Glenys' festival speech (From Free Press Series)

Glenys' festival speech

MONMOUTH'S first ever women's festival kicked off this week with the help of MEP Glenys Kinnock, who looked at the challenges facing women in Wales today.

The Labour MEP for Wales held a talk at the Priory on Thursday to celebrate International Women's Day and start a five-day programme of events in the town.

Mrs Kinnock is the Labour Party's spokesman on development issues in the European Parliament, and is a longstanding campaigner on equality issues.

Speaking ahead of the event, she said: "It's an honour to be able to be part of this, Monmouth's first women's festival.

"It is an excellent initiative which will not only help publicise inequalities still faced by women across the world, but it will also help raise valuable funds for Monmouthshire Women's Aid, helping vulnerable women and children who are experiencing domestic violence and abuse."

During the talk, Mrs Kinnock highlighted the ways in which women are benefiting from Britain's membership of the European Union.

She said: "The 15,000 women working in Monmouthshire have the right to 26 weeks of maternity leave and they are protected against gender discrimination in the workplace.

"Nearly 90 percent of the part-time workers in Monmouthshire are women and so benefit most from new rules giving part-time workers the same rights as their full time colleagues - again thanks to rules passed by the EU."

The festival encompasses several events from Thursday to Monday and is supported by the Monmouth Town Council, Monmouthshire County Council, the Monmouth Library and the Welsh National 'Academi'.