Keeping Faith Together with Dr. Debbie-Weekes Bernard (London's Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of gender-based violence, including femicide. Please listen with care.  

How did the pandemic shine new light on the role of faith and interfaith groups in the voluntary sector? What does it mean to have ‘intersectional’ conversations about women’s safety? Can looking back at periods of tension and division from our past give us hope to challenge hate in our present?

In this special episode for International Women’s Day, we spoke to London’s Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice Dr. Debbie Weekes-Bernard, who shares her journey from the charity sector to City Hall, her first-hand experience of how women are driving interfaith dialogue in the capital, and what it means to ‘keep faith’ amidst the rise of the far-right. 

Follow Dr. Debbie Weekes-Bernard on LinkedIn, X and Instagram.

Read more about the Loved and Wanted Campaign and London’s Violence Reduction Unit. 

Find out more about Women’s Interfaith Network’s grassroots women's groups and our wide-ranging projects. 

Keeping Faith: A How-To Guide is part of Women’s Interfaith Network's 2024 Keeping Faith Programme. Read more about the programme here and be the first to hear about upcoming events and ways to get involved by signing up to our newsletter. Views expressed on this podcast are the speaker’s own and may not reflect the views of Women’s Interfaith Network.

Hosted by Maeve Carlin

Produced by Maeve Carlin and Adam Brichto

Edited by Adam Brichto

Executive Produced by Lady Gilda Levy

Theme music composed by Jamie Payne

Logo and Artwork designed by Jasey Finesilver

Support from Tara Corry

Transcript

Maeve Carlin: Welcome to Keeping Faith, a how to guide, a new podcast from Women’s Interfaith Network exploring how women keep faith in ourselves, in each other, in a cause, or in religious faith, so you can learn how to keep faith too.

 I'm your host Maeve Carlin and today we're sharing a special episode we recorded for International Women's Day with London's Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, Dr Debbie Weeks Bernard. With a background in research and responses to racial inequity and poverty at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Runnymede Trust, Debbie's role as Deputy Mayor is about harnessing the power of London's communities - something we've spoken about a lot on this podcast - and amplifying their voices to build a more equitable, welcoming city for all of us. Debbie also chairs the Mayor's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group, as well as London's Strategic Migration Panel, and is chair of Praxis, a charity supporting migrants and refugees.

Grassroots networks like ours at Women's Interfaith Network are built on the belief that, when we come together in friendship and solidarity, we can have an impact that goes far beyond our own community. In this conversation we celebrate the vital role women play in interfaith coalitions, ask what we still need to do to cultivate a culture of safety for all women in London, and what it looks like to keep faith in a political moment where many seem to reject rather than embrace our differences.

Women's Interfaith Network launched this podcast in March 2024 as part of our 20th anniversary Keeping Faith program, bringing communities together across secular and religious divides to explore how we keep faith in the things that matter most.You can find out more about the program and our wider work, including recent and upcoming events via the links in our show notes.

But for now, let's jump into our conversation with Dr. Debbie Weeks Barnard.

Maeve Carlin: Well, Debbie, welcome to the podcast. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Thank you so much. Really love to be here. 

Maeve Carlin: You've been in post as Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice since 2018, but this mission of confronting inequality has really been a continuous thread throughout your career. Can you share with us a little about your journey to City Hall?

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Sure, yes. I have always worked in social justice. I've always been interested in being involved in work that is about making a difference. And I think I've probably been working on, uh, these issues for about, this is really going to out my age, but for about 30 years. And I think I've always been interested in making sure that we have enough information or enough data, enough evidence to persuade those who are able to make a decision, policy decision or otherwise, that could actually make a tangible difference in the lives of people who are not experiencing the world equitably.

And so I've been involved in work as disparate as trying to find out how different communities experience the criminal justice system, have been working with young people who might not necessarily be having the best educational experience, which can often be down to their ethnicity or having special educational needs or disabilities, and speaking up for women who are experiencing various forms of misogyny, which is then vastly complicated by their ethnicity or their religious affiliation. 

So I've always wanted to work on issues which are about righting wrongs and which are about providing voice to people who, um, are not always in the room when decisions are made about them. And making sure that I either bring them into rooms with me or at least make sure that the mechanisms for their voices to be heard exist. So yeah, that's been my journey. 

