Okay, full disclosure, I campaigned against, marched against and voted against Brexit as I thought it would be bad for the country, for the North East and yes, bad for me. I’m going to look at Brexit from a feminist view – through three key lenses of the economy, rights and protections, and the general political atmosphere.
Economy
Depending on which economist you follow, Brexit has reduced the UK’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by between 4% and 9%, even when taking Covid, Ukraine, Trump etc into account. I’m always very wary of using GDP as a measure of wealth as it excludes domestic work, caring, volunteering, subsistence work; often the areas which are dominated by women. Brexit has also resulted in cuts to government spending on public services and women are more likely to work in the public sector and use public services.
As the economy hasn’t thrived this has depressed wages. On average, women earn less than men, and the Gender Pay Gap (the difference between the median hourly earnings of men and women) is high in the North East of England and translates to around £90 a week in Newcastle. That’s a lot of money lost to the local economy and would make a huge difference to families living in poverty.
Women already have lower personal savings than men. The average private pension pot for a British man is about twice that for a woman. So women pensioners are likely to be poorer and live a longer life in ill-health.
The areas where the economy is felt to be doing well, eg finance, are often based in London and are male-dominated, so this leads to further inequality and exacerbates regional differences.
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Rights and protections
Most of the legislation protecting equality and workplace rights originated from the European Union (EU), and although this has now been incorporated into UK law, there are fears that future governments could water this down. Key issues around maternity and paternity rights, gender equality and workplace protections are currently being improved under this UK government, but there is no guarantee these will be developed further by future governments. Indeed, both Reform UK and the Conservative Party have stated otherwise with comments that these rights are ‘bad for business’, and that women have ‘too many rights’ being increasingly voiced. The Equality Act is now openly attacked by these two parties.
There is no longer referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). As powers have been transferred to UK courts, it has become more difficult to lobby and engage in policy-making and regular engagement.
Politics and democracy
It is ten years since Jo Cox MP was murdered in the week before the Brexit vote in June 2016. She was murdered in act of terrorism by a far-right extremist. If you cast your mind back ten years, there was a highly febrile atmosphere and many political activists had never encountered such high levels of hostility and nastiness. I believe the intention and language of the Leave campaign in the run-up to the referendum shifted how many politicians and leaders talked about ‘minority’ communities. Sadly, we are seeing the results of this being played out on the streets of Belfast as I’m writing this article in the middle of June 2026.
Unfortunately this hasn’t gone away and has resurfaced in the local elections this year. Local candidates and political activists were subject to hostile comments and abuse (in real life and social media), threats, racist and anti-semitic remarks, vandalism to property (homophobic graffiti on candidate’s home in Newcastle) and general nastiness. This resulted in fewer women candidates than at any time in the last few years. Of the council seats in the North East region that were being contested, 42% had a woman councillor, after the election this was 32%.
Although some political parties, including the UK Labour Party, have positive policies to encourage women to stand for elections, the nastiness, abuse and general misogyny act as deterrent. Women in public life, in particular in public office, face huge amounts of abuse and harassment. False and naked images are displayed on social media. Several MPs have been stalked and have needed police protection. These threats have a chilling impact on people considering entering public life.
So in conclusion Brexit 3 : Women 0
References
Exploring the economic impact of Brexit on women Women’s Budget Group 2018
Women’s representation is collapsing: we can’t pretend it isn’t happening Erin Parker Leonard
