Women's Views on News |
- The TUC looks at age and pay
- New campaign to break abuse patterns
- Hollywood’s un-sexy women? Says who?
- Football project gets girls into school
| Posted: 27 Feb 2013 06:58 AM PST
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has launched a new initiative, called Age Immaterial, to discuss and highlight the concerns of women aged 50 and over at work. It has identified five key concerns; pay, caring responsibilities, age and sex discrimination and health, and will release detailed reports on each. The first of these reports, focusing on the pay gap between older women and other workers, was released last week. It found that women in their 50s earn nearly a fifth less than men of the same age – the widest gender pay gap of any age group. The analysis shows that despite a dramatic rise in the number of women working past 50, low pay and pensioner poverty remain major concerns for them as they approach retirement. A woman in her 50s working full-time currently earns £11.99 per hour – 18 per cent less per hour than a man of a similar age at £14.69. This compares to a 10 per cent gender pay gap across the workforce as a whole. Women in their 50s also earn less per hour than women in their 30s – £14.17 – and 40s – £12.93). But the TUC analysis shows that full-time earnings only tell half the story, as half of all women over 50 are employed in part-time work. The average hourly part-time wage for a woman in her 50s is just £8.53 – a third less than the average full-time wage across the UK workforce of £12.76. The majority of women over 50 in part-time work earn less than £10,000 a year. The TUC analysis also shows that older women have seen the fastest jobs growth in the last two decades. In 1992, the majority of women over 50 were not active in the labour market. Today, just 37 per cent of females over 50 are economically inactive, while three in five are in work. But while rising employment rates for older women is good news, the TUC is concerned that a lack of good quality, part-time work means that many working women are still struggling to save enough for their retirement, despite working for longer than ever. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: "The rising number of women over 50 in work has been the great success story of the last two decades. "But while more women are working for longer, low pay remains a big problem, particularly for the millions who have been badly let down by the pension system and who are approaching retirement with little or no savings. "Part-time work is the only option available for many older women who also have to look after loved ones, either their grandchildren or their own parents, or who may no longer be able to work long hours. “Most of these women earn less than £10,000 a year, barely enough to live on, let alone save for their retirement. "As the workforce ages, it’s essential that people are able to work part-time hours without having to give up decent pay." Follow Age Immaterial on Twitter @ageimmaterial, or sign up to their blog.  |
| New campaign to break abuse patterns Posted: 27 Feb 2013 04:33 AM PST
Women's Views on News recently reported on the devastating affect of domestic abuse for those who witness abuse in the family home and how the intergenerational theory of violence claims that children who witness domestic abuse are at risk of learning that this behaviour is acceptable. We reported on the differences in emotional responses expressed by girls and boys and how researchers found that many young people consider it acceptable to hit their partner. This year’s Valentine's Day saw the launch of the UK government’s Home Office campaign, 'This is Abuse', a campaign which targets teenagers. The aim of the campaign is to prevent teenagers and young adults from becoming victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. The website points out that: 'Abuse is not normal and never OK. “If you are in a relationship with someone, you should feel loved, safe, respected and free to be yourself. “There are different forms of abuse … but if your relationship leaves you feeling scared, intimidated or controlled, it's possible you're in an abusive relationship.' As many young people are confused about what kinds of behaviour constitute abuse, the campaign aims to provide clarification in the hope that teenagers will look at their own behaviour, or that of others, and become more aware of what actually amounts to abuse. The campaign includes several short advertisements depicting abuse in teenage relationships. The ads don't make for comfortable viewing. They are not meant to. The main aim of the ads is for teenagers to recognise elements of their behaviour and be able to detect if they are a perpetrator of abuse or if they are someone who is being abused, and then, if need be, go on to seek third party support and advice. Domestic abuse is more than just physical violence, but sometimes teenagers and adults do not appreciate that. The campaign also hopes to raise awareness with parents: the thought that your child may be experiencing some of the scenarios displayed in the ads is shocking and it is hoped they may act as a catalyst for open conversation between parent and child. It