Media Round-Up: July 2022

The month opened with Boris Johnson’s resignation making headlines. Economic policy is a focus of discussion as his successor is decided. All this is taking place with the backdrop of the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The crisis was the focus of one of our webinars towards the end of the month. You can watch the recording here.

The subject also continues to exacerbate the already high cost of childcare. But there is real demand for change as shown by polling we carried out with the Common Wealth think tank and campaigners Pregnant then Screwed and reported on in:

• The Mirror: Red wall poll puts PM hopefuls under pressure to fix broken childcare system
• Working Mums: Poll suggests Red Wall support for universal free childcare
• Community: Red wall support for free universal childcare

There was some promise at the beginning of the month with the promise to cut costs as reported by

• The Independent: Childcare costs to be slashed by £40 per week under new government plans
• Little Ankle Biters also covered the subject in their piece: Cost of Living: changes in childcare and advice
• LabourList also featured our research in their piece: Universal free childcare could be truly transformational – Labour must back it
• Women’s Grid shared our response to the Government’s consultation on childcare ratios.
• The Fatherhood Institute cites our work in their piece on paternity leave, an issue fundamentally tied to long-term childcare: Only a third of UK dads take paternity leave: why?
  • We are excited to have Dr Jeremy Davies from the Fatherhood Institute in our upcoming webinar: Caregiving dads, breadwinning mums: Transforming gender in work and childcare

Other Coverage:

• Another fundamental need, housing, is also a struggle for many to meet. Dotdotdot, a housing guardianship cited our findings in their piece on Women’s Pioneering Housing: Providing live-in security for Women’s Pioneer Housing
• New Statesman reported on the historically high rate of inflation, quoting Sara Reis on the disproportionate impact this has on women: How inflation is worse for women
• The fight for Conservative leadership and a potential emergency in the making is an opportunity to raise new priorities. While we must wait a while longer to see the outcome of this turbulence, it is good to see our demand for gender budgeting making into articles:
  • Women in Sport: Gender budgeting must be applied if sport is to meet the needs of women and girls
  • Byline Times: Truss’ Plans for EU Laws Follow A Pattern Of Attacks On Women’s Economic Security
  • And finally, The New Economics Foundation included our work on social care in their piece: Will a National Care Service Fix Our Broken System?