Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

British canoeist challenges gender inequality at London Olympics

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 07:30 AM PDT

Suzannah von Strandmann
WVoN co-editor

Last month British canoeist Samantha Rippington launched a High Court challenge over the exclusion of women’s canoeing events from the London Olympic schedule.

Eton Dorney has seen tense women’s finals in both rowing and kayaking, making the decision to exclude women from competing in the canoe events seemingly inexplicable.

Gender equality has been given a high profile at this year’s Games. Not only is it the first time in Olympic history that all Olympic Committees have submitted female participants, but the first women’s boxing medal was won by Britain’s Nicola Adams.

Critics of the appeal have suggested that there are simply not sufficient numbers of female participants to sustain women’s canoeing as an Olympic discipline.

However Rippington, who also works as a PE teacher, suggests that this is a circular argument: “Not being an Olympic sport means lower levels of funding, support and training opportunities than the men, which makes progression, both individually and in terms of the sport itself, very difficult.”

Rippington and her canoeing partner Lisa Suttle have just returned from the Women’s Canoe Cup, where they won medals in both the individual and double events.

You can add your support to WomenCAN International‘s burgeoning Facebook campaign for Gender Equality in Olympic Canoeing here.

Sky TV: new telephone number for domestic abuse survivors

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT

Jane Osmond
WVoN co-editor 

Two weeks ago I wrote about the setting up of a domestic abuse centre near the London 2012 Olympic Stadium in response to figures that show that domestic abuse increases around major sporting events.

As a result of this story I began to think about what happens to the brave women* who manage to get away from their abusive situations. For instance, how do they cope with the financial disentanglement, particularly when they choose to remain in their homes rather than fleeing to other accommodation?

I contacted three women who had suffered abusive relationships and were left to pick up the financial pieces.

For Lesley**, this disentanglement included trying to take over an existing Sky TV subscription, which had been in her ex-partner's name, although she had paid the bills.  Moreover, she owned the house that carried the subscription.

On contacting Sky TV to try to achieve the changeover, she was told that she could not take over the account. Her only option was to contact her ex-partner to ask him to cancel it.  At this point she could then set up a new account.

On explaining that she did not wish to contact her ex-partner due to the possibility of a resumption of the abuse, she was told that she could let the account lapse and Sky would then pursue him via debt collectors for the outstanding arrears.

“Again, I was worried that this would incite his anger, so I refused to accept this option, ” Lesley explained.

For Val**, the debts were a result of her ex-partner refusing to pay his way during the relationship:

“My ex’s financial abuse was more about not wanting to pay to cover his share of childcare after school whilst I was at work and him asking for financial compensation to offset his lack of ability to save money whilst I was at home looking after our daughter when she was a baby.”

Whereas for Sue**, the impact included damage within the marital home:

“Then there is the damage to property. My kitchen is workable but doors fall off all the time, there are no tiles because he ripped the sink unit off the wall, flooded the kitchen and the tiles went with it. Doors still have punch holes in them.”

This struggle with finances is apparently only the tip of the iceberg for women who find themselves trying to sort out money after they have extracted themselves from a domestic abuse situation.

Known as financial abuse, in some cases the difficulties experienced in trying to cope financially can result in women remaining in or resuming an abusive relationship.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a significant proportion of women who return to [an abusive] relationship attribute their inability to deal with their finances as a major contributing factor. Often the abuser has all of the economic and social standing and complete control over the family finances.

This is echoed by Women's Aid, who commented:

‘In Women's Aid's experience, financial abuse is a common feature of domestic abuse and many survivors face financial difficulties as a consequence. These can act as a barrier to making the final decision to leave an abusive relationship and/or to making a fresh start after escaping from abuse.

When any victim does leave an abusive relationship, they are statistically at greater risk of harm at this point – it is crucial therefore, that service providers do not underestimate this risk and place further barriers to disengagement from the abuser.’

The financial barriers include lack of access to cash and being unable to access joint bank accounts and credit cards – a serious problem, in particular for women who have dependent children, who may well be in low paid employment, if at all. For women who flee their homes, they have the added problems of having to negotiate with the benefit system to secure somewhere to live.

The consequences, outlined in a Family Action report, are that women find it difficult to explain and persuade creditors to change the identification details on accounts.  As one woman comments:

“I went into [the bank] and in the end I had to explain the circumstances and they said they could freeze it but couldn't close it, not without both our signatures.”

