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Women, Justice and Gender Equality

I will settle for ““encourage””. It is clear that until we have women in the most senior decision-making positions in this country, the only progress that we ever make will be incremental. It is a chicken and egg situation. While the laws are made predominantly by men in a place that cannot even provide crèche facilities for Members, we are on a hiding to nothing. Please do not get me wrong. I would not want any hon. Member to think that I dislike or disparage men. There are many men in the House and everywhere who care passionately about equality and justice for women and for men. I acknowledge that in many areas of life, such as the one that was mentioned by the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns)—access to children after a relationship break-up—men can get an extremely raw deal. But just for today, let us speak up for the girls. We need more women-friendly policies coming out of the House. We also need more access to flexible working. I was delighted to hear the comments by the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs. Laing), and I hope that she will support my ten-minute Bill to extend the right to request flexible working to the parents of children up to the age of 18 and to encourage more companies to extend flexible working, if it is economically advisable.