One of the founding Articles of the EU makes its commitment to gender equality explicit:

“In all its activities the European Union shall aim to eliminate

inequalities and to promote equality between men and women”

This principle commits EU countries and institutions to trying to achieve gender equality and a more equal balance between men and women in all the areas in which member-states have decided to build a close union.

However, sadly in Britain, the fight for equality has a long way to go. Women’s voices in the main topic of the day – Brexit – are still woefully under-represented, and although women stand to lose a whole array of rights and protections, there is still little discussion of Brexit’s gendered impact. Women and equality campaigners have been under-represented both during the referendum campaign and Brexit negotiations, with men taking 75% of TV coverage and 85% of press space.

The furore surrounding David Davis’s notorious “impact assessments” drowned out the startling fact that no gender impact assessment of Brexit has been carried out . Women stand to lose so much *if* Brexit happens. Withdrawing from the EU means future equality and human rights protections will no longer be binding in UK law, and existing protections might be removed (or not matched) by replacement legislation.

For 45 years, women have been protected by EU law. All could be up for grabs in post-Brexit Britain.

Read the full article here.