Women's Views on News |
- ‘Revenge porn’ laws proposed
- Peace groups out on Armed Forces’ Day
- Call for gender equality in five years
| Posted: 15 Jul 2014 07:35 AM PDT
An amendment to the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill has been proposed which would make broadcasting explicit material of ex-partners a criminal act. The amendment seeks to address the rising problem of so-called 'revenge porn' where images or videos of ex-partners are shared via the internet without the ex-partner’s consent, usually as a means of public humiliation after a relationship break-up. Specifically, the amendment proposes to criminalise the online publishing without consent of images which are of 'an intimate or pornographic nature'. The pictures would have to be of an identifiable person who had, at the time the pictures were taken, a reasonable expectation that the images would be kept private. The amendment proposes a maximum sentence of one year in prison. It was tabled by Liberal Democrats Lord Marks and Baroness Grender earlier this month as the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill passed through the House of Lords and, if accepted into the full Bill, could pass into law within weeks. 'We hope to work closely with Ministers within the Ministry of Justice to ensure that this offence reaches the statute book,' said Lord Marks. A similar proposal was made in Scotland earlier this year by the Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC when he also called for specific legislation to tackle 'revenge porn'. “We can and do prosecute this crime robustly using existing legislation," Mulholland said, "However, it is a growing problem and specific legislation would send a signal to those who do this that they face jail." "Following discussions with campaigners I believe there is significant under-reporting of this issue, possibly because those affected are too embarrassed to come forward or fear they will be blamed… “Society needs to deliver a message that this is unacceptable and that the victim is in no way responsible just because they may have consented to an image being taken for personal use,” he added. In England, Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert, who has led the campaign to create targeted legislation on this issue, said that there is currently no sanction in place because 'revenge porn' is not technically considered a crime. "At the moment it is not a criminal offence to share the image because the photo was taken legitimately. Consent was given for the photo or the film, but not for it to be shared,” he said at the Commons debate on the Queen's speech last month. “Typically, the problem is not covered under the harassment legislation, which requires something to have happened more than once, but once the image has been published online, it is broadcast forever more," he added. Explaining his reasoning behind the campaign, Huppert said: “I do not often call for new criminal sanctions – it is not my natural style. “In this case, however, I think we need to make a criminal sanction available when people share indecent images in the knowledge that consent would not have been given.” Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said the recent tabling of the amendment was part of government efforts to promote "serious discussions" on the growing issue, especially in light of the links between the practice and a number of suicides. However some see it as a 'civil' rather than a 'criminal' issue. For example, Gabrielle Guillemin, a legal officer of international free speech campaign Article 19, has called for "civil remedies" to the problem. “We have seen a lot of legislation, for example in the United States, to address this particular issue, but you would question whether it is for the criminal law to get involved in what is very often, ultimately, the fallout of failed relationships," she said. Other critics have pointed out that 'revenge porn' is just one part of a wider problem which needs addressing in full. Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid, argued that if attempts to tackle 'revenge porn' are to be meaningful, they must also take account of all other kinds of controlling and abusive behaviour. “That control is central to domestic violence, which is why we’re campaigning for all psychological abuse and coercive control to be criminalised. “We urge Mr Grayling and the Home Office to go further, and ensure victims can get the support of the criminal justice system for all the abuse they experience," she said. And Sarah Green from the End Violence Against Women Coalition said that victims need a wide range of supportive services including the ability to take their ex-partners to court. “The impacts of revenge porn can be devastating, from the impact on your everyday life of work and relationships, to the feeling of violation and abuse," she said, and called for victims to receive support regardless of "whether or not they report to the police”. |
| Peace groups out on Armed Forces’ Day Posted: 15 Jul 2014 04:36 AM PDT
