What we do
what we do
Kayleigh
YWCA’s democracy programme tackles young women's disinterest in politics by going to the root of the problem; lack of information. We tell young women how Parliament works and how government runs locally and nationally. We encourage them to find out more about political parties and their opinions. We teach girls that their voice can make a difference.
Kayleigh is a 23-year-old mother from Northampton. She says:
“When I started coming to YWCA I didn’t really think much about politics, it didn’t seem important. But slowly it started to dawn on me that these things affect everyone. The turning point for me was when YWCA arranged for us to visit the House of Commons. We were shown where the suffragettes had chained themselves to railings to demonstrate, and it showed me what they went through to give me the right to vote. I signed up to vote this year.”
”YWCA made it possible for me to meet MPs Angela Eagle and Sally Keeble. And I went to the Labour party conference this year to speak about alcohol abuse. If young people aren’t engaging in politics, this isn’t because they don’t care; they just don’t know. When I talk to others about things that are happening around them it’s not like they’re not interested. For me, politics is about passion, not qualifications.”
YWCA Northampton’s centre manager Kathryn White says: “We run the democracy programme because we want to encourage young people to use their vote, get active in their community and make a contribution.”
Find out how your support can help young women like Kayleigh here.
fact
71% of media stories about young people are negative. One-third of articles about young people are about crime
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