Even worse, the report found that some women did not even want to attempt to explain their situation to creditors as they expected to be treated unsympathetically.

Going back to Lesley’s case and her response from Sky TV, I contacted them for a comment, and after some consideration, the press office gave the following statement:

“As a responsible business, we take our duty of care to our customers very seriously.  We always aim to respond to issues of a sensitive nature with flexibility and empathy.

“Unfortunately on this occasion we accept that we could have handled this better, for which we’re sorry.  We plan to publish some customer advice and guidance on our website and we would encourage any customer in similar circumstances who has a concern about their account arrangements to contact us.”

Sky TV is now to investigate Lesley’s case, but not only this, Sky TV has set up a new dedicated telephone number (see below) which will offer callers advice on a case by case basis on how to proceed if they find themselves struggling to manage their Sky TV account in the wake of a domestic abuse separation.  Further advice and guidance is to appear on their website very soon: watch this space for details.

WVoN welcomes Sky TV’s decision to address this issue: as a multi-channel broadcaster with over 10 million subscribers we anticipate that there are many women who will find that this dedicated service will at least enable them rebuild a small part of their financial lives.

For Lesley, this is welcome news:

“Sky TV have already contacted me about my situation and I am really pleased with the outcome.  I can’t tell you how good it was to have a sympathetic person on the other end of the telephone who was doing her best to help me find a solution.

“Having a dedicated telephone line for this kind of problem will make all the difference for women who are often completely traumatised by the sheer effort it takes to separate themselves from an abusive situation.”

We applaud Sky TV for taking the situation seriously: we would urge other creditors/financial institutions to do the same.

Meanwhile, women who are dealing with the consequences of domestic and financial abuse can find useful information in a guide produced by Refuge, or they can call to discuss this – and other domestic abuse related issues – on 0808 2000 247.

Sky TV dedicated telephone number: 

0844 410094

 *this article focuses on women who have suffered domestic abuse, but we recognise that this is a situation that affects men too
**all names have been changed

Journalist laments lack of femininity at Olympics, but is he alone?

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT

Suzannah von Strandmann
WVoN co-editor

A Turkish journalist caused outrage last week after writing an article -’Womanhood is dying at the Olympics’- in which he suggested that women’s participation in the Games was disfiguring the female form.

He even suggested that the more feminine looking athletes should be rewarded with points.

Making no mention of performance or athleticism, Yüksel Aytuğ has been accused of reducing female Olympians to their anatomy.

Of the women swimmers, he wrote: “Broad-shouldered, flat-chested women with small hips; [they are] totally indistinguishable from men. Their breasts – the symbol of womanhood, motherhood – flattened into stubs as they were seen as mere hindrances to speed.”

This kind of reductive assessment, however, is not news to either female sportswoman, or their commentators.

In a recent BBC documentary, British heptathlete Denise Lewis said: “Women, and women in sport, are judged on what they look like. It’s not right.”

The evidence is overwhelming.

Beth Tweddle, Britain’s first female Olympic medal winner in an individual gymnastics event, gave an almost flawless performance on the uneven bars, whilst an ignorant minority Tweeted about her attractiveness.

Gabrielle Douglas, the US gymnast and double Olympic medal winner, received criticism about her hair after an historic performance in which she became the first black woman to win the individual all-round event.

The 16-year-old responded with insight and maturity, far outweighing that of her critics. “I don’t know where this is coming from. What’s wrong with my hair? …. I just made history and people are focused on my hair?”

Female weightlifter Zoe Smith broke the British clean and jerk record for her weight division at the start of the London Olympics.

Hailed as a new ‘heroine‘ for the sport, Smith took the opportunity to “stick two fingers up” at Twitter abusers who had branded her muscular physique ‘unfeminine’ and ‘wrong’.

Not just silencing her critics in the sporting arena, she also hit back in her blog: “… we don’t lift weights in order to look hot, especially for the likes of men like that”.

She continued, “…… we would rather be attractive to people who aren’t closed-minded and ignorant”.

It is, perhaps, their willingness to respond to critics that marks out Smith and Douglas’s generation of female athletes – refusing to accept scrutiny of anything other than their performance.

Aytuğ has since apologised: “…. to anyone who may have been offended, even through misunderstanding”, including “…. all women, female athletes and everyone who cares about womanhood”.

The problem, however, seems to be that everyone ‘cares about womanhood’, certainly when it comes to stipulating what they think womanhood should be.

