Women's Views on News |
- PCC Voting: Done
- Criminalise paying for sex in Scotland, say campaigners
- BBC tackles issue of body image in sport
| Posted: 15 Nov 2012 12:45 PM PST
Cross-posted from The Broken Doll’s House In the style of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey (for no good reason whatsoever) 'Voting: done.' I've just returned from casting my vote in the Police & Crime Commissioner elections. I have to be honest, it was a bit of a tussle with my conscience about whether to leave my nice warm house, that I'd just returned to after a long day at work, and a long cold walk home, to go an vote – or whether just to put my dressing gown & slippers on, get a nice hot cup of tea and wait for Young Apprentice. I did vote in the end, but perhaps not for the noble reasons I should have. Some of my motivating factors were:
I think this election process has been a bit of a failure on the part of the government & the candidates themselves. I've spoken to several people in the past few weeks, and many today, about whether they would be voting in this election. The vast, vast majority knew very little about it. People told me they weren't really sure what a Police & Crime Commissioner was, what does one of them do? Most people had received no, or few, information flyers through the post about who their candidates were – how could they use their vote wisely when they knew nothing about the candidates? Some did not agree with there being a PCC in the first place. Some didn't know where their polling station was. Others just had prior engagements. And many more, I'm sure will have forgotten, not cared, or been wooed by the warmth of staying at home on a cold November evening. And who can blame them? I have, by means of association really, found out quite a bit about these elections. Coventry Women's Voices, an organisation I belong to, organised a question time with the candidates. I was asked by WVoN to live blog for this event, and write lead-in and follow up articles to support this. I got to see all seven West Midlands candidates, in the flesh. I imagine, that were it not for my involvement with this group, and had I not been asked to write about the elections, I would have been just as in the dark as many other potential voters. Because actually, I also only got ONE leaflet through the door from a candidate. I know about the government's TV advert campaign, but I only saw it on TV once. I know what a PCC will do because I researched it for an article. I know there is a website called 'choosemypcc.com' where you can find out who the candidates are for your area, and what they stand for - but I haven't seen that advertised anywhere, apart from in an email I signed up to recieve. Even after sitting in a room with the West Midlands candidates for 2 hours while they answered questions from the audience, I was still unsure who to vote for. This national election is expected to have one of the lowest voting turnouts of all time! The Electoral Reform Society have called it 'a lesson in how not to run an election'. It will be interesting to see tomorrow how many people did turn up. At some point it was decided that we ARE going to have PCCs. It's good that after that decision had been made, a second decision was taken to make it an elected position, to let the people these Commissioners will police have a say in who they are. After then it seems to have gone downhill. No-one knows about these elections! No-one knows about what a PCC will do! No-one knows who their candidates are! I spoke to some people who didn't even know where their polling station was. Because, no-one has told them. When Cameron encouraged independent candidates to put their names forward earlier this year, he said: "This isn't just for politicians, but community leaders and pioneers of all sorts…this is a big job for a big local figure." But actually, three quarters of the candidates already hold elected office. The cost to independent candidates is estimated to be between £20,000 and £30,000. This is hugely unfair when you consider that any candidates with a political party backing them have all the existing infrastructure and financial support of that party in place to enable their campaigns. Not surprisingly then, the only leaflet I did get through the door was from a party candidate. The government seem to have been very half-hearted about this. A spattering of bill boards (apparently, although I haven't seen one), a TV ad sparingly aired and….and…? I did get the pink leaflet through the door (pictured) which told me a bit more. Did you? Did you read it? Did you vote? If, as the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, said the PCC role is "the biggest change to policing since 1829″, shouldn't there have been a bit more hype about it? I'm glad I voted, and I think my conscience will always win out when it comes to using my vote, even if it is cold outside. I'm glad to live in some kind of democracy. But the government need to help people to vote if they want us to engage (I'm working on the premise that they do…we can discuss that another time). After casting my vote on the ballot slip I was asked if i would mind filling out a short questionnaire. The sheet had a few short questions about why I had decided to vote and how I knew about the elections (sadly they didn't include tick boxes for many of my real answers to these questions, as above). Then there was a question of 'How would you like to hear about elections in the future?' There were several options; leaflet, TV ad, radio ad, text message, email, poster, billboard, flyer……other'. I ticked them all, and wrote underneath 'AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE'. Tell us. Get us involved. Make it impossible not to know about elections. Give us new ways to vote, new places and new times. Give us options of how to vote, and when and where. Make it work.  |
| Criminalise paying for sex in Scotland, say campaigners Posted: 15 Nov 2012 06:09 AM PST