The UK government's relatively new celebration of all things military was marked by events across Scotland. As the Army, Navy, and Air Force rolled out on 28 June to encourage blind loyalty to flags and uniforms, so too did the peace movement to show that not everyone is in love with the morbid machinery of militarisation. In Stirling, around 40 picketed the national Armed Forces' Day event. The counter-demonstration was mostly made up of affiliates to the nascent Scottish Peace Network, including a sizable delegation from the Faslane Peace Camp. Concerns about possible ill-will from supporters of the military procession through the city proved largely ill-founded, and protestors had few problems dispensing a considerable number of leaflets with the prominent, and promising, heading of 'No More War'. The text highlighted the massive cost of the whole-day Armed Forces event, estimated at £500,000 to the local authority and corporate sponsors, as well as its timing – 82 days prior to the referendum on Scottish independence and coincidental with a two-day event in Stirling commemorating the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. The insensitivity of celebrating warfare in the context of ongoing campaigns and their bloody fall-out was also noted. These messages were sympathetically received by nearly all those who deigned to comment, showing that what seems superficially to be a token presence can in fact be an important reflection of unspoken sentiment. Altogether, this first sortie for the Scottish Peace Network as a group boded well for future joint operations. Edinburgh saw the exposure of months of work as a patchwork pink scarf was unrolled over 900 metres of the city’s Royal Mile. Knitters from around the country contributed to Wool Against Weapons, which easily upstaged a low-key Armed Forces' Day event in the city. Impressive as it is, this scarf represents a mere component of the full seven-mile train which will stretch between Atomic Weapons Establishments (AWE) Burghfield and Aldermaston in August. In Glasgow four members of the hitherto-secretive White Feather Collective overcame both vertigo and a newly-installed steel door to adorn the Finnieston Crane with a succinct rejection of warfare and capital. Banner dropped, the four remained in situ for around twelve hours, subject to close police attention while soldiers advertised killing machines to kids in Glasgow’s George Square. On their descent, the team was taken into custody and held until late on 30 June to appear in court. Despite an attempt to ban them from the city of Glasgow for the duration of the Commonwealth Games, which start on 23 July, they are now free until trial in October, unless they breach bail by going within 50 metres of the crane in question. Speaking from the top of the crane, protestor Frida Grey told STV: “When children in Scotland go to see tanks and bombs today in Stirling that’s part of the normalisation of military culture. “We’ve been engaging with police all morning and explained we want to stay here for Armed Forces Day. This is a peaceful protest about getting a message out. “I would encourage people to think more carefully about celebrating military culture. “There is sacrifice and commitment from people in the Forces, but we have to work towards a demilitarised future.” |
| Call for gender equality in five years Posted: 15 Jul 2014 01:09 AM PDT
The European Women's Lobby (EWL) has called on the new President of the European Commission to designate a Commissioner for women's rights and gender equality to achieve gender equality in the next five years. The EWL is the largest umbrella organisation of women's associations in the European Union working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men. EWL membership extends to organisations in all 28 EU member states and three candidate countries, as well as to 21 European-wide bodies, representing a total of more than 2000 organisations. They recently sent Jean-Claude Juncker, the newly designated President of the European Commission, an open letter: ‘Dear Mr Juncker, The European Women's Lobby (EWL), the largest coalition of women's organisations in the European Union, comprising of members in all EU Member States and three accession countries, would like to congratulate you on your recent nomination as the next President of the European Commission which is the result of the democratic outcome of the European Parliament elections. Women represent more than half of the European population and yet continue to be under-represented in decision making at all levels. We hope that you will take this reality into due consideration at the beginning and for the duration of your five-year mandate. Indeed, in your response to our Manifesto published in the run up to the European elections, you committed to take account of gender equality when designing the political programme of the Commission after the European elections. In order to help you to live up to your promise, we call on you to designate a Commissioner for women's rights and gender equality, to ensure that the Treaty obligations (TFEU articles, 2, 3§3, 8, 157) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights (article 23) are fully complied with to guarantee equality of outcome between women and men. Furthermore, we call on you to ensure that the new College of Commissioners respects the fundamental values of the EU, both in terms of gender parity in the College, and in terms of values shared by all Commissioners, including equality between women and men and women's human rights. Gender equality is a cross-cutting issue that impacts on every area of policy and competence of the European Union. The European Union has been instrumental in advancing women's rights and gender equality over the past decades: both in Europe and beyond. However, we are now faced with a backlash that is jeopardising the gains that have been made for women's rights and gender equality in Europe. Rising conservative and religious forces and far right political actors are impacting negatively on women's rights and are calling into question the very notion of rights – especially sexual and reproductive rights – that were hard fought for by previous