Women's Views on News |
- We are taking a break!
- One child every five minutes runs away from home in the UK
- Domestic violence refuges face closure under benefit changes
- White House celebrates Women’s History Month
- Scientist in ‘I’m a woman’ shocker
| Posted: 29 Mar 2013 01:41 PM PDT
We wish all our followers and our wonderful writers a peaceful few days. Back Wednesday 3rd.  |
| One child every five minutes runs away from home in the UK Posted: 29 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PDT One child in the UK runs away every five minutes according to charity the Railway Children. On Tuesday 19 March 2013 Samantha Cameron hosted an event at 10 Downing Street in support of the Railway Children charity who work with young runaways and street children in the UK and internationally. Donna Navarro attended. The charity works in collaboration with over 26 partner organisations with 117 projects worldwide across Africa, Asia, and the UK. Last year they helped 27,756 street children around the world. In the UK, one child runs away every five minutes. That's an estimated 100,000 children under sixteen every year, running away or feeling forced to leave their homes because of poverty, violence, abuse and neglect. And of those, an incredible 70 per cent will not be reported missing by their families. That’s a staggering statistic for any parent to read and it could happen to anyone. As Terina Keene, the Chief Executive of the Railway Children said: "They [children and young people] run away or are forced to leave homes where they suffer poverty, violence, abuse and neglect. “This is not something that just happens abroad and in developing countries, it is a very real issue here in the UK." The event at Downing Street was organised in conjunction with Mumsnet, the British parenting website and support forum, and Aviva who became involved with the charity through their own 'street-to-school' programme, to inform people about the exploitation and dangers children can encounter when running away. The work of the Railway Children involves working with vulnerable children living alone and at risk on the streets. The streets often feel like the only route of escape from the circumstances children are experiencing at home. But, whilst it may seem like the only means of support available it's also where they suffer abuse and exploitation. If you were a child who felt it necessary to escape to the streets, you would reach out and take the hand of a stranger if that stranger had a smile and some food, wouldn't you? But what if that stranger went on to abuse you, or exploit you, what would you do? Who would you turn to? Railway Children see early intervention as crucial. Reaching a child before an abuser could save that child's life. Their work is about getting to children on the street before the street gets to them. Railway Children and their partners meet children’s immediate needs. They offer outreach support where workers identify and protect children as they arrive onto the streets and provide food, clothing, education and a safe place to stay. The event at Downing Street was held to raise awareness. Awareness is necessary to influence policy makers to leverage government support for street children. But also, without awareness parents have no real understanding of the dangers children encounter when living on the streets. The Office of Children's Commissioner study prepared a report in November 2012 which identified 16,500 children who were at high risk of being sexually exploited in 2010-2011. The report, titled “I thought I was the only one – the only one in the world”, sets out the findings from the first year of a two-year inquiry following the jailing in May 2012 of nine Asian men for grooming and sexually exploiting white girls as young as 13 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Sue Berelowitz, deputy children’s commissioner, on the warning signs of abuse said: “The reality is that each year thousands of children in England are raped and abused by people seeking to humiliate, violate and control them. “These have included children who have been abducted, trafficked, beaten and threatened after being drawn into a web of sexual violence by promises of love, and others who have suffered in silence for years as they are casually and routinely raped by the boys in their neighbourhoods.” These risks are often realities for the children and young people who run away from home. Railway Children hold governments responsible and they lobby for change in policy to give tomorrow's children a positive future. To raise awareness, Samantha Cameron, Aviva, Mumsnet, the Railway Children and their partners are urging parents to communicate with their children; to educate them on the risks and the dangers of running away. They are not asking you for money, they are simply asking you to talk. Creating sustainable change for children takes time to achieve, but communication is key. For every comment left here and for every share on social media, Aviva will donate £2.00 to Railway Children. To learn more about the warning signs that you child might be thinking about running away and for support visit Mumsnet. The message from the Downing Street event was very clear; it’s time to face reality. Substance misuse, violence, sexual exploitation are very real issues here in the UK for runaway children. It’s time to educate ourselves as parents and communicate with our children, the very real dangers children and young people face on the streets in the UK. It’s time to rid the taboo and talk to our peers about children running away. By acting today we can make a real difference to tomorrow.