Maeve Carlin: It must be an interesting transition going from being on the sort of evidence gathering behind the scenes side of things to the policy space.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes, no, absolutely. I've been deputy mayor now since the end of 2018. Um, and I've never worked in politics before, have always worked in the charitable sector, have always been behind the scenes. You're so right. So yeah, it's, it's very different. But I think actually having that experience in the charitable sector, having that experience in the academy - I worked as an academic for, for a while - I think that makes me, um, better at doing the political decision making. Because I've come from a place where I've had to try to persuade or to lobby or to help people to think differently about the decisions that they make. And then I get the opportunity to make some of those decisions. And I hope that I'm making decisions in a more equitable way that is influenced by that previous experience.

Maeve Carlin: And also you've had contact with the people that you're making the decisions for. You've still got that sort of grassroots element that you're taking with you. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah, absolutely. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, speaking of the grassroots, in your role, you work alongside London's voluntary community and faith sector who support Londoners through moments of crisis - whether that's the pandemic, the aftermath of the Grenfell fire or the summer 2024 riots - as well as being there in the day to day, filling in the gaps that our health care and welfare systems might miss. I think sometimes when we think about voluntary and community organizations, we overlook the role of faith and interfaith groups who are right there in the thick of this work. I'd love to hear what you've learned about the role of faith communities in your time as deputy mayor.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: It's such a really good question. There are so many wonderful faith based organizations, particularly in a city like London, which is so diverse. And we have an incredible voluntary community and faith sector. And I think one of the things that I certainly learned since being in the role of deputy mayor is just how much our faith organizations just do every single day.

And I think it was the pandemic. So I'm glad you mentioned that. It was definitely the pandemic, which shone a light on the work that faith organizations, faith leaders, people of faith, do to support people in their community, people who they serve. And I think whilst, for example, during those lockdowns, we had so many people out there volunteering, delivering food, delivering medicines, picking up prescriptions, doing really great and important work. I think what was really clear was that this was just something that faith organizations did before, always had done. Faith organizations had befriending services where they would call in on people who had become isolated or were ill. Faith organizations and faith leaders know the names of the people in their community, so know who to look out for. And I think it was definitely during the pandemic that people saw how much faith organizations were already doing and it really gave them their moment in the sun, I think, to really demonstrate more widely how to do good community work, work that they were really experienced at doing.

And, you know, some of the things that they did really, I think, demonstrated the importance of having trusted leaders and I think we always forget how trusted many faith leaders are to the people that they work with, the people that they serve. And during the pandemic, when there was so much of a problem around vaccine confidence, when people were worried, when there was lots of misinformation being spread online, we were able to work really closely with lots of faith organizations, from across sectors to give them what they needed so that they could help dispel some of those myths. I remember being on calls with faith groups who wanted to open their doors to allow vaccines to be administered. And so there were gudwaras and there were mosques and there were synagogues, churches, temples, all opening their doors and inviting people in who were worried about the vaccine, but would go to their local mosque, would go to their local church, would listen to the imam. They would listen to those individuals who they'd had trust in before and had trust in during that crisis. So I really do think that the pandemic helped people to properly understand the work that faith organizations do in communities and do in London. And what I really hope is that people remember that and that they don't forget how much they do and how much they contribute. 

Maeve Carlin: I think that word you said there about trust is so key. And I also think a lot of the women, you know, who work in organizations like ours, you know, they're in grassroots interfaith groups. They're doers. They're not there to, you know, stand at the front of the photo opportunity. They just do these things. And often when we say words to them, like activism or community organizing they say, "No, I'm not doing that. This is just, this is just what you do. This is just being in community." And I think also sometimes people, we don't have that understanding that interfaith work can look just like social action.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes. 

Maeve Carlin: That beautiful image of that man rebuilding the wall of a mosque that was attacked by far right extremists in Southport: that is an act of interfaith solidarity. A church opening a food bank for Muslim migrants: that's an act of interfaith solidarity. But I think we have these sort of static ideas of what a faith group or an interfaith group is.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah, you're right, you're right. And you know, there are actually- I'm so glad that you said that -there are so many women who I've I've come across in this job, who are doing that interfaith work. There are women who will come together who come, they have different religious affiliations and they'll come together in moments of crisis or difficulty and they will roll their sleeves up and they will get things done.

