Kay O'Hodgson

Chubby Vegan n Proud. Owned by cats. (pronoun eff off) 😻🙋💚 🇬🇧🇮🇪

[NHS Million @NHSMillion]

We couldn’t agree more.

What about you?

[Morgan Wright 💎 @byMorganWright]

Since my best friend is from the UK, I can state with 100% certainty that this is entirely accurate😂…

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

Beyoncé: I'm not here as a celebrity. I'm not here as a politician. I'm here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we're not divided. Our past, our present, our future merged to meet us here. Imagine our daughters growing up, seeing what's possible with no ceilings, no limitations. Imagine our grandmothers. Imagine what they feel right now. Those who have lived to see this historic day. Even those who are no longer physically with us. Imagine all of their sacrifice. The sacrifices made so we can witness the strength of a woman standing in her power.

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@davemorrissey64 This is the reason I'm coming to see you on Thur at the Everyman, it was Gateway Morrissey! #lifelongfan

[June Slater @juneslater17]

Lest we forget what normal people face

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@AMAZlNGNATURE Rescued by the females I think you mean!

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@DrAlanDesmond Please share ultimate fibre top 5 🙏

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@realMaalouf It's like turkeys voting for Christmas!!!

[Ceri M @CeriM82]

What the meat and dairy industry don't want you to see

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@DrAlanDesmond Nutritional yeast?

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@mrchrisaddison We have a black cat called Otto! Do you ever call him Otty Potty Smelly Botty? 🤔

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@MJMcKean @MeganMullally

[Tracy Edwards @TracyEdwardsMBE]

This seems appropriate today

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@elonmusk God you're a terrible eejit!

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@shuvonshuvoff @BBCWomansHour You are an inspiration Siobhan!!

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@unklerupert Yay! We are rewatching Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad 2 episodes of each....getting near the end.......

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@zfale Yes I left ages ago due to their stance on biological women.

[Lily Craven @TheAttagirls]

Woman of the Day shipyard cook Julie Hayward of Birkenhead, who in 1988 became the first woman to win a case under a 1984 amendment to the Equal Pay Act 1970 by proving that she was carrying out work of equal value to that of a man in the same employment.

This was tougher than you might think. For so long, women had been denied equal access to education, to apprenticeships, to vocational training and at school, they were largely steered by careers guidance to occupations that were female-dominated because they were thought more suitable for a woman.

Julie had left school at 16 with no qualifications and limited prospects. When she took up employment as a canteen cook at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Liverpool, the training she undertook to develop new skills and the demands placed on her were equivalent to those of many of her male colleagues in the shipyard who were paid much more.

From 1978 onwards, Julie argued that her work was as skilled and as demanding as that of a craft worker such as a painter, a joiner or a thermal insulation engineer working for the same shipyard. Getting nowhere, she took her case in 1984 to an independent expert who agreed; the first ever “equal value” application to be referred. A tribunal accepted the decision and ruled that Julie should be paid at the same rate as other craft workers, with backdated arrears.

Job done, right? Well, no. Cammell Laird refused to pay up, arguing that her overall contract - which included meals, holiday and sick pay - was no less favourable. Julie went back to the tribunal in 1986.

“This was never about me being something I'm not. As soon as people found out my name at the time, they were like, 'oh you're Julie Hayward' thank you...They never let me get beyond that and I felt if I didn't perform how people expected me to perform, I'd be letting them down."

This time, the tribunal sided with Cammell Laird and her case was overturned.

She appealed again and again, the tribunal ruled against her. Costs were mounting up but for Julie, it was "never about the money. It was the principle that drove me on". She knew she was right.

In 1988, 28 year old Julie took her appeal to the House of Lords. At that time, the Law Lords were the highest appellate authority in the UK and any appeal could only be on a point of law.

The Law Lords agreed with Julie. Her landmark case had taken ten years and cost £50,000 (£134,861 in today’s sterling) but the TUC welcomed it, pointing out that her case "clarified the legal position for other claimants". Her victory was headline news in May 1988. It even reached China - members of the local Chinese community who worked in her local chippy showed Julie newspapers from China with her name on the front pages.

"It was my Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame.”

The downside was that every time Julie stepped out of her house, she was pursued by press photographers. She left for London and found a second career in youth services, helping young people deal with the issues bedevilling them: drugs, knives, teenage pregnancy and racism.

Julie would urge women to take setbacks in their stride and keep on fighting.

“I like to think I do give aspiration to others, not only young women...to people who might have had poor education, and say you can do it, you can get there…It did have an impact at the time, but the glass ceiling still exists for women…Not everything's right, but things do change and little things make a difference."

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@BBCWomansHour @shuvonshuvoff @BBCNuala So enjoyed this on today's programme and have just got Siobhan 's book!

[Kay O'Hodgson @Kayzee1000]

@theAliceRoberts Its got nothing on bindweed!