Women's Views on News |
- Cosmetic surgery still largely unregulated
- House domestic violence victims
- Events 24 February – 2 March
- Million women rise – enough is enough
| Cosmetic surgery still largely unregulated Posted: 24 Feb 2014 07:30 AM PST
The government’s response to Sir Bruce Keogh’s recent recommendations for overhauling the cosmetic treatment industry is welcome as far as it goes, but overall is “”too little, too late” according to the patient safety charity, Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). Keogh was appointed National Medical Director in NHS England from 2013, where he is responsible for promoting a focus on quality, clinical leadership and innovation, and released a report on the state of the cosmetic surgery industry in April last year. The review recommended: Legislation to classify fillers as prescription only; Formal qualifications for anyone who injects fillers or Botox; Register of everyone who performs surgical or non-surgical cosmetic interventions; Ban on special financial offers for surgery; Formal certificate of competence for cosmetic surgeons; A breast implant register to monitor patients; Patients’ procedures must be approved by a surgeon not a salesperson; Compulsory insurance in case things go wrong; A pooled fund to help patients when companies go bust – similar to the travel industry. But it seems that dermal fillers will not be classified as medicines, despite Keogh’s recommendation, and there will not be a statutory register of patients who have received them, nor of those who administer cosmetic procedures. Plastic surgeons complain that the government has also been unwilling to use compulsion in its register of breast implants, following the PIP scandal after women were given implants filled with industrial silicone. The government has set up a voluntary register, but the surgeons say that has not worked in the past and will not now. And the review itself says: ‘Previous attempts at self-regulation in the industry have failed, largely because voluntary codes have meant that only the best in this disparate sector commit themselves to better practice, whilst the unscrupulous and unsafe carry on as before.’ “…This review, not the first one conducted into the sector, represents yet another thoroughly wasted opportunity to ensure patient safety,” Rajiv Grover, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, told the Guardian recently. AvMA has had to advise and support people who have been harmed by sub-standard cosmetic treatment, and submitted evidence to Sir Bruce’s review. While the government has accepted the vast majority of Sir Bruce’s report “in principle”, it has not committed to full regulation of the industry or ensuring appropriate avenues for redress for patients who have been harmed. Peter Walsh, the chief executive of AvMA, said: “We welcome this response as far as it goes. "It signals that Government is at least taking these problems with the cosmetic treatment industry seriously at last. "However, we have seen too many people harmed by rogues in this industry already. "We are disappointed not to see all providers of cosmetic treatment having to register and be regulated by the Care Quality Commission, or a proper compensation scheme created for victims of the industry. "The Government had promised its response by last summer and [the Chief Medical Officer for England from 1998-2010] Sir Liam Donaldson’s report in 2005 was ignored. We need to see action not words now. "Overall, this is a case of too little, too late.” This as, according to figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps), there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity of plastic surgery in the UK; “the most impressive rise in demand” since the start of the recession in 2008. Donaldson‘s report had outlined a series of moves to ensure better training for doctors, better information for patients and a tougher regulatory structure for private cosmetic surgery. In 2005. To read Keogh’s ‘Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic Interventions’, click here.  |
| House domestic violence victims Posted: 24 Feb 2014 07:05 AM PST UNISON is calling for free emergency housing for all women fleeing domestic violence. UNISON is one of Britain's largest unions, and more than two thirds of its.1.3 million members are women. Domestic violence was one of the issues raised at UNISON’s national women member's conference, which was held in Brighton recently. The union is particularly concerned about the position of working women, who may be forced to pay for services following deep spending cuts. UNISON’s women's officer Sharon Greene said: "It takes huge courage for a woman to leave an abusive relationship and when they do they deserve the best support possible. "There are many reasons why some women believe they can't leave a violent partner but money should not be one of them. “That is why we are calling for access to free emergency accommodation for women and their children if they are forced to flee to safety. "Every woman should have a right to safety and justice. But women in work are being victimised because government cuts to Legal Aid have drastically reduced the number of people eligible for free legal advice. "The lack of safe alternative options for women also needs to be addressed. “Last year, 1.2 million women experienced domestic abuse in the UK, including half a million cases of sexual assault. "We need to have the right provision and support in place to help women and their children who live in fear of the next attack. They deserve to be safe from abuse so they can regain their confidence and have a new start in life." The conference also debated forced marriage, food banks, low pay and zero hours contracts. A full list of conference decisions will be published here shortly. UNISON launched a nationwide survey aimed at gauging the impact of the Government's cuts to local services on women and their families to coincide with the start of the women's conference. Women make up 77 per cent of local government staff and women are more likely to use public services than men, so are the first to be affected when services are cut. Heather Wakefield, UNISON head of Local Government, said: "Local councils have been under the cosh since the Conservatives came to power and bit by bit local communities are seeing their services cut or closed. "The survey aims to drill down into the impact of these cuts on women across the country. "We know that women are by far the biggest users of council services so they are the biggest losers when those same services are axed. It is often those with the least that are affected the most by cuts to services. "It is a fact that the burden of care for children and the elderly falls mainly on women. "When there are cuts to homecare services, children's centres, libraries, rural bus services, street lighting women's refuges, public toilets, they are the ones in the firing line." The areas the survey covers includes questions on children's centres, community centres, sexual violence support services, libraries, leisure services, swimming pools parks etc, as well as local bus services, museums, street cleaning etc. It takes 5-10 minutes to complete and all answers will be completely anonymous. To take part, click here .  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2014 03:50 AM PST