takes something visual, or strongly emotive, to enable people to identify behaviour as unacceptable. The blog, ‘One Dames Thoughts’, published a guest post by @planetcath recently. This brave, honest and emotive post from @planetcath outlines her experiences of domestic abuse as a 16-year-old. Her writing demonstrates perfectly how abuse can begin as something small; subtle behaviour which escalates into actions which can have long-lasting psychological and physical affects. Her story also illustrates how abusive behaviour can be learned and passed on from one generation to the next. And how the abuser does not see anything wrong in what he is doing. What her story does, with great intensity, is identify how vulnerable teenagers can be, and how behaviour not necessarily considered abusive, can quickly become something damaging and traumatic. If teenagers were to read her story, they may well recognise themselves, either – like her – as the victim, or as her boyfriend perpetrating the abuse. Teenagers do not often read blogs of this nature, but adults do. For that reason, it is important adults come forward, speak up, and share their experiences of abuse. 'This is Abuse' campaign uses TV ads during peak ‘teenage viewing’ times, and it also has produced posters with images of abusive behaviour. And, recognising that teenagers are easily influenced by peers and those in the media spotlight, MTV has been brought in to support the campaign. Over the coming weeks, MTV will be focusing on how urban music acts can play a positive role in promoting respect in relationships. With increased awareness by both adults and teenagers, it is hoped the cycle of abuse can be broken. It is hoped that one generation can stop the next from being perpetrators or victims of violence against women. The campaign will be running until the end of April.  |
| Hollywood’s un-sexy women? Says who? Posted: 27 Feb 2013 02:21 AM PST
Another day, another random and meaningless poll. It seems you can't open a newspaper or website these days without stumbling across yet another survey about some boring made up subject carried out mainly for commercial purposes. Most don't merit a second glance, being as they are innocuous and mundane. This week, however, saw a poll of a rather different nature, and one which garners attention, if only because of its pointlessly caustic and sexist nature. British men’s (!) gadget website 'MenKind' – a misnomer if ever there was one – tasked their online customers with voting for Hollywood's least sexy woman of 2013, couched tenuously as a 'pre-Oscar poll’. Topping the list of Hollywood's 'least sexy' was the American star of the 'Twilight Saga' Kristen Stewart. The top ten list also features other offensive old hags such as Lucy Lui, Kirsten Dunst, Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker and (the Goddess who is) Uma Thurman. Am I missing something here? Apart from the fact that all of these women are incredibly beautiful in very different and individual ways, who the hell has the right to make such mean spirited and damaging judgements? The truth is that this is just another spurious opportunity where men get to objectify and judge women on a purely physical level, where a woman's intelligence, passion and talents – as singer, performer, author, businesswoman, whatever – are not even secondary considerations when compared to the size of her ass(ets). But that's not all. According to a spokesman for MenKind, these women really only have themselves to blame. “Our Oscars poll has been a fascinating insight into the minds of British men – it's shown that sexiness is far more than appearance. “They were turned off by volatile and moody actresses as well as ice queens. “And they don't want to see unhealthily skinny starlets on the big screen.” Ah, right. Well, now we have something to work with. Someone should gently tell these dreadful old vamps that if they could simply stop being so huffy and temperamental, then they might significantly improve their chances of securing a date with one of the customers of, erm, MenKind. Which begs the question, who are these men anyway? Perhaps a look at the MenKind website might shed some light… It would seem that the men voting in this poll are also the types who might buy, for instance, an 'inflatable cock fighting set', a belly button brush, a 'ring for a shag' bell, a bib for wee-ing, an inflatable sheep, a mug in the shape of a boob, (sorry, a 'boobie mug'), and various games you can play while sitting on the toilet. And these men don't want to date Kristen Stewart. I'm sure she would be devastated – if she were still in High School. The depressing and predictable reality is that these women have been chosen because they have the power to intimidate, they are women who can, with confidence and individuality, defy the typecasting of the perfect Stepford Hollywood star, who can earn banillions of dollars on their own merit. In other words, women who fail – abysmally – to make these men feel superior. This kind of poll is irresponsible and destructive and much of the responsibility must be borne by those who run these snooze-inducing surveys. What is the point of them? To make women feel bad about themselves? In an industry