And it's women who run these groups, like women who run Nisa Nashim, which does that really great interfaith work. I know an amazing woman who runs a mosque in North London, which opens its doors and has been opening its doors at a time when there is so much sensitivity, difficulty, challenge, worry, concern. 

And it's women. Women do such good interfaith work and they don't get the credit that they deserve, which is why this is such a great podcast 'cause it really, it gives them the, gives us the opportunity to really shine a light on them, thank them, make sure people know who they are and what they're doing. So yeah. Thank you for this. This is a good podcast to do!

Maeve Carlin: Yeah, it's, it's, it's great isn't it? To have a space that is about highlighting women's voices beyond International Women's Day, obviously this is an International Women's Day conversation. But women are getting on with it 365 days a year, not just one day a year, or not just in Women's History Month. And often, particularly, you know, we have this rigid idea of what leadership is. So we're like, “Oh, well, you know, they're not at the front of the pulpit. They're not leading the press conference”. Don't worry, they're leading in their communities.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: They definitely are. 

Maeve Carlin: Well speaking of International Women's Day, we're recording this conversation just a few days before. In the last few years since the murder of Sarah Everard, there's been a real shift in how the mayor, Sadiq Khan, and your team at City Hall have talked about violence against women and girls: moving the emphasis onto male perpetrators, highlighting everyday misogyny alongside acts of violence, as well as what men can do to hold one another accountable. Can you tell us why you think this shift in the narrative is so important? 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah it's really important to be discussing this as International Women's Day becomes such a focus, but also marking the anniversary of the death of Sarah Everard.

And the mayor has always been clear about his, um, commitment to, um, dealing with violence against women and girls and prioritizing it. And he's prioritized it during his mayoralty. And I think, um, what he's been really keen to do is to focus both on making sure that women feel safe to go to the police to ask for help, because we know the context within which Sarah, Everard was killed. And that, um, really highlighted, the depth of misogyny within, the Metropolitan Police Force. So he's been really clear that we have to create spaces that enable women to feel safe and to report. We've got London Policing Board, which has been picking up Baroness Louise Casey's really important recommendations on what needs to change in the Metropolitan Police to address misogyny and to help women feel safe to report. 

But then he's also, um, really clear about the need to do preventative work. So he’s spent over 230 million pounds on initiatives, which are both about making sure women feel safe, can report, supporting uh, domestic violence refuges. But also on that preventative space, which is about making sure that men and boys are aware of their responsibilities, that they act as allies when it comes to making sure women are able to feel safe and speak out. But also just addressing misogyny before it happens. And through the violence reduction unit, which he established in 2019, we've been able to run sessions in schools with boys so that they know what misogyny looks and feels like, that they the tools that they, they need to be able to call out misogyny where they see it and hear it. Sexualized banter is, is not okay. And that we also equip trusted adults like teachers and youth workers to be able to work with boys and young men and to support them. And also to help young people know what healthy relationships look like because we know there is lots of concern about this. We know there are huge areas of uncertainty for young people. And we need to make sure that they have the guidance that they need to recognize when something non-consensual is happening, when something is inappropriate, and that they know who and where to go when something becomes uncomfortable or they are concerned or worried.

So he's made a real concerted effort to ensure that the work around prevention goes alongside the work on policing and you have to do both of those things together. 

Maeve Carlin: You really do. And I mean, trust in institutions is something that, it's a long game, isn't it? We rebuild it slowly. And when I look around at the women I know in my own life, most women I know wouldn't report an offence if they experienced it, or the ones that I know who have, none of them have been able to see that through to prosecution or had enough evidence. 

So it's, how do we take care of each other in the meantime? You know, how do we live in a safe city? And I think also a lot of women and girls are sick of it being our job.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes. Definitely. 

Maeve Carlin: So when we can see men and boys stepping into that conversation, we think, "ah, okay, you know, this isn't just our conversation anymore. This is a conversation for all of us." 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes, no, absolutely. I completely agree.

And London is such a vibrant city. It's a city that it's a destination city. People want to come here because it's so diverse, but it has to also be a safe city and it has to be a city that's safe for women and girls to move around in. And we deserve to feel safe and secure, um, in the city that we love.