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| Domestic violence refuges face closure under benefit changes Posted: 29 Mar 2013 07:24 AM PDT
Half of all refuges run by Women’s Aid, a leading UK charity supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence could lose money under Universal Credit being launched next month. From April the Government will impose a £500 weekly cap on the amount of benefits a family can claim, and £350 for single people, excluding some disability benefits. If benefits, including housing benefit, exceed this level councils will be required to reduce the amount of housing benefit in line with the new limits. The government will also start to introduce Universal Credit. Most benefits, including housing benefit, will be made in a single monthly payment directly to the claimant. Women's Aid is concerned that the Benefit Cap will hit survivors of domestic violence who receive benefits for two rents, one for the refuge service they are living in and rent for the home which they have fled but intend to return to. Entitlement to Universal Credit will be assessed on the woman's circumstances at the end of each monthly assessment period, so the refuge may receive no payment for a short stay of less than a month. Also, the Government have decided not to pay housing benefit directly to refuges like Women’s Aid, which will leave them chasing money from their vulnerable clients. Both these changes could mean Women’s Aid refuges are under threat of survival. And the new benefits may not cover charges for services like personal safety alarms and adjustments for disabled residents. Women's Aid owns around half of its refuges and the Government has announced that these will be exempted from the new arrangements for the time being. But it will be up to local authorities to decide if refuges not owned by the charity will be exempt. Women's Aid fears this will lead to a two-tier system in which some residents and services face a cap whilst others don’t. Scottish Women's Aid has reported that women their support will be hit by the ‘bedroom tax’. This means victims of violence placed in larger homes on an emergency basis will be expected to pay for spare bedrooms out of their own benefits. Women's Aid is still in negotiations with the Government to try and make sure their refuges are exempt from benefit cuts that would threaten their survival. They are urging its supporters to sign its petition and write to their MPs. Please do. A template letter is available on their website.  |
| White House celebrates Women’s History Month Posted: 29 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PDT
The reception was held in the White House on 18 March following a panel discussion, which was moderated by MSNBC Political Analyst Alex Wagner. The panel featured a variety of inspirational women, including activist Dolores Huerta, astronaut Sunita Williams and basketball player Tamika Catchings, who shared their success stories. Anna Maria Chávez, the CEO of Girl Scouts, and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Mayor of Baltimore, were among the other accomplished women who attended the reception. Amanda McMillan introduced Obama, who was accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, and spoke about suing her employer after she was denied a promotion because of her gender. Obama's speech focused on the progress that women have made throughout time. He remarked: "When I look around this room, it is hard to believe that 100 years ago this month, thousands of women were marching right outside this house demanding one of our most fundamental rights: the right to vote, to have a say in our democracy. "And today, a century later, its rooms are full of accomplished women who have overcome discrimination, shattered glass ceilings and become outstanding role models for all of our sons and daughters." Obama went on to praise Melanne Verveer for her role as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, which involves prioritising females in political decision-making and foreign policy. He said: "We are so grateful for her service, along with the millions of women around the world that she helped to amplify and helped to fight alongside on the causes that are so important." Obama announced that he will nominate Cathy Russell to become the next Ambassador-at-Large, who he is certain will be "a powerful voice on behalf of women and girls around the world". Russell is currently Chief of Staff to Dr Jill Biden, the Second Lady, and has worked on preventing violence against women and supporting women who have survived civil strife, conflict and war. Obama reminded the audience about his own commitment to protecting women from violence, having reauthorized the 1994 Violence Against Women Act on 7 March. He informed them that this law will secure for women. "The protections and the services to help them live their lives free from fear of violence and free to pursue their own measure of happiness.” The end of Obama's speech concerned the necessity of continuing the progress made so far. He said: "All of you inspire me to make sure that I'm doing everything that I can as president to carry on that progress, and to do everything we can to ensure equality and opportunity for all women. "And that's what everybody deserves in this country – the opportunity to make of their lives what they will, no matter who they are, what they look like, whether they are boys or girls, women or men. "That's why I ran for president in the first place – to put the same rights and opportunities within the reach of all of our daughters and sons." The reception at the White House was just one of many events held so far during Women's History Month, which celebrates women's achievements in history and society every year in March. Events have included book readings, film screenings, exhibitions, plays, talks and workshops. The theme for this year's History Month is 'Women inspiring innovation through imagination', which celebrates women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  |
