[Wil-mailing] Women's services need core national funding - older women switch back to Labour to stop Tories

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Women's Agenda Survey Results
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The majority of women who answered our survey think funding for
primary women's services such as Rape Crisis should be part of a
national policy with national funding to back it up.

Lack of faith in local area agreements and the concern that
Conservative or poorer boroughs / local councils would not prioritise
women's services meant women thought this was the best option to stop
the 'post code lottery'.

Women had no faith in a system of independent grants and subscriptions
to support such core services, bringing into question why recent
research is even suggesting that this could be a viable source of
finance for "women's charities" rather than securing their place as
part of the national provision of appropriate women run women's
services.

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99% of women who replied are registered to vote
85% of women who replied intend to vote

In both the local and mayoral elections, women (particularly older
women) are switching back to Labour to the cost of the Lib Dems, to
stop the Tories gaining seats.

Many women are considering this vote for Labour with reluctance
because of continued anger about the war in Iraq (and Afghanistan) and
more recently the cut in the 10p tax rate.

However in the Mayoral elections national policies are less likely to
influence how women will vote, although the Green Party policy on
prostitution is a factor and the war in Iraq continues to be a
negative influence on voting Labour along with "Ken's vanity and anti
Semitism" though women seem to be prepared to put these aside to stop
a Tory becoming London's Mayor.

If you would like to see the full results you can download a word
document from
http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk/download/WomensAgenda2008SurveyResults.doc

In most instances we have included women's "other comments" in full,
partly because of lack of time to edit, but also because we hope women
will want to read the opinions and concerns of women who are part of a
"common community" (?) of women working, volunteering or active on
women's issues.

With many, many thanks for your participation in the survey and coping
with the glitch in the survey software.

Women in London
30th April 2008