Many of you will have seen that the government has announced that they will vote on whether or not to increase fees on 9 December. NUS has announced a nationwide day of action on 8 December.
The NUS Women’s Campaign is calling all women who care about education to action outside the office of Lynne Featherstone MP.
Lynne Featherstone is Minister for Women and Equalities in the ConDem government, and is the Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green. If we are to block the attempt to raise fees on Thursday, then Lynne Featherstone must be persuaded to vote against the government’s proposals.
Any increase in fees will hit women hardest – because it will take women longer to pay back their loan due to the gender pay gap, and because interest payments accrued over time mean that women will pay more for their degree. Any increase in fees will shut the door to education for thousands of women.
The NUS Women’s Campaign is calling for women students and feminist activists from across the country to gather outside Lynne Featherstone’s constituency office, dressed as Suffragettes and Suffragists to give her a simple message:
Women before us fought for our right to vote and fought for our right to education – we will not let you price women out of education.
We will meet at 11am outside Lynne Featherstone’s Office at 62 High Street, N8 7NX. To download a map, please click here. The nearest tube station is Wood Green, and the nearest rail station is Hornsey Rail.
Come with whistles, banners, Sashes, Suffragette colours (Purple, Green, White) and Suffragist colours (Green, Red, White). See these briefings for more information on the impact of cuts and higher fees on women students and for ideas for banner slogans.
Please spread the message as widely as possible to all women’s movement activists. Let’s deliver a huge feminist message to Lynne Featherstone – don’t vote to shut the door in women’s faces.
Are you coming along? Are you bringing your women’s group? Email Olivia Bailey to let us know so that we can get an idea of numbers –
olivia.bailey@nus.org.uk.
Sisters, now is the time to act. Together, we can stop the ConDems destroying education for generations.
We’ll see you at 11am on the 8 December.