And so it's really incumbent upon us to ensure that we are doing everything that we can. Sometimes that's working with other institutions and with shops and bars and making sure that places that women frequent, that those people who work behind a bar or behind a behind a counter in a shop, that they know what to look out for when a woman is in distress and needs support. So it’s like that phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child" but it does mean that everyone has to play their part in making sure that this is a safe city for all of us. 

Maeve Carlin: Absolutely. And I'm really interested in what you said there about the work with schools, because we're in the middle of this 'manosphere' backlash where there is a growing movement of male influences and political figures, often with a very young following, who believe that women taking up space denies men theirs. How do we talk about equality and empowerment for women in a moment like this? 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah, I mean, it's pervasive, actually. And it's so deeply worrying. It's similar to, uh, the space being occupied by the far right also, that if you make gains or you talk about wanting to seek equality, that you're doing so at the expense of others. And women taking up space, talking about equality, you know, taking up their rightful place wherever it is, isn't happening at the expense of men and boys. Absolutely not. And it's really problematic the way that that has been framed by certain influencers. I think there is a real role for social media companies in this space. And then there is a role for the trusted adults as well. 

I've got three children. My youngest is um, a 16 year old boy. And he told me that last year during the general election, he was receiving in his feed, constant images of Nigel Farage in a car spouting Eminem lyrics. And he and his friends were constantly seeing this feed of this man and it was becoming so normalized amongst his friendship group hey would just see him sitting in a car. And it was a clear attempt to appeal to a very particular group of young men. So these were all sort of 15, 16 year old boys. Anto to show them that he was relatable and he was one of them when nothing could be further from the truth.

And, helpfully, my son and his friends could see that this was clearly intentional, very odd. But they were savvy enough to recognize what that was. In the same way that they were also savvy enough to recognize when Andrew Tate was at the very height of his popularity, and they were receiving continuous messages. He was popping up in their feeds on TikTok and elsewhere, talking about this perception of male success and how important it is to be financially literate and financially successful. Yes, it's important to be financially literate and successful and important to have success, but he was talking about that success happening at the expense of women. And that women were holding these young men back from achieving their full potential and abilities.

And I think what has been so worrying about all of that is that, whilst my son and his friends were able to see it for what it is, there are lots of young men and boys who don't. And there is a real responsibility for social media companies A) to ensure that children and young people under a certain age are not receiving these types of messages, but also that they are responding to complaints when people say that it's inappropriate for young men and boys to be receiving messages which are clearly about naked misogyny, and to remove those posts, to take them down and to have that element of responsibility. 

But then the other thing that needs to go alongside that is around that, um, sort of critical literacy that we need our young people to have. And that's where we have, again, those trusted adults, people who they can turn to, teachers, etc. who can help young people to be able to discern between disinformation and the truth and to know how to look for other sources. That if you watch a video on YouTube, um, which has probably been AI generated, and it's telling you something which doesn't feel as though it's that accurate, please look elsewhere for other sources. 

And we have a responsibility, I think, as adults to help young people to be able to do that, to have the critical literacy skills to be able to understand when they're being manipulated, which is difficult for young people. It's really difficult for them to be able to do that. But it's really incumbent upon us as adults to help them to be able to determine between those things. So there's a lot of areas of responsibility that I think we all have to try to step in and protect our young people from what is happening on the internet because that misogyny is rife and it's so damaging and dangerous.

Maeve Carlin: And I'm really glad you brought up the connection with the far right because these aren't separate conversations and women's safety is such an intersectional issue. We have multiple members, older South Asian women, who after the riots, still don't feel safe going out in the evening or frightened when their children are out, you know, are they going to get home safe? Their grandchildren. You know, that's a women's safety issue.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah. 

Maeve Carlin: Yeah. You can't talk about one without talking about the other. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah, no, I'm so glad that you said that. I know that in the aftermath of the riots in Southport when there was all of those concerns about what was happening, what the potential for violence and disorder to happen in London. We held some roundtables with many, um, interfaith organizations and race and migration organizations as well. And we did have many mothers who didn't want their children to go to after school clubs. Well, not after school clubs. This was still in the middle of the summer holidays. So they had removed their children from summer holiday provision. Their children were at home. It was the middle of the summer holidays and they didn't want their children to go out.