| Scientist in ‘I’m a woman’ shocker Posted: 29 Mar 2013 02:10 AM PDT
It's terribly sad, don't you think, that we live in a society where gender stereotyping still takes place. Sometimes it's deliberate, sometimes it's learned, and sometimes it's subconscious or oblique. But it is never acceptable. So headlines last week about the astonishment that rippled through Facebook when a popular science blogger turned out not to be a man, but a woman, was certainly eye rolling. The fact that she was then met with an avalanche of sexist comments when her identity was revealed is tiresome and depressing. Elise Andrew is an English science nut and blogger who lives in Canada. Her Facebook page 'I F***ing Love Science' has, according to the Guardian, more than 4.2 million fans, and has been running for over a year. She also owns three other pages, covering biology, astrophysics and astronomy, and earth sciences. So sounds like she pretty much knows her onions. Or should I say her allium cepa. However, all her expertise and passion apparently become redundant in the light of her being a woman, which was discovered when she published a female avatar on her Twitter account. A flood of remarks relating entirely to her gender and how she looked ensued. These included 'F.ck me! This is a babe ?!!' 'Holy hell, you're a HOTTIE!' 'You mean you’re a girl, And you’re beautiful? Wow, I just liked science a lil bit more today', and 'Holy f***ing balls of all that is ass, you're cute', to quote but a few. This one was an allusion to her interest in astrophysics…. 'Are there kitchens in space?' Yes, you read that right. Fortunately, there were chaps who didn't see what all the fuss was about: 'My fellow dudebros: Chillax. In science, sex is just a single genome characteristic, ' was one comment. What's clear from this story, aside from the predictability of the asinine brayings of a classroom of ubergeeks, is that occupational segregation is still very much alive and kicking. There are theories behind why women are still being frozen out of the sciences, including hierarchical segregation and territorial segregation. According to the JILA Physics Institute in Boulder, ‘until late in the twentieth century, women faced significant, and sometimes insurmountable, challenges in gaining access to higher education in the physical sciences and engineering. In the physical sciences, women who did succeed in earning doctorates often faced employment discrimination and encountered barriers to combining a career in science with having a family’. It goes on to give examples. There is also still the stereotype that lives and breathes in institutes of education and in the workplace that men are better at science than women. So what can we do? Firstly, and most importantly, we need to educate our children out of habitual gender stereotyping. In the UK, there are, thankfully, organisations who are trying to do just that. Women into Science, Engineering and Construction (WISE) are an organisation who work with schools, educational establishments, students and employers to try and redress the gender disparity in the STEM workforce (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). They have, 'a mission to increase the involvement of young women and other under-represented groups in apprenticeships in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.’ Aiming to 'increase the gender balance in the UK's STEM workforce, pushing the presence of female employees from 13 per cent as it stands now, to 30 per cent by 2020'. So just 13 per cent of those currently working in science, in technology, in engineering and in mathematics are women. What a costly and depressing waste of resource and talent. At an educational level, overall, the picture is certainly improving, with girls just as likely as boys to study GCSE stem subjects. However, there is still a thinning of women the higher up the pipeline you go – there is a drop off at A level, and so on through further education and employment. And because only 13 percent of all STEM jobs in the UK are occupied by women, this means that STEM industries struggle to find women for senior appointments, and that fewer women are setting up STEM businesses – which in turns limits the potential for economic growth. Statistics back this up, and make for sorry reading. So here comes the science bit.
So the evidence is clear that the blockage experienced by young women in the education system has an enormous knock on effect later in life. Thankfully, not so for our female scientist. So what does Elise Andrew think of the reaction to the news of her being a woman? Her first response was surprise – 'EVERY COMMENT on that thread is about how shocking it is that I’m a woman! Is this really 2013?' She also said 'It's a sad day when a woman being funny and interested in science is considered newsworthy.' Wait… what is she trying to say here – that women can be funny too? Well, just don't tell the boys…  |
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