Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Leveson backs women in inquiry report

Posted: 10 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST

Leveson backs campaigns to end discrimination against women in the press.

Following a 17-month long inquiry into the phone hacking scandal that dominated headlines last year, Lord Justice Leveson finally revealed his findings last week.

Compiled within a lengthy 2,000 page report, Leveson detailed the ‘cultures, practices and ethics of the press’ with some critical remarks and propsed changes that should be made.

In an interesting side note to his response, Leveson also criticised the media for their frequent  degrading portrayal of women.

In the report he said: "Page 3 tabloid press often failed to show consistent respect for the dignity and equality of women generally, and that there was a tendency to sexualise and demean women.”

In particular, he accused The Sun, The Star and The Sport for being guilty of grossly objectifying women, and commenting on the potential this had to escalate beyond basic news-telling.

“Of greater potential concern to the inquiry is the degree to which the images may reflect a wider cultural failure to treat women with dignity and respect and/or a practice which, intentionally or not, has the effect of demeaning and degrading women.”

And he noted that most women, if not all, were ‘reduced to the sum of their body parts’.

He also said that independent women’s organisations should be brought in by the government to help regulate the way women were depicted in all press and media outlets.

Leveson went on to say that women and people of ethnic minorities were at the most risk of being objectified in a demeaning or negative manner – and of the minorities, Muslims and asylum seekers were abused the most.

“The evidence of discriminatory, sensational or unbalanced reporting in relation to ethnic minorities, immigrants and/or asylum seekers, is concerning,” Lord Leveson said.

“The evidence demonstrates that sections of the press betray a tendency, which is far from being universal or even preponderant, to portray Muslims in a negative light,” he added.

Lord Leveson claimed that discrimination and prejudice towards people of a certain gender, sexual or racial type was highly unacceptable for a democracy where freedom of expression was celebrated.

Women’s organisations welcomed Leveson’s comments, and produced a report entitled “Just the Women“.

Following the evidence they provided to Leveson during the inquiry, Eaves, End Violence Against Women Coalition, Equality Now, and OBJECT went on to produce this joint report, focusing on certain news stories in the press that seemed to share a negative portrayal of women over a two week period.

One of the report’s key findings was that issues of domestic violence or other types of abuse were ‘frequently reported inaccurately and without context, with a tendency to minimise the perpetrator's actions and to blame the victim’.

In addition, women being depicted as sexual objects was normalised and celebrated to the extent that the ‘line between advertising and editorial is extremely blurred’.

Their report also acknowledged that women of black or ethnic backgrounds were largely ignored and that those who were mentioned in the press were ‘subject to ridicule’.

Heather Harvey of Eaves said: “We are very pleased that Leveson has acknowledged the demeaning and sexist treatment of women.

“The portrayal of women in the press goes to the core of public interest and directly impacts on women's access to justice, women's aspirations and society's expectations of women.

“We are particularly pleased with the recognition of a need for an independent mechanism and one which can accept complaints from women's groups – we look forward now to the government's response and hope it is as honest about the real state of media sexism.”

Anna Van Heeswijk of Object agreed and said the time has come for changes in the way women are viewed in the press.

"Lord Leveson has given the green light today to setting up a new press regulatory body equipped to challenge the persistent sexism in our daily press,” she said.

“We hope the government looks carefully at his report and ours, and then ensures that any new regulation enables civil society to challenge the press, and to bring about an end to upskirt photography, Page 3 sexism, and the real harms to women which result.”

Women, you’re welcome in the games industry

Posted: 10 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST

Gina Jackson, CEO of Women In Games Jobs

WVoN talks to Gina Jackson, CEO of Women In Games Jobs about why women should be welcome in the games industry.

When women in the video game industry were asked to give #1ReasonWhy there aren't more of them, the responses on Twitter came thick and fast.

Games designer Brenda Romero tweeted: "When announcing MY new game, an industry publication referred to me in the headline not by my name but as John Romero's wife".

Designer Marina Rossi wrote "Because I've been told ‘we don't need women in order to know what female players want from this industry’.”

And a male tweeter in the gaming industry added "None of my women developer friends will read comments on interviews they do because the comments are so brutally nasty".

