Women Leading Change

It is a strange reality to hear myself called a woman that leads change; or in fact, a leader at all. I never aspired to become a group president, it came I suppose, by natural progression.

Raised to always speak my mind, whilst expected to be ‘seen and not heard’, the words ‘disobedient’, ‘bold’ and ‘disruptive’ were constants in my world. I learned early that we live in a world of men whose authority is automatically assumed, where misogyny holds women under its boot and where those that control the money make the decisions. A white minority holds the political space, and women, like children, are expected to know our place.

Pretty much all of the trauma I have experienced, and there has been much of it, has come from my railing against authority, from an inherent need to speak out, and the need of others to keep me silent and bridled.

Being mixed-race, I lived through discrimination every day, watched my dad continually stopped by the police, when they (often) called me ‘the milkman’s’ child. The racism and colourism was relentless as I was either too black or too white for some, and I suffered actual violence from both sides. And domestic violence too, as I refused to be silenced.

That brutality left me partially sighted, and along with other health conditions I was now a disabled, mixed race, single mother. The embodiment of intersectionality.

Although physically and mentally scarred, my resolve did not wane: every incident increased my determination and absolute need to support every woman, every mixed race and black community member, and every person that is treated differently when presenting as their true self.

All of this led me to a career in the criminal justice system. As a mature student, financial struggle saw me working at the DWP, where I found PCS, and my path was changed. Our union very quicky became my home. It hasn’t always been easy: PCS, like any other organisation, is not perfect and the early years found me again struggling with misogyny. And not just from men, but from women too.

Internalised misogyny, women echoing men (as we are seeing today on far-right rallies, but I won’t go off on that tangent) or women stepping back and allowing men’s voices to be heard over theirs, did not sit well with me. I began to work with women, to encourage them to become reps, to build strength and confidence wherever I could. I have worked with some exceptional women and strong allies, to build our equality strands.

I have used my life experience to step between bullies and discriminators in the workplace, I have argued down abusers and in undertaking this work found myself elected to positions that allowed me to do even more. I have helped create protective policies on issues such as pregnancy loss and menopause, on schools and carers during Covid, and I have had the privilege to speak for PCS at internal and external events to highlight the reality of life for PCS members and the communities we serve.

My absolute mission is and always will be, to use my voice to speak for members, to work to build a strong and active collective, to make PCS the safe space that every single one of our members deserves.