Girls in Fiji picking up hockey sticks to boost self esteem

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Helen Thompson
WVoN co-editor

Girls in Fiji are playing hockey as a way to boost their confidence and self esteem.

The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) has collaborated with the hockey team at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Suva to design a motivational campaign for young women and girls based on the sport.

In a press release, Edwina Kotoisuva, depty coordinator of FWCC says:  “FWCC recognises that the participation of women and girls in sports works as a motivational factor, encourages solidarity and enables them to break out of traditional boundaries and roles.”

FWCC kicked off the campaign by asking girls to create slogans about how hockey has affected their lives.

The slogans have been printed onto the school’s shirts and banners. FWCC will also use them for future sports projects involving women and girls.

Research shows that as girls progress through secondary school, their self esteem drops and that without intervention, girls maintain low self image into adulthood.

Low levels of self-esteem are linked to increased rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide and eating disorders in both adolescents and adults.

Kotoisuva acknowledges the challenges of getting teenage girls through adolescence and points to sports as a valuable tool for the development of a positive self image in this age group.

“Through sports, girls and young women learn to assert themselves and have confidence in their bodies and take up the space that they need – the challenge for us as a society is to ensure that they continue to have the opportunity to take up this space in other aspects of their lives.”

Rape: West Mercia Police stand by victim blaming campaign

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 01:30 AM PDT

Jane Osmond
WVoN co-editor

On 13th July West Mercia Police launched a new campaign aimed at reducing serious sexual crime by getting young people on a night out to think about their safety, particularly in terms of the amount of alcohol they consume.

Detective inspector Callie Bradley from the force’s Public Protection Unit commented:

“Research shows young people aged between 13 and 24 are most likely to become victims of a serious sexual offence between 9pm and 3am on Friday and Saturday nights and that the number of rapes and serious sexual offences increase between June and August.

“This campaign aims to tackle that issue and that is why we are putting more officers on our streets over the next three weekends.”

The West Mercia Police force covers a large area of England, including Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire. and the campaign included the provision of extra officers who were tasked with talking to young people as they left clubs, bars and fast foot outlets in relevant town centres during a 3-week period.

So far so good.

BUT the accompanying campaign poster aimed at women (see above) fell into the usual trap of victim blaming through its ‘if you get drunk, it is your fault if you are raped’ narrative.

This victim blaming of women has been roundly criticised in the media, as reported by the BBC, the Mail and the Telegraph.

The campaign was also criticised for a sentence on the ‘male’ poster, which stated that 'if someone has sex with someone against their will, it could be against the law' when having sex with someone against their will IS against the law.

The most virulent criticism came from the Worcestershire Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (WRSASC) with spokesperson Jocelyn Anderson stating:

“It’s not alcohol that causes rape, although it’s a vulnerability factor, it’s rapists that cause rape.”

As a result of the criticism, West Mercia Police apologised, with detective superintendent Ivan Powell stating: “If the campaign has caused distress, that was not our aim and I will apologise for that.

“This was not about blaming victims but putting information out to help.”

For WRSASC’s Anderson one of the main problems of this campaign is the lack of consultation. This seems astonishing in view of the fact that any one of the many rape and sexual abuse centres throughout the UK could have contributed valuable information and experience that could have informed the campaign.

But even more astonishing is that West Mercia Police backtracked on its apology with a force spokesperson stating:

“We haven’t apologised for the campaign.

“Our officer was asked to comment on local radio on the opinion of a rape victim who said that she was disappointed with the campaign and she didn’t like it. He said we apologise if that’s how it made her feel and that wasn’t our intention.

“He was making an apology to one woman but that has been turned into police apologising for the campaign. We have had criticisim from a few people but we have also had quite a lot of support from other people who think it’s a good campaign.”

A more detailed outline of the whole shambles is available from the F-Word.

Meanwhile, this ignoring of the real reason why women get raped – that rapists rape them – is getting old.

West Mercia Police, with the best of intentions, has created another brick in the wall of rape culture denial: not only is this reprehensible, but it is completely unnecessary.

Contrast this with the Scottish ‘This is not an invitation to rape me‘ campaign poster (below) where the situation regarding rape and drinking is made completely clear and does not, at any point, blame women.

With this kind of campaign available for reference and the willingness of rape crisis centres all over the UK to get involed with campaigns, the West Mercia Police has no excuse for producing such an outdated, and frankly wrong, campaign of its own.

Please give West Mercia Police your feedback here.