Labour MSP Rhona Grant is pushing for paying for sex in Scotland to be criminalised. In the UK, although solicitation in a public place, brothels and 'kerb crawling' are all illegal, the act of paying for sex itself is not a criminal offence. But 2012 has seen campaigns in both Scotland and Northern Ireland to change the law. Rhona Grant introduced a private members bill to Holyrood this month – the ‘Criminalisation of the Purchase of Sex (Scotland) Bill’ – and it is now open for consultation. The bill would criminalise the purchaser of sex, rather than the prostitutes themselves. The Scottish campaign has been sparked by increasing concern over the Edinburgh sauna trade. Edinburgh began granting licences to saunas in 1986, and currently has 15 licensed saunas. The saunas are used to sell sex, and are accused of trafficking women – yet are tolerated by local officials and councillors. In 2007, a police investigation found seven victims of trafficking in Edinburgh – with women brought from Eastern Europe, as well as East Asia. However, although Scotland has a disproportionate amount of human trafficking in comparison with the rest of the UK – the police have failed to convict anyone on these charges. Could this change in the law make it easier for Scottish police? The Glasgow-based Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) has supported 'at least two women' who were exploited by saunas in Scotland's capital. The organisation disputes claims by some that saunas make sex work safer, saying: "TARA believes the majority of women involved in off-street prostitution are harmed and there is no way to make an inherently unsafe activity safer by regulation." Those who disagree suggest the city should formally recognise its sex trade by legalising brothels. For them, the legalisation of brothels would allow increased support for women involved in the sex trade. Included in this group are some sex workers – one told the Daily Record that criminalisation would not work, saying: "It will be much more dangerous for girls and their clients. It makes everyone much more vulnerable to attack or robbery." Proponents of this argument believe that the saunas take prostitution off the streets and therefore remove some of the danger from the sex trade. The reality is that with women trafficked far from home, to be sold for as little as £80, this is far from a safe industry – legal or illegal. For many, the legality of these acts are impossible to justify. For Rhona Grant, a fierce campaigner on women’s issues, it is simple: "No human being should be reduced down to a commodity, to be bought and sold." A quick internet search for Edinburgh saunas reveals that the commodification of women is exactly what the Scottish sex trade promotes. Online reviews rate prostitutes as if they were any other product. One review of an Edinburgh-based sauna reads: "Any one else wasted money on this moody romanian? Pisspoor attitude, limited english, zero skill base… Ok looking, good figure, but avoid…" If Grant's proposal is accepted it could go some way to fighting such damaging attitudes towards women. A report cited in Grant’s proposal – Challenging Men's Demand for Prostitution in Scotland – found that of 110 men who had paid for sex, ’32 per cent stated that rape happens because men get sexually carried away.’ In the same survey, 12 per cent said that the rape of a prostitute or call girl was ‘not possible’. To add to this, Grant justifies her proposal with a broad range of evidence. To those who argue that sex work is a matter of choice for women, she cites evidence that ’75 per cent of sex workers in the UK became involved as children.’ Therefore, participants are more often than not, unwilling. Most importantly for her campaign, the proposal claims that those who visit prostitutes believe that legal and financial penalties could deter their behaviour. Though the proposal is persuasive, Edinburgh Council – which gets more than £11,000 in yearly licensing fees from sauna owners – has a vested interest in these businesses. In Glasgow – a city once billed as having the most sex workers outside of London – the local council supports Grant’s campaign. Again, however, sex workers themselves have become vocal opponents of the bill. Laura Lee, an escort from Glasgow, suggests that criminalising the purchase of sex will push prostitutes into more secluded areas – away from the help of police. She also believes that in the current system those who pay for sex are able to report incidences of abuse within the sex industry, whereas after criminalisation they would be unable to. It remains to be seen if the proposal will make it through the Scottish Parliament in 2013. If you would like to have your say, download the Criminalisation of the Purchase of Sex (Scotland) Bill here. Public consultation on Rhona Grant's bill ends on 14 December.  |
| BBC tackles issue of body image in sport Posted: 15 Nov 2012 01:00 AM PST
The Olympics inspired much talk of athletes becoming the new role models for girls and young women. For once, we saw women's bodies revered for what they can do, rather than how they look. Out with Kim Kardashian's bum, in with Jess Ennis' abs! This was certainly a welcome change from the norm, but whether it will have any lasting effect on the aspirations of the next generation is doubtful. For two weeks every four years, potential future Olympic heroines are told, and shown, that their bodies can achieve anything. But the overwhelming majority of the time, not-so-subliminal messages remind them to concentrate their efforts on being thin and attractive, rather than strong and fast. The results of this contrast are clear: in a recent report, the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation found that 48 per cent of girls think that "getting sweaty is not feminine", and that three quarters are self-conscious about their bodies. The issue of body image in women's sport is addressed by a BBC Radio 5 Live special this Thursday, 15 November. "Body Beautiful?" will hear from athletes such as Hollie Avil, a triathlete who retired at the age of 22 after struggling with an eating disorder, and weightlifter Zoe Smith, who has suffered negative press attention to her weight. How do they deal with the expectations placed on them? Body Beautiful? will be broadcast on 15 November at 7.30pm. You can listen to the programme here. Let us know your opinions, and watch out for our review of the issues raised on Friday.  |
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