Perhaps this apparent culture of sexism goes some way to explaining why the percentage of women in the UK videogame industry has actually dropped from 12 per cent in the 90s to 6 per cent at present.

But rather than write an article bemoaning the sexism in the industry, I decided to talk to one of the women who is endeavouring to turn the tide.

Gina Jackson, a gaming industry veteran with over twenty years experience working for companies such as Ocean Software, Eidos and Nokia, is the CEO of Women In Games Jobs, (WIGJ) a non-profit network for women working in all areas of the gaming industry.

I spoke to her about her experiences and the work WIGJ do.

WVoN: How have things changed for women in the time you've been in the industry?

Gina Jackson:  I had some shocking experiences when I started in my early 20s – I felt quite vulnerable, being in very male environments, with men showing off and thinking it was acceptable to say certain things. That's what I found most shocking about #1ReasonWhy – that there's still a lack of voices saying 'This is unacceptable, we will stop this'.

That said, people are starting to speak up. There have been a lot more stories tackling sexist characterisation in games, which is great, and recently, people stood up against the Hitman campaign.

What do you make of the argument that games have to be designed to appeal to men because ’that’s what sells'?

I just don't think that's true. For one thing, as Keith Stuart's Guardian piece says, 46 per cent of gamers are women. There was a comment under that piece, saying 'Just because you play Angry Birds, doesn't make you a gamer'. I thought that encapsulated the whole issue.

The language that's used is important. We talk about Triple A titles, which are seen as 'traditional' games, and we talk about 'casual' games which are mass market games. Women are more likely to go towards casual games, but then people immediately start saying casual games 'are not as good as' Triple A games.

Tell us more about WIGJ's aims and successes so far.

We’re trying to take women in games and normalise their roles. You rarely see a magazine interview with a woman talking about games and you rarely see a conference with women talking about games.

We want to balance all these bad stories in the media of how terrible it is to be a woman in gaming, with a whole bunch of women talking about the great stuff they create.

Our biggest success is probably our LinkedIn group which has 3500 members. Our last conference had 26 women speakers and 180 delegates.

We've also just run a photographic campaign to provide women with a decent professional image they can use for their on-line profile. It's a simple thing, but it's been really successful because as women we're all so aware that we're going to be judged on our looks.

We're hoping to partner with other groups that are already doing great things.We're talking to Women in Film and TV and SoundWomen to learn about their mentoring programmes. We've also  been talking to E-Skills, who run computer clubs for girls aged 10-14, about perhaps introducing a gaming element to these clubs.

What do you think men can do to support women getting into the industry?

Men need to realise that, just because we're raising the issue about women, doesn't mean we're saying 'Men are bad'. We just want to have a sensible debate – 'OK, there aren't enough women in our workplace, let's talk about why that is'.

A group of guys approached me saying there weren't any women in their company but they wanted to get them on board, so next year we're launching 'Women, You're Welcome'. It's a simple signpost whereby companies can put our logo on their website to show that they may not look female friendly, but they are actively looking to recruit more women. The idea is to say to women "You're more welcome than you may think you are!".

I had a new start-up contact me this week, who said 'We can't exist without women'. All their board members are male but all the support work – bookkeeping, website work – is being done by their wives and partners. So it's worth remembering the women are there, they're just not as visible as they should be.

You can follow Women In Games Jobs on Twitter @WIGJ. They also have a Facebook group.

Discrimination for job-seeking ethnic women

Posted: 10 Dec 2012 06:24 AM PST

Women from ethnic backgrounds are less likely to find jobs than white women.

The Runnymede Trust report for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community claims that women from ethnic minorities face a high level of discrimination when searching for jobs.

It is thought that the 2011 unemployment rate for women from ethnic minorities stood at 14.3 per cent.

Of this unemployment rate a massive 20.5 per cent concerned Pakistani or Bangladeshi women, while 17.7 per cent was made up by Black women.

Unemployment affected 6.8 per cent of white women which is a considerable difference.

The report claimed that “this gap has remained constant for Black women since the 1980s, and has actually worsened for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women since 2004.”

This research clearly highlights the problem is getting worse, rather than better.

The report, for which numerous interviews with women from varying ethnic backgrounds were conducted, found that some women had changed their names to sound more ‘English’ in order to pass through the recruitment process.