And the fact that you're saying that women are still worried about letting their children out is so heart-breaking. And it's just that long tail of the way that fear just sits in our communities. I've reflected before that I certainly felt that a lot of the ways in which that far right messaging has just infiltrated lots of social media platforms, but also the way in which certain leaders are speaking. It reminds me of the type of racism we saw in the 70s and the 80s. Um, and it's a real demonstration of a rolling back of all of the progress that we have made. And I'm really glad that you, you made that link because any attempt to try to silence or instil fear in communities, who are protected by, you know, equality legislation: they're all interlinked. And it's an attempt to silence. And that's how authoritarianism starts. And that's how fascism starts. And it's so important for us to be continuously mindful and cognizant of the way in which that is creeping into everyday narrative. 

Maeve Carlin: Fear is such an insidious weapon, because once it's out there How do you unknow that people in your community or people online might not think you belong here? How do you unknow that? It's, it's not an unknowable thing. There is no return to normal after that. 

So, you know, it's a slow process of kind of rebuilding communities and rebuilding trust. But that's why, you know, interfaith work isn't something we just bring out of the box at interfaith week and then put back in.It's something that we have to be building bridges between communities all the time. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: No, this is, and I completely agree. And, um, interfaith work is about sometimes having those really difficult and challenging conversations, but it's also about looking out for each other and showing allyship and solidarity.

So when there are communities who are really experiencing the brunt of a particular set of narratives, what that interfaith work allows you to do is to ensure that those communities don't feel isolated and alone because that's the intention. It's to isolate people and isolate communities and to stop them thriving.

And if they know that there are other communities who stand with them, stand alongside them, have their backs, that helps them to, to recognize that there is hope and all isn't lost. And I think interfaith work is really important at those times when communities feel really challenged.

And that image that you referenced earlier about, um, everyone coming to have together to help rebuild the mosques that had been deliberately targeted by those seeking to sow division, is such a really beautiful demonstration of, um, showing allyship and showing solidarity and making sure that people don't feel alone.

Maeve Carlin: Yeah. It's all about community, isn't it? Bommunity and connection. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah. Yeah. No, completely. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, you know, this ties into a lot of the things we've been talking about. But right now, many of us will be looking over at the U. S. Where the current president and his administration are ripping up diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI initiatives.

This feels particularly painful as we mark milestones like International Women's Day, American Black History Month, which was in February, or even the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan. And we know that the protections that DEI brings for marginalized communities are under attack. You're the first Black woman to hold the post of deputy mayor in London, one of the most diverse cities in the world, as we've been saying, but one where we still have so much further to go in terms of meaningful representation and inclusion.

I'd love to hear how you're keeping faith in this work, in social justice and community, in this political moment. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yeah, um, I think it's difficult for anyone who comes from a background that is feeling under attack by what is happening across the pond to be able to keep the faith, if we're going to be completely honest and frank. Because it does feel as though all the progress that, um, we have made is being dismantled and is being belittled.

And I know that there will be people who will be thinking, "well, this is happening so far away. It's not impacting on us. It doesn't really touch us." But we've already talked about social media, and this narrative has spread absolutely on social media. And I certainly know that there have been some companies that either are American companies with headquarters here in London or companies that do business with various American companies who are rethinking their DEI programs and are stopping the funding for these programs and are saying that they are no longer needed. So it is actually having a huge impact on what we do here in London.

 I always personally think that, um, it's so important to have hope in moments like this. Hope trumps fear. It's something that enables us to imagine futures which are better. I mean, the thing is that we all know that diversity, equality and inclusion matters and it works. And we know why it exists. We know why it's there. We know that there are women and people of colour who have found it incredibly difficult to progress in careers and were it not for DEI, as they call them, programs, their talent would never have been discovered. Their potential would never have been realized. So this work is important. It is a solution to a set of barriers that people are experiencing simply by virtue of their gender or their ethnicity or their religious affiliation. 

Um, so we know all of that, but it's very easy in moments like this when it's so pervasive and it's, you know, the U.S. is one of the most powerful, um, countries in the world. It's very difficult to persist in this kind of climate. But there are so many, um, people who are engaged in movement building, who are engaged in work, which is countering this narrative. And what we need to do is hear more about that and hear less about what President Trump and his administration are doing with regards to DEI, with regards to their feelings about women and the role of women and their rights and control over their own bodies. And we need to hear more about those movements, that coming together of groups across America and here in the UK and elsewhere that are standing up against that work. And we need to hear more about those people who are doing that good important work. Because there are people who are out there doing this work and there is movement building and there are organizations that are standing up against these narratives. And I think what we're trying to do in London is we're trying to champion those organizations and to give them the space and to give them voice and to support them.

