Women's Views on News |
| Challenge poverty: start this week Posted: 14 Oct 2014 04:27 AM PDT
Challenge Poverty Week – 12-18 October 2014 – is an opportunity for us all to help fight poverty and hardship in Scotland. The main aims of the week are to highlight the reality of poverty and challenge the stereotypes about exist about it; demonstrate what is being done across Scotland to address poverty; increase public support for more action to combat poverty and to show the impact of poverty on individuals and communities and address the stereotypes that exist about poverty. The Poverty Alliance grew out of an informal network of groups and individuals active since the mid 1980s and was formally established in 1992. Made up of a wide range of organisations including grassroots community groups, individuals facing poverty, voluntary organisations, statutory organisations, policy makers and academics, the Poverty Alliance now acts as the national anti-poverty network in Scotland, working with voluntary organisations, policy makers and politicians at Scottish, UK and European levels. In 2012/13, 16 per cent of the people in Scotland were living in poverty; that is more than 800,000 people. For the Poverty Alliance ‘poverty’ is relative and can only be understood in relation to the standards of living in a society at a particular time. Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of income, but is also about what that lack of income implies: the inability to access a diet that provides for good health, or to secure decent housing, or to be able to take full advantages of the opportunities of education, living a shorter life and working longer hours. And while poverty is about living with the effects of material disadvantage, it is also relates to aspects which are non-material – the inability to participate fully in society, to being treated as less or second class, to experiencing discrimination and stigma. The Poverty Alliance believes that the fundamental drivers of poverty are structural rather than individual, and that in seeking solutions to poverty we must focus on addressing structural causes rather than perceived personal failings. Over the last few months Scottish Women's Aid has been working with members of campaigners Together We Can Stop It to look at the impact of welfare reform on the women and children they support – and on the services they provide. What has become clear when mapping these issues is that poverty is extremely gendered. Women on average have less income, less access to resources and assets – such as housing – or less financial independence than men – and financial control is a significant factor in domestic abuse. Women have more responsibility for child care – 95 per cent of lone parents are women – and women provide the majority of care for older relatives and so women are consequently more reliant on the welfare benefits system than men. Benefits make up 20 per cent of the average woman's income, compared to 10 per cent for men in the UK. And 74 per cent of the £14.9 billion worth of cuts made since 2010 to benefits, tax credits, pay and pensions has been taken from women's incomes. So although shocking it is not altogether surprising that Women's Aid groups in Scotland are reporting they increasingly refer women to food banks and that many Women's Aid groups have cobbled together 'destitution funds' to ensure women's basic needs for fuel, clothing, toiletries, nappies, transport and housing costs are met. In mapping how widely changes to the benefits system have affected women, what has become obvious is that they have created further barriers for women leaving an abusive partner and made it much more difficult for women and children to rebuild their lives. Over the coming year Together We Can Stop It will be working with Women's Aid groups to highlight the impact of these changes and challenge the poverty faced by women and children who have experienced domestic abuse. Creating decent work and providing dignity for those who cannot work is at the heart of the battle against austerity and tackling inequality. As part of Challenge Poverty Week, trade union members and community activists from across Scotland will be coming together on Glasgow Green on 18 October to march to George Square to say 'It's time to create a Just Scotland'. For details of this march and rally and for other events going on during Challenge Poverty Week, click here. |
| Abortion consultation in Northern Ireland Posted: 14 Oct 2014 01:30 AM PDT Northern Ireland’s Minister of Justice, Alliance Party leader David Ford, MLA, has published a consultation paper on proposals to amend the criminal law on abortion to allow for termination of pregnancy in cases of lethal foetal abnormality and sexual crime. As this news was announced, Ford said: "In recent years we have heard some very sad personal stories of difficult pregnancies where the current law in Northern Ireland did not allow for abortion. "I consider now is the right time to look at the criminal law to consider whether it should be lawful to have an abortion in circumstances where there is no prospect of the foetus being delivered and having a viable life. "Pregnancies which result from sexual crime, such as rape or incest, will also be considered under the consultation. "This is a very emotive area and I want to clearly state that this consultation paper in no way represents proposals for abortion on demand. "It is not about the wider issues of abortion law, often labelled 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice'. "It is about considering legislative changes in two specific sets of circumstances. "On lethal foetal abnormality, the paper recommends a proposal to allow clinical judgement to determine when a foetal condition is incompatible with life, meaning that no treatment will be offered after birth, as it is deemed impossible to improve the chances of survival. "This would enable a woman to decide at the point when such a judgement is made, usually at the 20 week scan, whether or not she wanted to continue with the pregnancy. "The second circumstance on which we want to hear views is to provide women, who have become pregnant as a result of a sexual crime, with a choice of terminating such a pregnancy. "The consultation offers the opportunity for individuals, support groups, politicians and anyone with an interest in this subject to express their views on what changes, if any, should be made to the law." To see the consultation paper click here. The consultation period closes on 17 January 2015. |
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