Julie Carolyn Ward (born 7 March 1957) is a British politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

region for the Labour Party from 2014 to 2020.

Career

Ward has a master's degree in Education and International Development from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, graduating from an

adult learning Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

course in 2012. Before being elected as an MEP, she was part of an international delegation to Belfast to discuss the role of the arts in peace processes and also ran a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

. In 2016 she wrote that Turkey was "becoming a fascist state". Ward organises events for

One Billion Rising One Billion Rising is a global campaign, founded by Eve Ensler, to end rape and sexual violence against women. It was started in 2012 as part of the V-Day movement. The "billion" refers to the UN statistic that one in three women will be raped ...

, campaigns against

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

, and is an opponent of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. In 2018 she joined in launching a campaign group, "Left against Brexit", seeking to change the Labour Party's position to supporting membership of the EU. Julie is currently a member of

Open Labour Open Labour is an activist group in the British Labour Party which acts as a forum for members to discuss ideas, tactics and campaigning. It is in the soft left political tradition, to the right of left-wing groups like Momentum and to the left ...

’s National Committee.

European Parliament

Ward was third on the Labour Party list for the European Parliament in the May 2014 election, and was elected with Labour taking a third seat from the Lib Dems in the

region. At the May 2019 election, Ward was second on the Labour

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

for the North West, after

Theresa Griffin Theresa Griffin (born 11 December 1962) is a British politician who served as a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2014 to 2020. In the European Parliament, Griffin was aligned with the Progressiv ...

, and both were elected, while the third Labour seat was lost, with the party's vote falling from 33.9to 21.9 per cent.

Committee and delegations memberships

As of 2014, Ward was a member of one European Parliament Committee, the

Committee on Culture and Education The Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee This committee has focused on the well-being of all members of the human race and the increased opportunities for educat ...

, and also of one

Delegation Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person,Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole ...

, that on International relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. She was also a substitute member for the

Committee on Regional Development The Committee on Regional Development (REGI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Younous Omarjee Younous Omarjee (born 30 September 1969 in Saint-Denis, Réunion) is a French politician who ...

, the

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is a committee of the European Parliament. Membership Chair Vice Chairs *Eugenia Rodríguez Palop * Sylwia Spurek * Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi *Robert Biedroń Members *Regina Bastos ...

, and the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, meaning that she could take the place of another socialist group member on occasions.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Julie Living people 21st-century women MEPs for England Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 2014–2019 MEPs for England 2019–2020 Alumni of Newcastle University 1957 births People from Ripon