We launched a couple of weeks ago a campaign called Loved and Wanted. It developed out of the mayor's response to those riots that emerged, um, as a result of what happened in Southport, where he effectively said, in the absence of anyone else saying a similar sort of thing, he said "to anyone from any background here in London, know that you are loved and you are wanted."

And it's a campaign which is just about recognising the importance of empathy, of humanity, of kindness, of compassion. All of those values that make us human. Because part of that sort of anti-DEI narrative has been suggesting that to show empathy or to show kindness is a weakness. And we disagree wholeheartedly with that. We know that to show empathy or to show kindness, or to love each other, or to look out for each other, or stand up for each other, these are all demonstrations of strength. Um, and, um, that is what will get us through this moment. 

We have to see it as a moment. Um, even though we know that, you know, every day we wake up, something different has happened, every single day.But we have to hold on to, uh, we have to hold on to that hope. Um, I am, I, uh, brought up in a very Christian family. My, um, my parents came from a small island called Nevis in the Caribbean. Um and they are very active in the church, very active in the church in the Caribbean, very active in the church here.My dad's ninety-one next week, and he has been an organist for, um, a church in North West London, which is a big organ, it's at the top of a spiral cast iron staircase. He goes up every Sunday. It drives me nuts. 

Maeve Carlin: Yeah. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: But he does it, he does it, he does it without pay, he does it because he wants to give back to his community. And it's a church that I was, uh, christened in. I was confirmed in. I got married in. All my children were christened in that church. So it's an important, it's an important part of my identity in my life. 

And my parents obviously came over in the 60s when to be um, a Caribbean migrant in London was not easy, and they have always demonstrated to me and to my brother, uh to my Children, the importance of having that hope, and the importance of, recognizing that these are moments that we go through and we will get through them.They are here as you know, a clear example of getting through a really difficult moment. And that hope and that faith and that recognition that these are temporary irritations. I know it's a terrible way to describe it, but these are temporary moments that we are going through is what keeps me going.

Maeve Carlin: That's such a beautiful way of putting it. And I think you're so right. If fear is the weapon, then hope and solidarity and our resilience when we're building coalitions together, that has to be our counter to that, doesn't it? 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes, absolutely. And together, doing this work together, and knowing that we're not alone in doing this work, that also keeps us going, I think, definitely.  

Maeve Carlin: One of our straplines at WIN is embracing difference, and that really, when you were talking about the Loved and Wanted campaign, that really came into my head. You know, we're not just tolerating our differences, we're not just putting up with them, we celebrate them, we embrace them.

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes. 

Maeve Carlin: They're what makes us who we are. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: Yes, they do, they do, they do, they do. They, we champion them. We, it's what makes us unique. We love it, so, yeah. We're right here behind you agreeing with everything that you say. 

Maeve Carlin: Well, thank you so much, Debbie. I know I'm feeling, you know, buoyed up, uplifted after this conversation. So thank you. 

Debbie Weekes-Bernard: You're very welcome, and thank you for inviting me, and thank you for the podcast. It's so important to have things like this. 

Maeve Carlin We're so grateful to Deputy Mayor Debbie Weeks Bernard for sharing her time and her reflections this International Women's Day.You can read more about the Loved and Wanted campaign and the wider work of the Mayor's team at City Hall via the links in our show notes. Let's keep amplifying women's voices and women-led initiatives all year round, not just on March 8th.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Keeping Faith: A How To Guide. Subscribe now on your podcast app to be the first to hear about our upcoming episodes, and please leave a review or share with a friend to help more people find us. To find out more about the podcast, the 2024 Keeping Faith Programme or to get involved with the Women’s Interfaith Network, you can follow the links in our episode notes or go to wominet.org.uk. Until next time, Keep Faith!

Keeping Faith: A How-To Guide was created by Women’s Interfaith Network. The podcast is co-produced by me, Maeve Carlin, and Adam Brichto. Our executive producer is Lady Gilda Levy. Theme music was composed by Jamie Payne and our logo was designed by Jasey Finesilver. Additional Support from Tara Corry.