A candidate’s view: The time for women in politics is now—and it matters more than ever

Sarah Rees

Last weekend I was marching for International Women’s Day. This weekend I’m writing this from the Together Cymru event, looking ahead to Mothering Sunday.

Somewhere between the two I’m hoping to grab a few hours off after what feels like a carousel of leaflets, door knocking, speeches and social media clips as the Senedd election campaign gathers pace across Cymru, all squeezed in around the big shop, parents’ evenings and football practice.

That probably sums up campaigning better than anything else. It can be relentless. But weeks like this also make you stop and think about why you decided to stand in the first place.

The struggles that won our rights

International Women’s Day began in struggle. Migrant and working class women organising for labour rights and political representation. Women who were prepared to risk their livelihoods, and sometimes their safety, to demand a voice.

Those rights were not handed down. They were fought for.It is worth remembering that when you look at the direction parts of our politics are taking.

Across Britain, and increasingly here in Cymru, political movements are gaining ground that rely more on suspicion than solutions. In Cymru that often takes the form of hints and insinuation. Claims that official figures cannot be trusted. Suggestions that communities are changing in ways that should make people uneasy.

The facts rarely seem to matter in those moments. The suspicion is the point.

And when politics moves in that direction, women and marginalised voices are often the first to feel it. We have seen community activists such as Athika Ahmed subjected to horrific online abuse simply for speaking up and doing the hard work of community organising.

None of this appears out of nowhere. When political debate becomes about pointing fingers rather than solving problems, it creates a climate where intimidation becomes normal.

You do not have to spend long online to see that.

Frustration and the direction of politics

What struck me this week is how many people feel politics is drifting further away from their everyday lives. People talk about the cost of living, about services under pressure, about the sense that decisions take far too long when families are struggling now.

Frustration is understandable. The question is where that frustration goes. It can turn into anger directed at neighbours and newcomers. Or it can turn into something more constructive. Organising, campaigning and demanding better from those in power.

Cymru has often chosen the second path. There is a strong tradition here of women-led solidarity and community organising, whether it is supporting international justice movements or simply neighbours helping each other through difficult times. We only have to look to the women of Greenham Common, or the communities now organising under the banner of Together Against the Far Right Cymru.

That tradition matters more than ever.

Remembering Claire

Earlier this week I attended an event organised by Hub Cymru Africa reflecting on the life and legacy of Claire O’Shea. Claire was someone who believed fiercely in solidarity; not as an abstract idea, but as something lived out through action, friendship and stubborn hope.

For many of us she was more than a colleague. She was someone who made people feel braver just by being around her. Someone who believed Cymru could be outward-looking, generous and principled in how it engaged with the world.

The room was full of people whose lives she had touched, and you could feel the mix of grief and gratitude that comes when someone leaves that kind of mark.

Cath Moulogo shared three lessons she took from Claire’s example, and they have stayed with me in the days since:

Be thoughtful about how we do good, and work with others rather than alone.

Celebrate women, and make a genuine effort to lift each other up.

Be authentic. Trust your judgement, even when it feels uncomfortable, and show people that things can be different.

Listening to those words, it struck me how much better our politics would be if more of us lived by them.

Care and the kind of Wales we choose

With Mothering Sunday approaching I am wishing a restful day to everyone doing the work of caring. Mothers, grandmothers and all those who play that role in families and communities.

Because when you strip everything else away, politics should really be about care. Care for our communities. Care for fairness. Care for the kind of country we want Cymru to be.

Campaigning can feel relentless. But weeks like this remind me why it matters. The rights we have today exist because people before us refused to accept the world as it was.

Now it is our turn to show up and decide what kind of Cymru we want to build next.