Speakers
Learn more about the speakers from our "What Would Mrs Pankhurst Do?" conference:
Ministerial Address
Kate Cassidy
Kate Cassidy is Director for Communities and Tackling Poverty in the Welsh Government. Her responsibilities for policy on tackling poverty and supporting resilient communities also extend to support for children, young people and families; partnership working with the third sector; digital and financial inclusion; welfare reform; equality; and sustainable development.
Kate has worked with or for several levels of government. Her career has taken her from Whitehall, where she worked with Trade and Industry Ministers, to a European Commission Cabinet; a government regional office in the North East of England; and finally to Wales, where she has worked in a variety of policy areas including local government and constitutional reform.
Gordon Pankhurst
Gordon Pankhurst is a living relative of Richard Marsden Pankhurst, Emmeline Pankhurst’s husband.
Richard Pankhurst was a radical lawyer, who worked with John Stuart Mill amongst others in the mid-19th century. Mill as an MP was the first person in Parliament to call for women to have the right to vote, and in 1869 published a short book entitled “The Subjection of Women”. Richard Pankhurst drafted the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, which for the first time gave Wives control over their property and earnings
Gordon was born in Windsor in 1946 and brought up near Henley on Thames. He joined the GPO, then a Civil Service department in 1968, where he trained initially as a computer programmer.
Gordon worked in what became BT Plc for over 30 years, moving to Cardiff in 1978. He gained a number of promotions eventually becoming a member of the Senior Management Group of the Company.
In the 1980s and 90s Gordon led a number of large scale companywide IT developments before taking early retirement in 1998 following a back injury. He later volunteered for the CAB in Cardiff, worked as an Adviser and later as a Debt Caseworker. Someone found out about Gordon’s management experience which led to him joining the Cardiff CAB Trustee Board and Citizen’s Advice Cymru Committee. He was elected to the national Trustee Board of Citizens Advice and served six years, several as deputy Chair.
His experience in the CAB service opened his eyes to many of the issues around equality and deprivation, and as a result he has done a lot of reading about the history of women’s rights starting with Mary Wolstonecraft, and including the Suffragettes.
Gordon is currently Chair of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent CAB and is married to a Mrs Pankhurst!
Women's Equality Network
Adele Baumgardt
Adele is an independent consultant having previously worked in Equal Opportunities Commission. Now a self employed consultant on all aspects of equality and diversity, Adele’s experience includes delivering equality strategies in public, private and voluntary sectors with particular expertise in the new ‘positive’ equality duty.
Adele was the Wales Commissioner for the Women’s National Commission until December 2010 when the Commission was closed as part of the Westminster Government’s quango review. She is on the management Board of Women’s Equality Network Wales and is actively campaigning for both the Welsh and UK Governments to support systems to engage with Welsh women.
Adele was a Board Member of Sport Wales until March 2012 and has actively worked on increasing women and girls participation in sport for a number of years. She was appointed as Vice Chair of Sport Wales in September 2012.
In February 2013 Adele was appointed as Wales representative to the Social Security Advisory Committee responsible for advising all social security Ministers on legislation and policy.
Adele has worked extensively with Housing organisations and with a range of partners in the criminal justice system specifically on the equality duty of the Equality Act 2010.
Workers Education Association
Maggi Dawson
Maggi has been involved with adult community learning and community development for over 40 years. She joined WEA South Wales in October 2007 as its first female General Secretary/Chief Executive.
Prior to the WEA, Maggi spent 7 years as Coordinator of Lifelong Learning with Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Before that, she was the first Development Officer for The Coalfields Regeneration Trust in Wales and prior to that worked for 10 years developing community enterprises and an adult education centre in the Upper Amman and Swansea Valleys, for which she received an MBE for services to the community.
The WEA South Wales is a registered charity and Company Limited by Guarantee and has functioned in Wales since 1907, (in England since 1903). It is a sister organisation to Coleg Harlech/WEA North Wales, (with whom it is merging in December 2013) and is affiliated to WEA England and Scotland and WEA Northern Ireland.
The WEA provides community- base adult education, based on a community development approach plus on-line learning and workplace education. We work through a local branch structure and through partnership and contractual agreements with community and voluntary organisations, trades unions, and specialist organisations, including the third sector, local authorities, further education colleges, and universities.
Collaborative working forms a key thrust of our approach and allows us to deliver courses which otherwise would not be offered. We focus particularly on offering a broad range of learning opportunities regardless of age or level, and we engage with all communities, particularly those experiencing disadvantage, to meet their learning needs through negotiation. The majority of the provision is accredited although non accredited provision continues to be offered. We work to ensure that learners and branches continue to have a proper and unique role in developing and negotiating local provision and having representation within the organisation as a whole.
Our Vision - Changing lives through democratic learning
Which means:
Using the traditional values of the WEA based on negotiation and empowerment of learners and involving like-minded partnerships and the new technologies, the WEA plans to be a key player in the Welsh Government’s inclusiveness strategy for Wales. It aims to support the learning and skills development and prosperity of the population of Wales in order to promote citizenship, cultural enrichment, social justice, health and well-being.
Wales Co-operative Centre
Katija Dew
The Wales Co-operative Centre works to help co-operatives, social enterprises, community groups and voluntary organisations. For 30 years, it has given a guiding hand to emerging and established organisations by providing responsive, reliable and flexible support. The three core programmes of work are; business support, Digital Inclusion and Financial Inclusion.
