July 8th, 2008
Inspiring Women: Diane Abbott
I first came across Diane Abbott through watching Andrew Neil’s, “This Week” show on late night BBC television. Diane Abbott, labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington appears with Michael Portillo, former conservative MP. Alongside Andrew Neil, they put the world to rights, tackling serious issues, often with a dry humour, as they recognise and try to find solutions for today’s problems. They are a breath of fresh air on the British political scene.
Diane Abbott became the first black woman MP in Britain back in 1987. She has always taken a strong stand on women’s issues and human rights. She has battled for longer sentences for gun crimes, the banning of imitation weapons and been involved in publicising a knife amnesty with Hazel Blears MP, to get knives off our streets. The underachievement in schools, particularly of black boys, leaves them vulnerable to follow a life of crime and violence. Diane has been involved with organising conferences in London and elsewhere to look at how to help black pupils achieve. Her work led to the “Aiming High: Raising the achievement of minority ethnic pupils” consultation document and this initiative raised the profile of the problems that this group of children face.
In 1992 she set up an organisation called Black Women Mean Business to encourage black women to succeed in business. This organisation now has approximately 500 members and works with other organisations to help improve diversity in the work place.
She is a strong supporter of the Reclaim the Night 2008 campaign which involves a women’s march in London on Saturday 22 November. The march is to stand up against rape and male violence in all its forms. This includes domestic abuse and crimes against women in forced marriages and sexual violence and harassment.
Diane Abbott is a shining example to women everywhere. She is proud to be a woman and whether or not you agree with what she is saying, you can tell that she is sincere and trying to make the world a fairer, safer and better place. She has natural charisma and tells it as she sees it. She is passionate about standing up for what she believes, defending human rights for everyone.
Her website has more about her achievements.
In this series of Inspiring Women, Diane Abbott shows that we can all make a difference by using the gifts we have and her talent is being able to make people listen.
Pictures from BBC News
