“I love people”: Councillor Judith Woodman on the Fight for Human Rights
September 23, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
“People do matter” was a phrase that recurred throughout my interview with Councillor Judith Woodman, Councillor for Pentwyn and Llanedeyrn.
Shrewd, down to earth, personable to the extent that I am invited to introduce myself to her if I ever see her in Cardiff, Councillor Woodman conducts her interview with The Fresh Outlook with remarkable ease.
Judith Woodman could certainly be considered a significant female role model. Rising from working class background to become Deputy Leader of Cardiff County Council, she has spent her professional life dedicated to a number of human rights causes and campaigns.
When asked why she wanted to pursue this particular career, it is clear that Councillor Woodman was not specifically motivated by individual ambition. A mum to three children, her move into politics was a relatively natural progression from dedicated mother to political campaigner.
When the fence protecting her children’s school was damaged, leaving the school open to traffic accidents and animals, Councillor Woodman understood that she and other parents would have to act in order to protect the safety of the schoolchildren. “I was prepared to do battle,” she jokes.
After lobbying the local council for money to fix the fence, Councillor Woodman organised fellow parents and children to form a protest – “to make a child-sized placard is not as easy as you think” – until, after negotiating with local metal company, the fence was finally renovated.
Evidently pleased with this outcome, the councillor comments: “I am very proud to say that vandal-proof fencing is still around the school that my children went to. My son is now 31.
Realising that she “actually quite enjoyed organising everybody together”, she joined the campaign for then Lib Dem candidate Jenny Randolph before it was suggested that she herself try her hand at politics.
She stresses that her motivation to enter the profession was rooted in her maternal instincts, remembering that she was aware of wanting “to make life better for my children”. The councillor catches herself, anticipating, perhaps wrongly, that this constitutes “being a bit selfish”, but then adds emphatically: “As a mother, you want better for your children than you’ve had.”
These leanings towards the pastoral are evident in her professional vendettas. On first joining the council, her reply to a colleague who asked what area she felt most comfortable in was simply, “people”.
The Older Person’s Champion, Executive Equalities Champion, Executive Carers Champion and Cardiff Council’s Representative for Race Equality First, Councillor Woodman has focussed much of her attention on fighting discrimination and injustice; extending her mantra “people do matter” to say “it’s about fairness in every way of life”.
This assertiveness and determination is present in many of her anecdotes. Talking of her work with young carers, something which she refers to as one of her “crusades”, she recalls an episode in which she met Princess Anne, the patron of The Carer’s Centre.
On meeting in a reception in the Senedd, centre of the Welsh Assembly government, Princess Anne asked her whether the centre did enough to help young carers. The councillor replied “No Ma’am, they don’t”. She then describes animatedly how: “A few people there, particularly men in suits, went (exaggerated gasp).” She’s clearly very proud of this.
Councillor Woodman said that Princess Margaret returned two years later for the opening of a relocated centre. “She came up to me and said ‘I remember you. Do we do enough to help young carers now?’”
“We do a lot more, ma’am, but there’s still more to do,” was Councillor Woodman’s answer.
As a female in the still male dominated field of politics, it was interesting to talk to the councillor about women in the workplace. She commented that although great inroads in terms of gender equality have been made by many businesses, there is still a long way to go.
Although evidently ambitious, Councillor Woodman proves that maternal and professional commitments can work in tandem. She is evidently understanding of many types of ambitions and desires, insisting that as long as a mother is happy and fulfilled, the child will be also.
Thus she encourages women to pursue whatever ambition, maternal or professional, feels most natural to them, maintaining that a child’s happiness will follow suite.
I ask Councillor Woodman what she would say to a woman who feels, for one reason or another, that she lacks the opportunity to fulfil her potential. She is very firm on this matter, intoning: “You have rights, under employment law; you have rights, as a human being.” She adds: “I do believe that any woman can do whatever she wants to do.”
Educating children about their rights is something that the
councillor believes is instrumental in eradicating discrimination, in both the work place and society in general.
This evidently provides the reason behind her considerable support of so many voluntary organisations. She emphasises the importance of such initiatives, labelling them as invaluable in providing a less formal medium through which to communicate with the vulnerable, people who would not be confident enough to approach the council.
As the interview finishes, I leave with the pleasant feeling that I have met someone who is simply committed to improving the lives of others. And I’m convinced: People do matter.
By Gwen Smith
[Image courtesy of Cardiff Council]
Is this the same councillor I ask myself. I am disabled and have tried to have railings removed from across a footpath so that I and all the elderly and infirm residents from a nearby home can pass along the path to churches and bus stops using mobility scooters and frames.
The railing are to stay because bikers ride the path, was the reply given. What is more important, a free access for the elderly and infirm, not forgetting mothers with small children and pushchairs which have to be lifted over the railings or let the bikers win by having the path closed. So much for ‘people do matter’.
Further, she has moved heaven and earth to get a subway closed even though there has been a petition raised with most of the nearby residents. This will mean putting our children in danger as they would have to cross the road, but she does not recognise that she has this wrong.
So much for ‘I love people’ and ‘people do matter’.
In this case they only matter if they do not obstruct her from getting her way about something that the bulk of residents don’t want. The one’s complaining about the subway do not even life near it.