Women's Views on News |
- Gender and climate justice meeting
- How to take back the tech when trolls appear
- Invisible impairments at work: new guide
| Gender and climate justice meeting Posted: 04 Dec 2015 10:47 AM PST
On 28 November, two days before the start of the Climate Summit COP21, women's organisations and feminists met in Paris to discuss the links between climate justice and women's human rights. Organised by the French Group Gender and Climate Justice, the day was a great opportunity to give visibility to women's contribution to climate justice, learn from innovative actions in different parts of the world, make contacts and build strategies. The European Women's Lobby (EWL) and its French member CLEF were active participants. In the morning, several interventions gave a concrete overview of the challenges and opportunities when it comes to women's rights and climate justice, including the links with the new Sustainable Development Goals presented by @WECF. Presentations from the Philippines and Bahrain were great examples of innovative youth mobilisation (@AYCM) and creative women's actions to bring change and hope after climate disaster (@APWLD). Pierrette Pape presented EWL's demands for COP21 which are based on EWL report on Beijing+20 and the outcomes of EWL webinar on women and the environment, and include the challenges faced by women and girls in Europe specifically. EWL's main statements are: when women's human rights are not guaranteed, women don't have the possibility to explore their potential and to act for climate justice; the current degradation of the environment is similar, in its values and spirit, to the global exploitation of women; we need a new economic, social, political and human paradigm, which puts people and care first. Pape mentioned the new publication of Friends of the Earth, 'Why women will save the planet', to call for more collaboration between feminist and environmental groups and says: "achieving gender equality is vital if we are to protect the environment upon which we all depend; social justice and environment sustainability are two sides of the same coin". Pape also highlighted that all current global challenges are interlinked (climate change, migration, population, conflicts and wars, education, inequalities, consumption….), and that women, who are half the population, have a say to build at least half the future! In the afternoon, several workshops brought concrete recommendations in terms of production and consumption, austerity and alternative feminist ecology, women's rights and climate justice, resources and peace, social inequalities and climate change. The EWL co-facilitated the session on women's rights, together with CLEF, Planning Familial and Femm'Ecolos. After discussing the key women's rights affected by climate change, and needed for climate justice, the group proposed creative citizens' actions and developed recommendations around education, women's sexual and reproductive rights, freedom, collective mobilisation, and tree planting actions. Several citoyens' mobilisations will take place during COP21, including a Global Village on Climate and a special feminist moment on 6 December. There will also be a Women's Assembly on 8 December in Paris, during 4 days of 'Climate Action Zone'. |
| How to take back the tech when trolls appear Posted: 04 Dec 2015 10:34 AM PST
What is trolling and who are these trolls? There is a point at which a certain group of people decide that you have too much influence and make it their mission to silence or discredit you. This is commonly referred to as “trolling,” and the attacks are usually targeted in nature. A troll’s tactics can include anything from sending constant derogatory and belittling messages to editing and distributing offensive images, and even making threats. They may go beyond misogynistic trolling and become are abusers, harassers and stalkers. It is important to distinguish between generic trolling and gendertrolling. Karla Mantilla defines "gendertrolling" as different from the usual "annoying or disruptive" troll behaviour and connects it to male entitlement. She writes, "Gendertrolling is far more vicious, threatening and pervasive, and often enduring than generic trolling." She goes on to say that unlike "generic trolls, [these people] take their cause seriously, so they are therefore able to rally others who share in their convictions to take up the effort alongside them resulting in a mob, or swarm, of gendertrolls who are devoted to targeting the designated person." When women claim their space online, there is push back by gendertrolls. They seem to have a lot of time on their hands, a lot of anger towards women and very little respect for anyone else’s right to express themselves freely and without harassment. Fortunately, there are many examples of women taking back the tech by occupying public online space, including #blacklivesmatter in the US, #deepdives in India and #FeministWhileAfrican. Feminists and activists need to respond swiftly to online violence and attempts to silence us. Our organisations, movements and allies need to support the digital security of women's rights defenders online. It’s truly time to #TakeBackTheTech and #ImagineAFeministInternet. Strategies for dealing with trolls: Here are some strategies we’ve put together from the experiences of women’s rights and internet rights activists in the Take Back the Tech! Digital Safety Roadmap and Toolkit and the Tactical Tech collaborative manual "Zen and the art of making tech work for you." There is no ideal response that suits everyone. Our online lives are a continuum of our offline lives, and our contexts and realities vary. Choose a strategy that suits your reality. Sometimes we decide to deal with abusive trolls because they are attacking us personally and/or our organisations and we want to support our allies. Think carefully about the resources you share with them. The aim is to challenge their lack of knowledge, but by doing this you might call their attention to other people/organisations that will then come under attack. Other things to think about when selecting a strategy: Do you want to use your real identity to expose and engage with them? Do you have the time to document and report the abuse? Don’t let them push you offline, silence you and make you feel like you can’t experience the internet as yours. Speak to friends, ask for assistance. Getting others to witness and support you is important and can help you feel more