Saturday, February 11, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

UK prime minister has not “ruled out” boardroom quotas

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST

Rachel Ogbu
WVoN co-editor 

David Cameron, the UK prime minister, has told leaders of eight Nordic and Baltic countries at a summit in Sweden that he would not “rule out” quotas as a way of getting more women into the boardrooms of British companies.

He said he would consider the option if ”if we cannot get there by other means”, and promised to look at how Nordic and Baltic countries have approached the issue.

Accepting that the “case is overwhelming that companies and countries run better if you have men and women working together at the top”, he indicated that he would like to see at least 30 per cent of women on British boards.

According to Board Watch (which tracks the appointment of women to UK boards), 15 per cent of directors on FTSE 100 boards are now women, compared to 12.5 per cent in February 2011.

In his report published in February 2011, Lord Davies of Abersoch recommended a figure of 25 per cent of women on boards of FTSE 100 companies by 2015 (see WVoN coverage).

Afghanistan women struggle with opium addiction

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 06:30 AM PST

Brogan Driscoll
WVoN co-editor 

While the subject of Afghanistan’s opium addiction has been the subject of much media attention, the fact that there is only one treatment centre specifically designed for women in the entire country has not.

The Sanga Amaj Women’s Drug Treatment Center is based in Kabul, in the east of Afghanistan.

Since it opened in 2007, the centre has seen over 850 women through its 45-day treatment programme.

It is thought that the total number of people addicted to opium in the country is in excess of one million. Many of these are women and children, and the numbers are rising quickly.

Given that it is the world’s biggest producer of heroin and opium, it is not surprising that drugs in Afghanistan are not only readily available but are much cheaper than medicine or food.

In a country ransacked by poverty and war, children are reportedly given opium pellets to suppress hunger or to ease pain. Many children are born addicts due to their mother’s drug use during pregnancy.

And it is not uncommon, according to a recent report by the Voluntary Association of Agriculture General Development, Health and Reconstruction Alliance, for women working in mining or stone crushing units to give opium to their babies to keep them quiet while they are working.

This is not the only way the country’s growing opium addiction is affecting Afghanistan’s women.

Author Fariba Nawa described in her book, Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman’s Journey, the tragic story of a young girl betrothed to a man over 30 years her senior to pay off her father’s opium debt (see WVoN story).

Clinton urged to support UN call to end female genital mutilation

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST

Faye Mooney
WVoN co-editor

Two politicians from the US Congress have urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to support a United Nations (UN) resolution seeking to ban female genital mutilation (FGM) worldwide.

The UN proposal calls on all countries to ban FGM at home so that there would be no point in transporting girls abroad to have them cut, and to support community-based outreach and educational efforts.

In a letter signed by 18 politicians, Democrat Joe Crowley and Republican Mary Bono Mack asked the Secretary of State to ensure that the US "lends its name to this effort and press for passage of such a resolution".

The authors of the letter believe that by passing the resolution "the global community will send a strong and unified message that FGM is harmful to women and girls and an unacceptable practice in the 21st century".

The call came on International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (February 6).

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines FGM as "procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons".

The letter refers to concerning WHO figures, which estimate that "130-140 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM, and up to two million girls – or 6,000 a day – are threatened with FGM each year".

FGM has been illegal in theUnited States since 1966. Crowley and Bono Mack last year authored legislation that would make it a federal crime to transport a minor outside the US for FGM.

 

New pensions plans could exclude women says TUC

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 04:00 AM PST

Faye Mooney
WVoN co-editor

The new UK government 'auto-enrolment' pension scheme  could exclude nearly two million women, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

The scheme, which starts in October this year, will require employers to automatically enrol all eligible employees onto a workplace pension, unless the employee decides to opt out.

The TUC has urged the government to freeze the current trigger threshold at £7,500. The government has been consulting on whether to raise it to £10,000,  in line with the increase in the personal income tax allowance.

The TUC argue that this move could lead to the exclusion of 1.8 million women from the auto-enrolment scheme.

Their figures suggest that the one in seven women who currently earn more than £7,500 a year but less than £10,000 would no longer be eligible for auto-enrolment, thus  finding themselves 'locked out' of the pension scheme.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that raising the earnings trigger  "would be disastrous if it had the unintended consequence of excluding a significant proportion of women workers from pensions saving."

Although about 500,000 male workers would also be affected, women are at greatest risk as they are most likely to be amongst the lowest earners.

Ros Altmann, director general of Saga, told the BBC that many women already lose out when it comes to pensions, as time taken off work to raise a family can hinder career development and reduce the amount women can afford to put away for their retirement.

In addition, the next five years will see the biggest ever changes to women’s pensions, with the state retirement age increasing from 60 to 66, and a reduction in benefits due to government cuts.

Some believe that these changes will disadvantage women.

Altmann said “The proposals are completely unfair. People need ten years’ notice of a one-year rise in their pension age if they are going to have time to adjust. These women are getting six or seven years’ notice of a two-year change.”

 

Story links, February 10, 2012

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 02:30 AM PST

Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting.

They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old.

The following are the ones we’ve found today.

Story links:

£1.2m funding for girl gang member rape victims, BBC, February 10, 2012

NGOs hailed over motherhood bill, Daily News, February 9, 2012

Is womanhood a sign of failure, Daily Trust, February 10, 2012

GPA monitors witness brutal police assault on WOZA members, SWRadio Africa, February 8, 2012

History of women in combat still being written slowly, New York Times, February 9, 2012

Teenage girl from Afghanistan to box at Olympics, Associated Press, February 10, 2012

More women needed in ‘identikit boardrooms’ says CEO, CNN, February 9, 2012

Santorum says ‘other types of emotions’ could preclude women in combat, Washington Post, February 9, 2012

Dying for lack of reproductive healthcare, IRIN, February 10, 2012

World Bank and Fotopedia launch ‘Women of the World’ app

Posted: 10 Feb 2012 12:50 AM PST

Alexandra Szydlowska
WVoN co-editor

The World Bank and Fotopedia have collaborated on a new app called ‘Women of the World’, allowing iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to catch a glimpse into the lives of women around the world.

The free app, which was launched earlier this week, provides access to hundreds of stirring images put together by French photojournalist Olivier Martel, who travelled to more than 75 countries to photograph women struggling – or succeeding – in their social environment.

These include images of a bride at her wedding in Singapore, women minesweeping the fields of Cambodia, girl soldiers in Mozambique and nuns in a convent in France.

In Martel’s own words: “These topics require a persistent but discrete approach, determination, and a lot of patience. This work is about giving women the opportunity to share their hopes and daily struggles, and giving them their dignity in a photographic homage that takes the form of a search for beauty.”

The creation of the app is part of the World Bank’s #thinkEQUAL campaign to increase awareness of gender inequality around the globe.

“We hope these images inspire women to act,” says Jeni Klugman, the World Bank’s Director of Gender and Development.

“Much has improved but in many parts of the world women’s rights and opportunities remain very constrained. This inequality is very unfair and it is bad economics. It hampers poverty reduction and limits development.”

You can download ‘Women of the World’ for free here.