Women's Views on News |
- Ireland looks at abortion legislation
- 2013: progress for women in business?
- Petition MPs to stop violence in DR Congo
| Ireland looks at abortion legislation Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST
The Irish government announced plans to legislate for abortion in limited circumstances in December 2012. That decision followed the report of the expert group set up to assess how best to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the ‘A, B, C v. Ireland‘ case. The ECHR had ruled that Ireland had breached the human rights of applicant C because it had not established an accessible and effective procedure by which she could determine whether she was entitled to an abortion under Irish law. Abortion has been legal in limited circumstances in Ireland since 1992, when the Supreme Court ruled in ‘Attorney General v. X’ that a woman was entitled to a termination where her life was endangered by the pregnancy, and that included from a risk of suicide. However, successive governments have failed to implement this decision by way of legislation. This has created a legal vacuum whereby both women and medical professionals run the risk of being prosecuted for procuring an abortion. The plan for legislation announced by government before Christmas ought to finally clarify this untenable legal situation. So a Joint Committee was set up to discuss how best to implement the ABC case (and thus the X case) into law. Three days of hearings were heard earlier this week during which the Committee received submissions from medical and legal experts, representatives of the main religious groups in Ireland, and pro-choice and anti-choice lobby groups. The public were invited to make submissions via email, with a recent Red C survey indicating that 64 per cent of those polled supported legislating for the X case. The legal experts raised a number of interesting points. The narrowness of legislating for the X case – where there is a risk to the life, as distinct from to the health, of the pregnant woman – has led to calls for the legislation to provide for threats to health and also for cases where the foetus suffers from a fatal abnormality such that it will not survive outside the womb. The Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, referenced this in a speech to the Dáil in November, and said, "The reality of course is that there is no impediment to men seeking and obtaining any required medical intervention to protect not only their life but also their health and quality of life. [...] “This is a republic in which we proclaim the equality of all citizens but it is a reality that some citizens are more equal than others." The strict legal framework within which the proposed legislation must operate means that making provision for the above seems impossible. Yet each legal expert who addressed the Committee indicated that it could be possible to provide for situations where the foetus would not survive outside of the womb. Their reasoning is based on a decision of the Supreme Court from 2009, ‘Roche v. Roche’, written by Susan Denham – who has since been appointed Chief Justice. Jennifer Schweppe, from the University of Limerick, said that where the foetus has no capacity to be born alive, this does not fall within the definition of "life" as set out in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of 1983 which grants the unborn equal right to life as the mother. Dr Simon Mills, of the Law Library, submitted a draft bill that would provide for this scenario in certain circumstances. He described the Constitution as "disturbingly utilitarian [...] in that it comports an obligation to be born, only to suffer and die." However, it is the issue of legislating for the threat of suicide that has proved most divisive. The legal experts all pointed out that this had to form part of the legislation or it would not adequately implement the X and ABC decisions. However, fears have been expressed by some politicians that this could lead to the introduction of a wider abortion regime. While most psychiatrists asked the Committee to trust in the medical profession and their assessment of mental health risks, some TDs and senators in the hearing effectively suggested that women would use a threat of suicide to manipulate doctors into referring them for an abortion. These offensive sentiments were – rightly – refuted but it is disheartening to see such an attitude linger in the Dáil. It is not only representative of a particularly misogynistic brand of thinking but also runs contrary to the existence of an acknowledged national problem in Ireland. The high national suicide rates have come under further scrutiny since the advent of the recession, leading some elected representatives to call for a wider debate on the issue – only to openly question it in the case of a pregnant woman. It seems that suicide is only a national crisis when it is a youth or a man who takes his or her own life; when it is a pregnant woman, it becomes a conspiracy. Addressing the hearing earlier this week, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Rhona Mahoney, said there had been two suicides of pregnant women between 2009 and 2011. While Ireland's maternal mortality rate of 6 per 100,000 live births is extremely low by world standards, it should be noted that this does not necessarily make it one of the safest places in the world for pregnant woman – a key argument of the anti-choice side. Medical experts also spoke of the legal uncertainty which has led them to refer women to the UK for abortions. Dr Mahoney estimated that between 10 and 20 abortions take place to save the life of the mother in Ireland each year, but this does not assist the 4,149 women who travelled from Ireland to the UK for terminations in 2011. One medical expert suggested that even with legislation for X in place, it would be so restrictive that many women would continue to go to the UK. It has been refreshing to hear reliable facts and figures put before the Oireachtas this week. Debates on this issue in Ireland have too often been marred by sensational claims and extreme rhetoric. The Committee will now take the submissions under advisement as legislation is drafted.  |
