Members of the Women’s Equality party (WE) have voted to dissolve the organisation after nearly a decade of activism, with its leaders blaming challenging finances and a more polarised political landscape.
The move, backed by the WE’s leader, Mandu Reid, and the party co-founders Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig, was supported by 78% of members at the special conference, narrowly above the three-quarters majority needed for it to pass.
In an interview with the Observer in October setting out the idea, Reid said that while its policies and priorities were as relevant as ever, a lack of donations that started during Covid and changes to politics meant the party seemed no longer to be workable.
Announcing the result of the vote on Sunday, a WE statement said the party had “won a raft of important victories: for reproductive rights, towards ending violence against women and girls and for equality”.
Arguing that a more polarised political landscape was at odds with the party’s “collaborative approach to politics at the same time as challenging other parties to do better”, the statement said the members had decided to “call time on the party but not on activism”, with a meeting taking place later this month to discuss next steps.
Reid, who has led the party since 2019, thanked members for what she called their energy and passion, saying: “Today’s decision was hard. I am so sad to see the party close, even though I think it is the right call. Leading this party has been an honour, a joy, and an immense privilege. Whatever the future holds, know that I am not going anywhere. I will take all the memories and everything I’ve learned into continuing the fight for change in other ways.”
In a joint statement, Mayer and Toksvig said: “We started this party because we understood that the rise of the populist right, weakness of the old mainstream parties and decline of legacy media posed a huge threat but also offered a potential to make the kinds of change we wanted to see.
“We saw the old parties ape the populist right to neutralise them, so we decided if we could prove feminism a vote-winner, they would do the same thing to neutralise us. Until recently, that effect still worked. However the mainstream has now either been fully captured by the populist right or is attempting to beat it by pandering to some of its messaging.
“For that reason, we supported the motion to close the party, not with a view to easing up on activism, but for the opposite reason. We all need to do more and more effectively, and we look forward to discussions next weekend about what is next for the movement.”
