Ms Lily Toner:

Mr. Courtney has more or less covered everything so what I have to say is more of a personal contribution. I started my career in the telephone exchange as a telephonist. I am sure the committee will be aware that in 1979 we walked the streets for 19 weeks. Included in that action was our fight for equal pay. For all of my working life I have been involved in trade unions. We fought for everything. Women were always on the back foot in terms of equality. Now, I find myself at 64 years of age trying to get justice for women or men of my age who are trying to find equality in all aspects of their working lives and careers, especially in our retirement and, as Mr. Courtney has already said, in our ill health as we get older. Our time is limited. We are not going to live forever. We are all of a certain age. I just wished to make that point, but it is also about pride. It is about the pride of having something to leave to someone - to leave something to the spouse with whom one has walked the road. In many cases over the years that road was walked in secret and in fear. Justice needs to be served. I do not wish to take up too much time, but I wish to express the personal feelings around how one lives one's life, how one hides oneself and how one is afraid to come out because of everything - whether real or imagined - that was there. There is an espoused theory but, even since marriage equality, the theory that was in use is still there and there is still a sense of it. This committee can show us that it means what it says and that we can be helped.