgery that wasn't my fault. From the Tories NHS cuts I am on an incredibly long waiting list and having problems with losing weight to reduce the BMI, as well as obtain birth certification under Tory rule. however there has been cuts on dietitions on the NHS, that's becoming more hard to lose weight! The Gender Identity Clinic under the NHS are to supply evidence on cases of "gender dysphoria", which in the of cases, patients do not feel it should be relevent to obain a birth certificate. I have suffered seven suicide attempts and severe mental health problems due to the Tories ignorance and austerity. I have been offered a place at East Tennessee State University to study Bluegrass Old-Time and Country music, because no birth certificate = no visa or green card. I started this petition on the evening of International Day of Peace, as it is a day for calling for ceasefire and putting an end to hate

The NHS Bristol is being crushed under budget cuts. Now fertility services in the Bristol area are under threat. Current proposals are to limit treatment to to women aged between 30 & 35 years (previously anyone up to the age of 40 was eligible) where there are no existing children and only one cycle will be offered. The upper age limit for men to receive treatment will also be reduced to 52 years. Half the couples who currently receive treatment in the Bristol area will no longer qualify and will be forced to pay for treatment privately or go without. These proposed cuts to fertility funding are a shameless attack on desperate women and couples and will do little to nothing to relieve the budgetary pressures that the NHS is under.

Why should women pay up to 37% more than men to shave, wash and keep themselves smelling fresh? It is 2017 and yet women are still being treated unfairly, earning less and paying more for basic toiletries, whilst men earn more and pay less. What example is Boots giving to the future generations by setting this terrible example in the UK?

Self-employed parents are not eligible for Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). The current system of Maternity Allowance for the self-employed places the entire burden of childcare onto the mother, and offers no financial support for self-employed fathers or same-sex partners wanting to share childcare. We would like to see ShPP implemented for self-employed parents, as it would allow them more flexibility to successfully run their businesses without claiming any more money from the government than the mothers are currently entitled to. Self-employed mothers claiming Maternity Allowance have none of the legal protections afforded to employees when they go on maternity leave, so the flexibility to share childcare and stop and start their maternity pay in order to maintain their business becomes even more crucial. We believe that in 2017 gender-equality is a fundamental right, not an optional extra reserved for those in traditional employment.

As figures publicised by Mermaids show (http://bit.ly/2ve9eQR), trans* youth are at greater risks of bullying, self-harming, and suicide. YPAS's THE Action Youth project has played a vital role in protecting trans* youth from these behaviours. Since the project's formation, other local support services have seen a significant reduction in trans* youths self-harming, and no suicides at all. However, as a result of Liverpool CCG cutting funding, YPAS can no longer afford a full-time member of staff to run THE Action Youth project, nor maintain it's full programme of services to trans* youth. Consequently, we the undersigned believe that Liverpool CCG cutting funding in half for this vital project puts the lives of trans* youth in greater danger. We further believe that failure to produce a robust equality impact assessment, nor consult with key stakeholders, community networks, and, of course, the young people and their families directly affected breaches equalities and human rights legislation. We thus call on Liverpool CCG to meet with representatives of the undersigned in order to meet their equalities and human rights obligations and, most importantly, reverse their decision to halve funding for YPAS's THE Action Youth project without delay.