| 2013: progress for women in business? Posted: 17 Jan 2013 02:50 AM PST
Interest in the issue of women in business has been gaining momentum since a report by Lord Davies, published almost two years ago, revealed that only 12.5 per cent of FTSE 100 board members were women. The new year has brought a flurry of headlines on the issue, and while there are some positive developments, much of the news makes for rather dry and dismal reading. New data published in the Observer last week revealed that top British companies are performing even worse than the FTSE in terms of gender diversity at senior management level. Only 64 of Britain's top 100 companies publish data on the composition of their boards, and of these 56 per cent, including such well-known names as Virgin Trains and Fitness First, have all-male boards. The record at the FTSE 100 is slightly better: eight listed companies have no female board members. But 73 per cent of the top British companies, including women's clothing retailer New Look, have no female executive directors, the level below the boardroom. Among the more positive news is been the announcement that 17.7 per cent of FTSE 100 directors are now women, up 2.2 per cent since Lord Davies' report in 2011. However, new research published by the High Pay Centre (HPC), a non-party think tank, has shown that while quotas can be effective in increasing numbers of women in non-executive directorships, they have little effect on equality in executive roles. According to the HPC report, there is a "danger that appointing women to non-executive board positions is used as window dressing for companies that are doing little to promote women through the executive ranks [and that] governments believe they have fixed the diversity issue by introducing quotas on overall board membership whilst not addressing the dearth of women actually running companies." This is certainly borne out at CEO level: two female CEOs departed from FTSE 100 companies last year, leaving only two women in charge of top UK-registered firms: Angela Ahrendts at Burberry, and Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco. The current government opposes compulsory boardroom quotas. The Conservative party supports voluntary targets for companies. Last week, MPs rejected a draft EU proposal to enforce quotas of 40 per cent for the boards of listed companies, arguing that such decisions should be made by individual nations. What support does the government offer for women in business? David Cameron has announced changes to the start-up loans programme, which offers loans of up to £2500 for young entrepreneurs, and will receive an extra £30 million over three years. The upper age limit has also been increased from 24 to 30. Youth employment charity Elevation Networks, one of the government's delivery partners for the scheme, is due to start a campaign in March to target the funds to young women in particular. The government also runs the New Enterprise Allowance scheme (NEA), which offers similar funding to unemployed people hoping to start a business. At the upper end of the scale, 16 high-profile business people, including Lord Davies, recently launched Mentore, a company which offers training and mentoring to help women reach senior management roles. Some commentators have, however, criticised the government's approach, arguing that not enough is being done to encourage diversity. Labour MP Seema Malhotra, parliamentary private secretary to shadow women's minister Yvette Cooper, has called for a new national strategy to support women business owners. She points out that women have not benefitted equally from the NEA scheme: last year just 28 per cent of those receiving loans were women, although up from 17 per cent in 2011. She also highlights the particular difficulties that women face, saying that women "often have less developed personal networks [and] less access to finance" than men. Although half of 18-24 year old women are keen to start their own business, a 2011 government survey showed that only 14 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK are owned by women. Malhotra is setting up a pilot scheme in her constituency, which will offer mentoring to local women business owners, and research their needs, and report back to the government next year. But although the government can be said to have taken a few positive steps towards improving gender equality in business, a more coherent national strategy is needed. The problem is twofold. First, women who are interested in starting their own business face more difficulties than men. Secondly, although women graduate from business-related degrees and enter junior management roles at similar rates to men, they are not filtering through to the highest levels. Each new round of statistics makes it clearer that change will not come about spontaneously. Quotas may not be the perfect solution, but the evidence shows that without enforced targets, little progress is made. However, quotas alone are not enough. The government should also address the gender imbalance at the bottom of the ladder by providing support targeted specifically to women, encouraging them to set up and run their own businesses.  |
| Petition MPs to stop violence in DR Congo Posted: 17 Jan 2013 01:00 AM PST