generations of women and men. As a matter of urgency, we understand that the Commission is considering withdrawing the pending proposal to strengthen maternity leave and rights of women who have recently given birth and/or breastfeeding, referred to as the Maternity Leave Directive. Let us remind you that this proposal was adopted by a large majority of the European Parliament on 20 October 2010, and in accordance with the procedure, was sent to the Council for its opinion which never materialised. Therefore it was the Member States that refused to enter into the second reading phase. The decision to withdraw this Directive is scandalous as potential and pregnant women workers are being taken hostage but so too are men as the proposed directive also includes provisions on paternity leave, as there is no European directive on this form of leave. Such a move is sending a very bad signal to the women of Europe, at a time when women and men's confidence in Europe is low, as they question how the European Union impacts on their daily lives. Contrary to reaching out to all women and men of Europe, women are being singled out in a trade-off of 'good management', which we consider to part of the backlash on women's rights. We did not however expect the Commission, which traditionally has supported women's rights, to take such a stance. In your capacity as the future President of the Commission, we call on you to reject this proposal to withdraw the Maternity Leave Directive, immediately reinstate the proposal and to give your full commitment to reaching a decision with the Council. Over and above this particular matter, the current crisis is particularly hitting women hard. Austerity measures that result in public sector job losses, wage freezes, reductions and closures in public services, including childcare, elderly and dependent persons care, and health care impact disproportionately on women both as the majority of public sector workers and as the prime users of public services. Women still earn on average 16 per cent less than their male counterparts in the EU. Many women in Europe today have no pension and those that do are faced with an average 39 per cent pension gap in comparison to men which means that women, especially older women, are far more likely to live in poverty. Women's employment rate lags behind men's despite the European objective to reach a 75 per cent employment rate for both women and men by 2020. Women are four times more likely to work part time than men. This is primarily for reasons of care responsibilities, due to a large extent to rigid gender roles which should be steered to enable both women and men to become equal carers and equal workers throughout their lives. Women represent 60 per cent of university graduates but continue to be confined in low pay jobs and in limited sectors of the economy characterised by poor career prospects, high patterns of part time work, and poor working conditions. Almost one quarter of young women between the ages of 25 and 29 are not in employment, education, nor training (NEETS). Women are still greatly under-represented in research and innovation; only 20 per cent of top level academics are women and only one out of ten universities in the European Union has a female Rector. Women continue to be underrepresented in decision-making posts both in political, public and private life. 36.8 per cent women were elected to the European Parliament in 2014, a very slight increase (1.7 per cent) since 2009. However, women's representation in national parliaments is lower at 22 per cent and 26 per cent in national governments. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the single most important factor shaping migrants experiences is gender, more important than their country of origin or destination, their age, class, race or culture and therefore, affects many policies not only in the field of migration. In addition to these figures, the first EU wide survey on violence against women, carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) shows shocking results: among 42,000 women interviewed, 33 per cent i.e. ONE in THREE, experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15 and one in 20 women (5 per cent) has been raped. The European Commission's 2013 annual report on equality between women and men shows that if policies remain unchanged, it will take over 100 years to achieve gender equality in Europe. You have the possibility to make significant steps to reverse this in the coming five years. Recent trends across the EU show a worrying disengagement of citizens in politics and in the European Project. We believe that if Europe is to reconnect with the citizens it needs to demonstrate clearly the ways in which the EU can make a difference in people's day to day lives: delivering rights, equality and justice for all. We have no doubt that you will agree that the time has come for a more robust political leadership to make equality between women and men a reality now. The women of Europe expect nothing less and will remain vigilant now and over the coming years. We trust you will give your utmost attention to our call to designate a European Commissioner for women's rights and gender equality to give political leadership to achieve gender equality within the term of your mandate. This is an essential step to guarantee more visibility to the active role of women and their right to be equal to men within a society based on democracy, social justice, human rights and dignity. Yours sincerely, Joanna Maycock, Secretary General, European Women's Lobby’ |
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