They said that while this helped initially, once they were invited for a job interview ‘prejudice’ by employers was evident.

Some Muslim women claimed that they even removed their hijabs for interviews.

Others said they were questioned on their views of marriage and children, as their cultural traditions suggested that they were more family orientated and this could impact their job.

The report also added: “Other issues identified as barriers to employment include language issues, cultural attitudes towards women, qualifications and lack of social capital.”

Speaking on the report, MPs said: “We believe that evidence shows that there are varied and complex barriers facing Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women which are different from those facing white women or ethnic minority men.”

“Based on this, we would argue that the government’s ‘colour-blind’ approach to tackling unemployment is not appropriate in dealing with the specific issues facing women from these groups.”

Labour MP David Lammy, chairman of the committee which filed the report, said: “There have been a lot of cuts to the public sector. Black and minority ethnic women have been traditionally employed in the public sector and are losing their jobs in droves at this time.

“They complain of struggling with no support around child care and around helping them to stay in work.

“Many are doing just casual employment, so the picture is bleak and depressing.”

Vivienne Hayes, of the Women’s Resource Centre, said: “Discrimination in the workplace against black and ethnic minority women can be subtle or it can be explicit, either way we know for a fact it exists and it affects the opportunities those women get and the power they hold in society.”

Young Foundation’s Zamila Bunglawala, said: “If there are no policy interventions then we anticipate that the high level of unemployment among Pakistani and Bangladeshi women will just continue.

“That is not the society that we want in the UK, that is not an inclusive society, it’s not making the best of our young people and it makes a mockery of our education system.

“What is the point in going to university if you cannot get a job at the end of it and you cannot give back to society?” she asked.

Some less regal baby issues

Posted: 10 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST

Pregnant women in the UK are reporting blatant cases of unfair – and unlawful – treatment.

Almost forty years after the UK passed its landmark sex discrimination legislation, an increasing number of pregnant women and new mothers in Britain are being forced out of the workforce purely because of their pregnancy.

Basic health and safety measures are refused, leaving women to choose between remaining in an unsafe working environment or leaving their job, writes Rosalind Bragg, director of Maternity Action, a UK charity working on maternity and equalities.

In an article published by Open Democracy recently, she pointed out that in public debates, parental rights at work are widely presented as an unreasonable burden on business.

And while discrimination law remains intact, the mechanisms for enforcing these rights have been weakened and services set up to assist women have been cut.

This attack on parental rights, she continues, is part of a broader programme of policy and legal changes to reduce employment rights.

The right to pursue unfair dismissal claims, for example, has been weakened across the board, with a new form of employment contract announced in late 2012, the 'Employee Owner contract’, removing unfair dismissal rights in their entirety, subject to certain conditions.

Advice services have been faced with extensive cuts under the government's so-called austerity measures and Legal Aid has been withdrawn for most employment matters.

Adding to this, she continues, voices within and around the government have been highly critical of parental rights at work.

Bragg recalls how in July 2011, the Prime Minister's then Director of Policy suggested that the government repeal all maternity protections at work.

A year later, the Free Enterprise Group, founded by Elizabeth Truss MP, and supported by Conservative Parliamentarians, called for smaller businesses to be exempt from maternity regulations.

And in May this year the government-commissioned Beecroft Report on employment rights then recommended that small businesses could opt out of parental leave arrangements.

This pattern of negative comments is, she says, difficult to reconcile with the positions taken by the now governing parties during the 2010 elections.

In its manifesto, the Conservative Party emphasized its commitment to supporting parents, and talked about making the UK 'the most family-friendly country in Europe'.

The Liberal Democrats manifesto also mentioned families: saying they would ’improve life for your family’.

But all the government's recent and so far proposed actions mean that, as Rosalind Bragg says, far from becoming the most family-friendly country in Europe, the UK is creating an increasingly hostile climate for mothers at work.

There is, she concludes, an urgent need for action to enable UK women to continue working during their childbearing years.

And I have to add, in conclusion, that despite the plethora of pink frocks and bling tiaras there is a stark reality: while real princesses are, to all intents and purposes, paid to have babies, the rest of us need to work so we can feed ours.