Million Women Rise and Common Cause UK – the platform for Congolese women in the UK – held a vigil at the Edith Cavell statue on London's St Martin's Place on January 11. The aim of the vigil was to remember all the women and children who have been murdered by and affected by male violence. As well, the vigil brought light to multinational corporation-sponsored militarism in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). People marked the day by remembering those already savagely murdered, and calling upon people in the UK to help prevent any more people in DRC being killed. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has so far claimed more than five million lives – making it the planet’s deadliest conflict since World War II. But despite the horrific levels of sexual violence and the millions of people displaced from their homes and schools, it is – almost – a forgotten war and rarely makes the headlines of the world’s media. The initial conflict has officially finished and much of the country remains desperately poor. But the continuing violence in the eastern regions makes it one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a woman. The violence needs to end now. Please petition your Member of Parliament and get them to help bring an end to the horrors going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo. You could copy and send this as a letter: Dear Member of Parliament, The M23 is a violent militia group, committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More than 100,000 people around the captured city of Goma have been forced to flee and are homeless. As the M23 moves to South Kivu with the aim of capturing Bukavu; this figure may be doubled or tripled in the coming weeks. There are now around half a million displaced people throughout eastern Congo brought about by a strategy of violent destabilisation. People are suffering from lack of water, food and basic shelter. The lack of electricity means water cannot be pumped to essential services and has led to the tragedy of babies in incubators dying. Members of the M23 are known for their crimes of raping women and girls, kidnapping children to use as soldiers, and killing civilians and targeting and killing human rights defenders. The UN has received reports that they have abducted women and children from Goma and are building up an environment that enables abuse, rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking. A UN Group of Experts report the M23 are backed by Rwanda and Uganda. They identified the M23 chain of command goes up to the Rwandan Defence Minister, General James Kabarebe. They also report that the Ugandan and Rwandan governments have sent troops to assist M23 rebels and supplied equipment. UN Security Council resolution 2076 demands an end to foreign support for the M23 and they are considering targeted sanctions against individual external supporters and the leadership of the M23. Leaders of the M23 on the ground include former Congolese General, Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. The UK is the biggest bilateral donor to Rwanda. The UK government has pledged £460 million in aid over the next 10 years of which some £33m a year will go directly to the Rwandan Government in general budget support. The Department for International Development plans to spend £83 million per year in Rwanda up to 2015. The total financial support from the UK government to Uganda in this financial year is £98.9 million of which 26.9 million goes directly to the Ugandan Government in general budget support. The Department for International Development plans to spend £89 million per year in Uganda up to 2015. The conflict in DR Congo is for control of its rich mineral resources that include gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and 80 per cent of the world's coltan ore. Coltan, short for columbite tantalite, is the principal source of tantalum, a metal in huge demand by high technology industries as a microchip component. It can be found in all our mobiles, smart phones, computers MP3 players etc. Manufactured items sold in the UK are made with resources mined in the DRC. Please contact the Foreign Secretary and International Development Secretary and ask them to: put pressure directly on Uganda and Rwanda to withdraw the M23 militia from DR Congo;end the UK’s financial support for those governments, including Rwanda and Uganda, involved in the war for the DRCongo's mineral resources; and back UN Sanctions against Rwanda’s president General Kagame and top Rwandan military officials and Uganda’s president General Museveni and top Ugandan military officials. Please contact the Foreign Secretary and the International Development Secretary and ask them to use the UK's position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to: ensure the withdrawal of the M23 and all foreign-backed militias from DR Congo; ensure the M23 and all foreign-backed militia's lay down their arms; ensure that the perpetrators of war crimes, sexual violence against women and girls and crimes against children are brought to justice and held accountable. Please sign Early Day Motion 597. And in consideration of the level of the humanitarian disaster reached by the crisis around Goma and throughout eastern DR Congo, we ask for immediate action from the UK government in order to stop the M23 and their supporters in their shameful quest to gain huge wealth from blood minerals (coltan, diamond, gold, copper, cobalt etc) with no care or respect for human life. And you can sign it ‘Yours sincerely’ and stick it in the post. You can find the address, email, and phone number of your MP here. Or you can send a direct email message to your MP, via www.writetothem.com And you could also sign the petition for the Foreign Office: click here. The violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo really, really, really needs to end – now. Violence against women needs to end in all countries and Million Women Rise is also planning a march on Saturday March 9 to end violence against women in all of its forms. For more information contact Million Women Rise.
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