secure in taking action. Remember that you are not alone. Document what you can. Keep evidence in case you need to report the abuse. Save the tweets and the twitter names of the trollers. Remember that screenshots are not acceptable evidence for all platforms, so ask friends to help you document tweets. Ignore them. Trolls want attention and often want to escalate the abuse. You don’t have to respond! Block them. Projects like Block Together and Block Bot allow people who are harassed to share their block lists with each other. Twitter also enables sharing of block lists. This means you don’t have to see harassment and trolling. Keep in mind that trolls may create numerous different profiles to continue the harassment, and this means blocking has to keep up with their new accounts. Also, blocking means you can’t see how serious the attack might be getting. Report them. Social media platforms take misogynistic hate speech more seriously than they used to, although their responses are still far from ideal and skewed towards the Northern-based, English-speaking population. You can learn about Twitter reporting here and Facebook here. Expose them. Tweet out their hashtags and handles and say what they are doing. Note that this does not mean doxxing, or revealing personal information about them. It simply means revealing their behaviour. You can create secondary accounts to avoid having your real identity trolled. Engage them. If you feel so inclined, push back against the trolls. Tweet out resources and statements on the reality of online violence against women and highlight the importance of feminism, technology and women's rights online. At the end of this document, you will find resources you can tweet. Another way to engage is to support people being targeted by joining others in responding to trolls and harassers with feminist messaging and simply tweeting support to the person being targeted. Using this strategy is best if you create secondary accounts to avoid having your real identity trolled. Go anonymous. If you are feeling particularly vulnerable, rather than going offline, become anonymous. This means you can keep your real identity private and still take action. At the most basic level, you can create new Twitter accounts that are not publicly associated with your personal details or contacts and support the campaign from that handle. If you want to go totally anonymous online, find out more here. Strategies for online security and offline wellness: Change your passwords to passphrases. Change them regularly, particularly when you are experiencing abuse or are pushing back against trolls. Keep your passphrases safe! Find more here. Explore security tools. Take Back the Tech! has developed a Safety Toolkit where we recommend tried and tested tools for keeping your computer and mobile phone as secure as possible. You can choose the tools you need to protect yourself online. Make self-care a priority. Violence aims to undermine your confidence, your sense of well-being and your ability to be an active, engaged member of society. By taking care of yourself, you are using a critical form of resistance, regaining control of your life and beginning the healing process. Here are some self-care suggestions. Resources to tweet On technology-related violence against women "End violence" research site – Explore the road from impunity to justice Digital safety roadmap on blackmail Digital safety roadmap on cyberstalking Digital safety roadmap on hate speech On gender and technology Feminist Principles of the Internet Tweets for women: Reflections on challenging misogyny online How technology issues impact women’s rights: 10 points on Section J. For more info about dealing with trolls, click here. A version of this post appeared on the Take Back the Tech site on 27 November 2015 as part of their 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, 25 November – 10 December 2015, project. |
| Invisible impairments at work: new guide Posted: 04 Dec 2015 04:20 AM PST
To coincide with the International Day of Disabled People on 3 December the TUC has published a good practice guide for workplace representatives to help them support trade union members with invisible impairments. Most disabled people do not have visible signs of impairment, such as the use of a mobility aid. And if a person's impairment is not visibly obvious, their right to reasonable adjustments to aid their access to work may not be as readily recognised. In some cases, a person's impairment may even be treated with disbelief by colleagues and managers. The TUC’s guide 'You Don't Look Disabled' provides information on the role that trade unions can play, the equality laws that support disabled workers and case studies that show how problems can be addressed to stop or prevent discrimination. But please bear this in mind when reading the guide: The TUC has for many years supported the Social Model of disability which is the reverse of the medicalised approach contained in UK law. The social model sees the disability not in the "defect" of the individual, but in the barriers put up by society that interact with the individual's impairment to deny them access or participation. The social model is also used in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by the UK government, but which has not led to a change in the definition of disability contained in UK law. TUC guidance is therefore obliged to use the language of the medical model because this reflects what is found in the law. TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Disabled people have a much lower employment rate than non-disabled people, and not only face barriers getting a job but can encounter problems staying in work. "There is still a long way to go before genuine equality is achieved for access to work, and treatment at work. "To make progress, it is important to address popular stereotypes of disability that rarely fit the reality of individual lives. "We hope that the TUC guidebook will have practical value in every workplace. "Some of the prejudice that needs to be addressed results from lack of understanding, so a great deal can be achieved through workplace education. "But for problems of deeper rooted, and institutional discrimination, the guidebook also covers the legal framework for pursuing just outcomes for disabled people. "By joining a trade union, disabled people can get help representing their interests at work." |
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