Katija (Teej) has worked at the Centre since 2001 in a variety of roles including training Credit Unions and Co-operative businesses, secondment to the DWP on their Growth Fund initiative and as a Financial Inclusion Champion.
Teej leads a small all Wales team which works with stakeholders to influence strategy, policy and delivery change supporting people to manage their money better. This can make all the difference between people, for example, having a home and not.
Shelter Cymru
Ceri Dunstun
Work It Out is unique in Wales in that it promotes independent, specialist housing and debt advice services to people in the workplace, with the support of employers and trade unions.
The project was established in March 2010 as a response to the recession and public spending cuts, which resulted in many people losing their jobs or having to work reduced hours and also affected many in-work benefits and tax credits.
Shelter Cymru had also found that many people mistakenly thought that they weren’t entitled to free independent advice if they were in employment or that it was difficult for them to get access to support services during working hours.
Ceri Dunstan is Communciations Manager at Shelter Cymru, She has worked for the charity for four years and leads on its media, PR and political liaison work. She has worked in various press and communications roles across the public, private and third sectors for 14 years.
Bron Afon Community Housing
Duncan Forbes
Duncan Forbes is the Chief Executive of Bron Afon Community Housing a community owned social enterprise and housing association in Torfaen.
Duncan is a solicitor and provided legal advice on the original setting up of Chwarae Teg as was its legal adviser for several years before working for local government.
As a practising solicitor, Duncan acted as a legal adviser to the Equal Opportunities Commission in Wales and was a specialist in welfare rights issues.
Duncan has been a strong advocate for those people affected by the cuts in benefits over the past few months and is especially critical of the so called “bedroom tax”.
Disability Wales
Miranda French
Miranda French is Policy and Public Affairs Manager for Disability Wales. Disability Wales is the national association of disabled people's organisations, striving to achieve the rights, equality and independence of disabled people in Wales. Miranda has been involved in disability issues for many years.
Miranda manages the Policy and Publics Affairs Team and is responsible for the development and delivery of Disability Wales Policy and Public Affairs Strategy including policy development, influencing and advocacy, campaigning and representation. Miranda leads on policy areas regarding Disability Equality and Disabled People’s Human Rights; manages related projects; Media and Communications.
Presentation: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Disabled People in Wales - the welfare reforms that the UK Government are currently implementing will have a huge impact on disabled people in Wales.
Citizens Advice Cymru
Fran Targett
Citizens Advice Cymru is the umbrella body for all Citizens Advice Bureaux located in Wales. The network has a central role in tackling poverty and social exclusion. The service makes available free, independent and confidential advice on legal, financial and other issues, while campaigning for change in social policy, through its lobbying of policymakers.
Fran Targett has been associated with Citizens Advice since 1978 when she started as a volunteer adviser, and was appointed Director of Citizens Advice Cymru in 2000, responsible for both the delivery of Citizens Advice services to bureaux across Wales and leading the policy work of Citizens Advice Cymru.
Fran sits on the Wales Council for Voluntary Action Board, represents the Advice and Advocacy sector on the Third Sector Partnership Council, chairs the Wales Independent Advice Providers Forum and sits on the Civil Justice Forum for Wales as the advice provider representative. Fran is also a member of the BIG Lottery Wales Committee and the external advisory group to support the work of the Welsh Government's Advice Services Review. Fran has also been appointed by the Welsh Government to the Tackling Poverty external advisory group.
Oxfam Cymru
Hayley Richards
Hayley has worked as Research & Policy Officer on Oxfam Cymru's UK Poverty Programme for 3 years. Prior to this she was Deputy Chief Executive Office with the Wales Community Recycling Network. Her background is in biological sciences. She was awarded a PhD from Cardiff University following which she worked with a private sector company researching insect pest control technologies. She has also spent several months volunteering with Raleigh International as a scientist on an expedition to Southern Chile.
The Fawcett Society
Daisy Sands, Policy and Campaigns Manager
Don’t Turn Back Time on Women’s Equality
Austerity measures imposed by the UK Government are hitting women harder. In terms of benefits, around three-quarters of the savings being made will come directly out of from women’s pockets. Caps and cuts to benefits and tax credits such as housing benefit and carers allowance will have a greater impact on women than men.
The Fawcett Society has published key policy recommendations for government that, if adopted, would help mitigate against some of the worst impacts of austerity on women’s equality and offer a ‘life raft’ for women’s equality.
Wales TUC
Rhianydd Williams
Rhianydd Williams is the Trade Union Equality Representative Network Officer for the Wales TUC and is responsible for building a network of Trade Union Equality Representatives throughout the public sector in Wales. Previously she had lead on Wales TUC campaigns such as A Future that Works, opposing Regional Pay and Welfare Reform as well as working on WTUC equality policy.
Rhianydd has sat on the board of the Wales Social Partners Unit and has taken an active role in her community. Prior to joining the Wales TUC, Rhianydd worked as a Political Researcher for two members of the National Assembly for Wales and as an Education Officer for Stonewall Cymru. Rhianydd holds an Undergraduate degree in International Politics from Aberystwyth University and a Masters degree in International Relations from Cardiff University.
