If I were Prime Minister: I'd introduce abortion on demand and abolish VAT on sanitary products

Our series in the run-up to the General Election – 100 days, 100 contributors, but no politicians – continues with the writer and campaigner

The world we live in is designed around men. One-size-fits-all clothes actually fit the male body; supposedly life-saving drugs are mainly tested on men, meaning women tend to receive less effective treatment with more side-effects; GDP doesn’t include the vast contribution made to the economy by women’s unpaid care-work. As Prime Minister I would address women’s invisibility, and challenge the assumption that male is the default human.

A major change of mine would be to the world of work - both paid and unpaid. The truth is that an inflexible five days a week in the office from 9-5 is not practicable for those with caring responsibilities. This doesn’t only affect people with children: many of us have older or disabled relatives to care for. The current set-up assumes that someone at home is taking care of this for free, but in a world of single parents and dual-earner households, this simply isn’t the case. If I were PM I would reduce the working week to four days and provide universal, free, quality twenty-four hour childcare. I would also address our parental leave system. Each parent’s leave would run consecutively rather than concurrently, ensuring both parents had time in sole charge of the baby they both chose to bring into the world. I would also allocate specific “use it or lose it” leave to either parent. Removing the legally sanctioned assumption that women are the main care-givers would help to address the fact we still do not have equal pay forty years after equal pay legislation was passed.

In 1971, Florynce Kennedy wrote that “if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament”. Instead, women’s reproductive freedom is under continuous assault. As PM, I would legislate for abortion on demand. The state has no right to force a woman’s body through the trauma of pregnancy, particularly given many of those who insist life is too sacred for a foetus to be aborted have no interest in supporting that foetus once it is born. Then it becomes a drain on the economy.

I would also abolish VAT on sanitary products. A product that soaks up the blood and womb cells our bodies shed once a month is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

Finally, I would address the funding crisis facing women’s shelters. On a single day last year, Women’s Aid refuges were forced to turn away 112 women and their 84 children for lack of space. These women had the choice of returning to an abusive partner, or becoming homeless. This is not something a civilised society should accept. I would ensure that no woman remains in an abusive household because she had nowhere to flee.

I would also make Sex and Relationships Education compulsory. It’s no good pretending, children aren’t finding out about sex through increasingly violent and misogynistic porn. We need to teach children about consent, and healthy relationships, because they certainly aren’t getting that online.

Caroline Criado-Perez’s first book, Do It Like A Woman…And Change the World, will be published by Portobello Books this May