UK has got ‘fat’ on decades of free labour by women, says MP Jess Phillips

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, says every government department has a role to play in safeguarding against gender-based violence. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

Labour MP Jess Phillips has said the UK has got “fat” from the free labour of women for decades.

The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said the country has relied on women providing charity, adding it was a “fundamentally sexist” practice that meant the government was less willing to provide the service itself.