At NUS Wales’ Winter Council, Welsh Students’ Unions will be discussing the removal of the fulltime status of the NUS Wales Women’s Officer and re-allocating the resources towards a Welsh Language Officer.

As someone who learnt Welsh until the age of 16, went on Urdd camp in Bala, watches the occasional episode of Heddiw on S4C and plans to return to Wales when I finish my adventures in London, I am passionate and absolutely committed to the Welsh language and culture. Indeed, for those who visited my manifesto website, there was a whole section in Welsh!

It’s unfortunate that the debate about strengthened recognition for the disadvantages that Welsh language students have is being contested against representation of female students within Wales. I say unfortunate because women do not get treated fairly in the workplace, are disadvantaged at almost every level of society and face discrimination within education. It’s also unfortunate because people are being asked to choose what’s more important to students’ unions in Wales; discrimination based on someone’s gender or discrimination based on someone’s language. Well, after living in Wales for 18 years, and visiting home every six weeks, I have never seen any discrimination of anyone who speaks Welsh.

I don’t doubt that Welsh language students do not have the same opportunities as those who speak English, but at no stage of the debate so far have I seen an email or a discussion that asks how can the President or the Deputy President fulfil the needs identified in the Motion. To pick on the Women’s Officer gives a sense that the debate is now about what is more important, sexual discrimination of Welsh female students or unfair opportunities for Welsh language speakers. The question the proposers should be asking is how can the whole of the organisation support students who speak Welsh, not which officer can we delete and take the position of.

I want my children to grow up Welsh, grow up learning a language I am passionate about and recognising the value of their heritage.

The Welsh language is treated with the utmost respect and is seen as a sign of social mobility. If any council, business, AM or university did not treat the Welsh language fairly they would be taken to task and publicly shamed. I just can’t say the same would happen for women.

As National Treasurer, I have responsibilities to Annual Conference to give them assurance that the organisation provides value for money and is delivering strategic objectives, the mission and Conference’s agenda through the budget allocation process within NUS.

I have been careful that I don’t want to enter into a debate about an issue within Wales without due consideration for the merits of the opposing argument. I have taken some time this week to read the literature and to speak to students’ union officers in Wales, but every question and every conversation has led to a debate about the role of NUS UK and NUS Wales in relation to that students’ union, and that students’ unions do not feel equipped to deal with the issues of Welsh language students.

I always like to look at the issues and then begin to approach an outcome which address those issues. It’s a fairly traditional approach within the student movement that, when presented with a problem around student officers, the first instinct is to immediately create a representative-elected-position without looking at the role of the wider organisation and how that should be creating a solution out of existing resources. The motion going to NUS Wales’ Winter Council identifies some issues that will never be addressed by a fulltime elected student representative at a national level – but instead require staff resources.

Within my own students’ union I didn’t chop and change the roles and titles of the officers. I looked at the mission, I had a vision and I wanted the most appropriate mix of student officers. I reduced the number of Sabbs and ensured that we had a staff team that could fulfil the needs of those student officers.

NUS Wales is fortunate that there are substantial funding opportunities to draw money down for the Welsh language from the National Assembly. If Plaid is serious about the language it will have created pots of money for projects, which will develop the recognition of Welsh.

NUS Scotland has been a success story under Jimmy with increasing external funding, less reliance upon affiliation fees and always looking at opportunities to grow partnerships with other organisations. Ben has a unenviable and challenging agenda in Wales, which has consistently been let down, but he now needs support from across Wales and from NUS UK to challenge the future role of NUS in Wales, as well as to look at every aspect of the organisation, both in terms of roles and responsibilities of staff and officers, and without making the proposed decision in isolation of the wider context.

I am more than happy to support every attempt to reconcile the situation in Wales, and to find a solution that satisfies the need to have NUS UK and NUS Wales properly representing and recognising the difficulties that Welsh language students experience, which can not be at the expense of representing and challenging the injustices within society that women students face.

Diolch, hwyl fawr.

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