that is already given to unflinching scrutiny of its stars, particularly women, is this kind of (un)popularity contest really necessary? And if your average Josephine is being told that Kristen Stewart is unsexy and unattractive, what does that do for her own body image and self confidence? But the responsibility has to be shared. Men should simply refuse to take part in these ridiculous surveys where women are nothing more than mere objects to be judged. Indeed, the fact that Kristen Stewart was voted no.13 on FHM's '100 Sexiest Women' list in 2011 and No.7 on AskMen.com's top 99 women of 2013 shows just how fickle is man. And what of the press? The Metro had this to say of the unsightly Ms Stewart: “She topped a poll of British men to find the least sexy actresses – and proved to more undesirable than Sarah Jessica Parker and Lindsay Lohan!” What? Even MORE undesirable? Just who are they slagging off here? Oh, that's right, all of them. Even the Independent reported the story straight, with no scrutiny of how ridiculous these polls are and how damaging they can be to women. You know, you don't have to be a fan of these women. You don't even have to know who they are. But objectification on this level is crass, out dated and beneath contempt. Shame on you British men! (AND… you should be so lucky…) Postscript: It's interesting to note that the majority of the British press which carried this story also made reference to Kristen Stewart's fling with Rupert Sanders while she was seeing fellow actor Robert Pattinson, a mistake which earned her the awful moniker 'trampire'. But perhaps… This survey was carried out among men from the UK. Robert Pattinson is British. Could it be that these men are all secretly in love with Robert Pattinson and are crying tears of rage into their Twilight boxsets over how Kristen 'done him wrong?' Or, indeed, voting vitriolically in a spurious spleen venting fury? Let's take a vote, shall we?  |
| Football project gets girls into school Posted: 27 Feb 2013 01:00 AM PST
Many children in the poor Kampala neighbourhood of Kawempe drop out of school because their families cannot afford the fees. So one teenager in Uganda’s capital set up a program to get girls into school – by training them to play football. 18-year-old Zaituni Uzamukunda, a pupil at Kawempe’s Gadhafi Integrated Secondary School, set up the project to train girls as soccer players, then find them scholarships to play for school teams. She is also the girls’ captain and coach. Their football pitch – a half converted garbage dump site – is at Gadhafi Integrated Football Academy in Kawempe. The project began when, in 2009, the Academy’s coach and founder Saadi Mukasa invited Uzamukunda to attend a training course for referees organised by the British Council. The course, launched in Uganda in 2008, is part of the British Council’s Premier Skills project, a partnership with the English Premier League and the British Council which combines the English Premier League's global appeal and experience in football based community projects with the British Council's global experience and expertise in culture and education. The programme operates in 17 countries around the world, making use of the power of football as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people, and enabling them to plan their own community-focused projects. In Uganda, the British Council implements the project in conjunction with the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA), the Kampala Kids League and other football academies like Gadhafi Integrated. A terrific defender, Uzamukunda has used her love for soccer to transform the lives of several needy and illiterate girls and boys in a community notorious for heinous crimes and high school drop-out rate. "The children don't go to school, no fees, high birth rates, high school drop-outs,” said Uzamukunda. “So we decided we can use football as a tool to put those kids into schools." She decided to concentrate on training the girls, and left the boys' team to Mukasa and another young coach, Grace Bukenya, 19. The football academy then entered into a partnership with the schools in the community: the academy would develop soccer teams for the partner schools in exchange for free education for the players. Uzamukunda specifically wanted to target girls, who are not usually given the chance to play football in Uganda. "The Ugandans believe this game is for boys,” she said. “The girls are denied more opportunities than the boys. "We came up with this idea to show that there should be gender balance within the community." Some parents were hard to convince, she said, as many families in the community are Muslim, and did not want their daughters to appear in public wearing shorts. So they wear leggings. Born in Rwanda at the height of the 1994 genocide, Uzamukunda moved to Uganda in the early 2000s to study. She lives with her uncle, who is the headteacher of Gadhafi Integrated Secondary School. At 14, she fell in love with football and decided to enrol at Ghadhafi Integrated Football Academy, a decision that has left a major and positive mark on the lives several underprivileged children in Kampala.  |
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