Women's Views on News |
- Fight online stalking and harassment
- Why women’s careers stall in their 30s
- Subsidies for ancillary sex work posts?
| Fight online stalking and harassment Posted: 20 Feb 2014 07:44 AM PST
Three in ten women have been stalked or harassed online through email and social media platforms, including Facebook, according to a poll by Women’s Aid, the national domestic violence charity. And much of the abuse is directed from current and ex-partners, who use online platforms to track their partner or ex’s movements, or to check up on them. Around 23 per cent of women have received abusive emails, 22 per cent have received abusive private messages through Facebook and 14 per cent were subjected to abusive public posts on Facebook. When asked about specific forms of online abuse, as many as four in ten women reported being at the receiving end of some form of cyber abuse by a partner or ex-partner, and 37 per cent reported feeling threatened by how a partner or ex-partner had treated them or behaved online. Claire, who was physically, emotionally, sexually and psychologically abused by her husband throughout their eight-year relationship, said: "E-mail, social media and smartphones gave him total control over all aspects of my life when I was with him. "It gave him a sounding board to hundreds and hundreds of people to spread malicious lies and untruths in order to destroy my future when I left. "It gave him ways to know about my life he couldn’t have otherwise and I felt for at least 18 months that I had absolutely no escape. "The constant hounding through so many different mediums and the total lack of privacy or being able to shake him off compounded the fear and made me feel that I would never, ever be free." The results of the online poll have been released in conjunction with a Women’s Aid report into online abuse, harassment and stalking which is highly critical of the way online stalking and harassment is currently handled by companies and the government. Women’s Aid is calling for the government to ensure sufficient resources are available for specialist support services to be able to meet the needs of women experiencing violence, including online abuse, stalking and harassment. It is also calling for social media providers to remove perpetrators from their platforms and to create easier reporting and blocking mechanisms to safeguard victims of online abuse. Finally, it is calling for guidance and training for all professionals in criminal justice agencies, including the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, and the need to recognise online abuse, harassment and stalking as part of the spectrum of violence against women. To read the report, click here. Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid, said: "Anonymous messages on Valentine's Day are generally considered romantic, but for women facing online stalking and harassment, anonymous messages can be deeply disturbing. "Today's report details the significant failings of the Government, social media providers, and the criminal justice system to keep pace with the ingenuity of criminals intent on intimidating and controlling women online. "The accompanying poll reveals that online stalking and harassment of women is linked to much older forms of violence, including domestic violence. "It is vital," she continued, "that prompt action is taken to address the causes of both online and offline violence against women, as we work to eradicate new forms of abuse enabled by online technologies." Stalking through social media sites and email doesn’t conjure up the stereotypical image of a stranger lurking in the shadows, but the reality is that most victims know their perpetrator, and just because they are not physically present, it doesn’t make the behaviour any less intimidating or controlling – in fact, it’s a way of extending their control. As Women’s Views on News reported recently, in as many as 40 per cent of domestic violence cases that end in murder, the victim was stalked; the internet had just given the perpetrators another way to target their victims. Online abuse should be taken just as seriously as offline harassment.  |
| Why women’s careers stall in their 30s Posted: 20 Feb 2014 04:10 AM PST
Project 28-40, a research project which aims to find out why women in their 30s fail to progress in their careers at the same rate as men, has released its first results. Since November, 25,000 women and men have responded to an online survey aimed at learning more about women's aspirations, the importance of role models, the usefulness of current career development opportunities and why women leave the workplace. This, the organisers say, is the largest ever survey of women in the workplace to have been carried out in the UK. The idea is to listen to what women have to say and then take action to change the status quo. The survey and analysis is being undertaken by Opportunity Now, a campaign run by Business in the Community to encourage better gender balance in leadership, a more flexible culture and unbiased recognition and reward for all in the workplace. Opportunity Now is also one of the prime movers behind the Women on Boards campaign. This project is focusing on women aged 28-40 because that is seen as the danger zone where the careers of men and women start to diverge and the pay gap starts to increase, Opportunity Now’s director Kathryn Mawrockyi explained. The first 10,000 responses have already been analysed – and initial results show that over 80 per cent of female respondents feel having children will affect their career progression. Nearly 70 per cent believed that society expects women to put children before their careers, while two thirds believe work needed to be their number one priority if they wanted to succeed. Over seven in ten felt conflicted to balance home and work and more than six out of ten felt under pressure to exceed in work and in the home. Over 90 per cent believed that senior roles involved stress, long hours, pressure and high stress levels, while four out of five respondents believed that top businesswomen were portrayed as superwomen by the media. Only 34 per cent believed that opportunities to progress are equal between women who have children and those who do not, and over 60 per cent believe flexible working still means working long hours. However, nearly nine in every ten respondents believed that being a working mother enabled them to be a good role model to their children, provided balance in their lives and enabled them to provide a good life for their family. In-depth analysis of the survey findings will continue until April. As part of this, between 11 and 28 February ten focus groups containing 8-10 participants will take place in London, Leeds, Glasgow and Bristol, to explore the emerging themes of the survey in more detail.  |
| Subsidies for ancillary sex work posts? Posted: 20 Feb 2014 01:09 AM PST
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has paid cash incentives of up to £2,275 to lap-dancing bars and similar establishments to hire young unemployed people aged 18-24 as part of its Youth Contract scheme. Strip clubs and massage parlours that offer full-time jobs to young people for at least 26 weeks can claim up to £2,275 – as long as the young person is neither a “performer” nor “performing sexual acts”. Labour MP for Slough, Fiona Mactaggart, who discovered that the subsidies apply to strip clubs and lapdancing bars, wants them scrapped. She said: "I do not think parents would welcome government-sponsored recruitment into the sex industry. "These are entry-level jobs into a world of gross exploitation and violence." Mactaggart has now raised the matter in Parliament, and has demanded to know how many people employed in such establishments go on to become sex workers. She said she had met young women who started out working in cloakrooms who went on to become prostitutes. The DWP said that young people are only 'guided towards' working in sex establishments if they specifically ask. Guided towards? Since 2012 jobs with a sexual purpose have been banned from government websites, although “ancillary” jobs within such establishments are still available. A document released by the DWP listed jobs in the adult entertainment industry for which employers can receive government subsidies to employ the young unemployed. These are: those involving the sale, manufacture, distribution and display of sex related products; auxiliary workers in lap/pole dancing clubs, such as bar staff, door staff, receptionists or cleaners; auxiliary workers in strip clubs, such as bar staff, door staff, receptionists or cleaners; auxiliary workers in saunas/massage parlours; bar staff, door staff, receptionists or cleaners; glamour model photographers; web-cam operators; TV camera operators, sound technicians, producers/directors for adult channels on digital TV; and TV camera operators, sound technicians, producers/directors for pornographic films. A DWP spokesman said: “This Government took action to ensure jobs in the adult industry which might exploit jobseekers were not advertised through Jobcentre Plus. "We also ensured that to be eligible for our schemes jobs must not exploit vulnerable jobseekers.” So you can get taxpayers money to teach you how to be a producer or director of pornographic films, or to photograph glamour models and possibly exploit other people… And what happens if, when you are all settled in, you are offered another job, 'inhouse'? What happens if you turn that down? Sanctions? I don't think this has been thought through.  |
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