Women's Views on News |
| Young Women’s Trust: report out Posted: 02 Dec 2015 05:46 AM PST
Almost 100 years after women first got the vote in Britain, too many young women are – still – facing a bleak future, and in stark contrast to women over the age of 31 they feel that traditionally male roles are beyond their reach. 'The Clock Turns Back for Young Women' is the Young Women's Trust's first annual report on the realities of young women’s lives in the 21st century. And is has shown that young women are considerably more likely than women over 31 to think that many traditionally male roles are out of their reach: 52 per cent of young women think that men are more suited to be electricians, compared to 26 per cent of older women and 66 per cent of older women think that being a plumber is equally suitable for young men and young women but only 40 per cent of younger women agree with them. Around one in three (31 per cent) young women said they thought young men are better suited to being IT technicians compared to 10 per cent of older women who think the same. It also showed that twice as many young women than men are considered to be economically inactive; four out of ten young women (39 per cent) worry about not having enough paid working hours; 1 in 5 young women have been offered zero-hour contracts and 20 per cent of young women have been offered jobs paying less than the minimum wage. And one in five young women with caring responsibilities say their role as a parent or carer meant they were not able to go to university or college. The realities of young women’s lives in the 21st century. The Trust has several recommendations. The government should: Ensure improved recruitment practices so that more young women apply for all types of employment; Ensure that genuine and greater flexible working conditions are offered to those with caring responsibilities; Ensure that women have a positive experience when working in male dominated fields by taking a strong stance on bullying and harassment; Ensure young women are paid at least the National Minimum Wage; Ensure that pay is the same rates for all apprentices; and Extend the provision of free child-care so that young mothers can afford to study or work. The Young Women's Trust (YWT) is a charity that supports – and represents – over one million women aged 16-30 trapped by low or no pay and facing a life of poverty, providing services and runs campaigns aiming to make sure that young women's talents don’t go to waste. Dr Carole Easton, the Trust‘s chief executive, said: "This is not just Generation Austerity – for young women this is a generation where the clock is being turned back on the progress made for women's equality of opportunity. "Young women are struggling to get into the job market and too many are stuck on low pay or no pay. "With their choices limited they are being forced back into traditional roles with few opportunities to enter and progress in the job market. "Despite what they really want to do, staying at home may be their only option and they know it. "YWT is calling for improved recruitment and employment practices to attract and retain young women in a broader range of employment opportunities." To see the full report, click here. |
| Equality now: it is our future Posted: 02 Dec 2015 05:12 AM PST
On this year's International Day to End Violence Against Women, the European Women's Lobby (EWL) called – once more – on the European Commission and the European Union Member States to deliver a concrete and ambitious new EU Strategy for Equality between women and men. Equality between women and men is one of the European Union’s founding values. It goes back to 1957 when the principle of equal pay for equal work became part of the Treaty of Rome. The European Union’s achievements in fostering equality between women and men have helped to change the lives of many European citizens for the better, and although inequalities still exist, the EU has made significant progress over the last decades. This is mainly thanks to equal treatment legislation; gender mainstreaming (integration of the gender perspective into all other policies); and specific measures for the advancement of women. Some encouraging trends include the increased number of women in the labour market and their progress in securing better education and training. However, gender gaps remain and in the labour market, women are still over-represented in lower paid sectors and under-represented in decision-making positions. The Strategy for equality between women and men represents the European Commission’s work programme on gender equality for the period 2010-2015. It was a comprehensive framework committing the Commission to promote gender equality in all its policies for the following thematic priorities: equal economic independence for women and men; equal pay for work of equal value; equality in decision-making; dignity, integrity and ending gender-based violence; promoting gender equality beyond the EU; and horizontal issues (gender roles, including the role of men, legislation and governance tools). The strategy highlighted the contribution of gender equality to economic growth and sustainable development, and supported the implementation of the gender equality dimension in the Europe 2020 Strategy. And it built on the priorities of the Women’s Charter and on the experience of the Roadmap for equality between women and men. Progress was reported every year and presented in a Report on Equality between women and men. But it ends soon. Using a social media action under the hashtag #ourfuture, the EWL wants to highlight that the current strategy ends in December 2015 and that no plans for 2016 have been officially announced. The EWL wants an EU strategy for equality between women and men because… And as EWL wrote in April, it is high time to transform words into action. The EU strategy should be the instrument of the EU commitment to equality between women and men as a stand-alone goal for the European Union. The strategy should make clear the vision of a Europe realising equality between women and men and promoting women's and girls' human rights. Such a vision should build on the values of the EU and on the universal and un-negotiable principles that the Member States share through their endorsement of international women's human rights instruments. And it should be consistent with the EU’s external actions on equality between women and men. The vision should ensure that the European Union and its Member States COMMIT to the realisation of women and girls' human rights, ACCELERATE the implementation of existing legislation and the adoption of new instruments, and INVEST in women's rights and women's organisations. Based on this vision, the strategy should propose clear objectives and indicators and targets to bring about positive change for women and girls in Europe. These objectives and goals should be based on the 12 critical areas identified by the Beijing Platform for Action, in order to encompass all the challenges and opportunities, for the realisation of girls' and women's human rights and equality between women and men in Europe. Such objectives and goals must be defined in accordance with the work and analysis of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE); the calls of the European Parliament (especially through its annual report on equality between women and men in the European Union) and the demands of the women's organisations working at local, national and European levels. The EWL will continue to call for concrete action by the European Union to provide a strong architecture for women's human rights and mechanisms for the systematic implementation of gender mainstreaming. Join in! To find EWL's factsheet on violence against women in Europe, click here. Share EWL's visuals with hashtag #ourfuture |
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