Bristol: 1 March: Rights and Reasons: International Women's Rights Conference at Broadmead Baptist Church and Conference Centre, Union Street, Bristol from 9.30 – 4pm. To mark International Women's Day, African Initiatives is holding its annual International Women's Rights Conference. They have organised a series of inspirational workshops and talks to discuss issues such as sex work, forced marriage, women’s political representation and the fashion industry. For programme and full workshop summaries click here. To be launched by the Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson. Key note speaker: José Sluijs-Doyle, Chief Executive of African Initiatives; Guest speaker: Maanda Ngoitiko, African Initiatives’ partner in Tanzanian Maanda is a Maasai woman and founder and director of the Pastoral Women's Council, an entirely female-led charity working with Maasai women and girls in northern Tanzania. With representatives from around 20 different charities, the conference brings diverse organisations together under one roof and is a fantastic opportunity to meet, to network and to share experiences. Suggested donation is £10. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds; please contact African Initiatives for free or subsidised tickets or phone 0117 915 0001. Refreshments and buffet lunch included. The venue is fully accessible for wheelchair users. Coventry: 1 March: Reclaim the Night Coventry meeting at Coventry City Council House, Earls Street, Coventry, from 6pm. Reclaim the Night is a women-led event fighting for the right of all women to be out on the street and in public spaces without fear or threat of violence. On 1 March there will be a women-only* march around the centre of Coventry. We will meet just outside the Coventry Council House, march around the city centre and end on the Cathedral steps where there will be a short women-only* rally. *Reclaim the Night Coventry is open to all who self-define as women, including (if they wish) those with complex gender identities which include ‘woman’, and those who experience oppression as women. This explicitly includes trans* women. Leeds: 25 February: Ladyfest Bake Sale at Leeds Met Students' Union, Woodhouse Building, City Campus, Calverley Street, Leeds, from 2.30pm. Ladyfest Leeds are holding their first bake sale of the year in aid of Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds (SARSVL) and Shantona. Please go along, buy some cake and have a chat about up and coming Ladyfest events. 1 March: Cake My Day III at Heart Centre, Bennett Road, Headingley, Leeds, from 1pm-4pm. Following the huge success of Leeds Roller Dolls previous cupcake contest fundraiser, ‘Cake My Day’ is back for a third time. There’ll be cakes to judge and cakes to buy and some great prizes to be won if you fancy trying your hand at entering the cupcake competition. To register to bake, please email Skatewell Tart. If your baking skills aren’t up to scratch and your enthusiasm for cupcakes lies more in the eating of sweet delights provided by others, then fear not. For a small on-the-day fee of £3, you can be one of our all-important judges. All proceeds for this event will go to Leeds Roller Dolls. We thank you in advance for your support. And for your cake. London: 25 February: ICA Quickfire with Carolee Schneeman at Cinema 1, ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y, from 6.45pm. American artist and filmmaker Carolee Schneemann first performed at the ICA in 1968. This Quickfire talk sees the seminal feminist artist discuss her work with Alison Green, an academic who has written at length on Schneemann's work, which is characterised by research into archaic visual traditions, pleasure wrested from suppressive taboos, and the dynamic relationship between the human and the social body. Carloee Schneeman (born in 1939, in Philadelphia) lives and works in New York. Her painting, photography, performance art and installation works have been shown at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. Film and video retrospectives have taken place at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Film Theatre, London; Whitney Museum, NY; San Francisco Cinematheque; and Anthology Film Archives, New York. Her solo exhibition ‘Water Light / Water Needle’ in the Hales Gallery, London, runs 28 February – 12 April 2014. Followed by a screening of ‘Breaking the Frame‘, a documentary portrait of Carolee Schneemann. Tickets £7/£8. 27 February: Binteen Min Masr followed by discussion with Shereen El-Feki at the Coronet Cinema, Notting Hill, London, from 7pm. This screening of Binteen Min Masr is presented by Basira, a non-profit human rights organisation that promotes women's rights in the Arab world, as well as mutual understanding between Arabs and the Western world. This edition of Basira Presents will show and discuss the film Binteen Min Masr, with keynote speaker Shereen El Feki. Shereen (@shereenelfeki) is the author of ‘Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World’ (Random House, 2013), shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award. Shereen started her career in medical science, with a doctorate in immunology from the University of Cambridge, before going on to become an award-winning healthcare correspondent with The Economist and a presenter with Al Jazeera English. She is the former vice-chair of the UN's Global Commission on HIV and the Law, as well as a TED Global Fellow. Shereen sits on the board of a number of civil society groups working in the Arab region, among them Meedan and the Arab Forum for Freedoms and Equality. She also contributes to a number of publications, including The Huffington Post, International Affairs, and The Independent, and has written and spoken widely on women, sexuality and HIV in the Arab region. With roots in Egypt and Wales, Shereen grew up in Canada; she now divides her time between London and Cairo. Until 27 February: UCL Equalities at various locations around UCL campus, London. Throughout February, an exciting programme of events has been organised by UCL Equalities to celebrate diversity and examine the ongoing and evolving challenges some groups face in education, work and the wider society. This year's theme is time, history and generation. The events will look at the historical context of equalities and diversity and the way different experiences of diversity are found within and between generations. A full programme, which includes events that do not require registration, can be found here. Events going on this week, include: "You don't look old!" – The stigma attached to old age is so great that most people are unwilling to even admit they are old. Yet, surveying the difference ageing makes matters, as well as noting the strength and insidiousness of all the forces of ageism. Professor Lynne Segal will argue that it is crucial to find ways of resisting the prejudices and discrimination against the elderly, including tackling our own fears of ageing (whatever our age), at the same time as unpacking all the ways in which we are disparaged culturally as soon as we are seen as old. Having A Gay Old Time: voices of LGBT history – Documentary film-maker and UCL Communications multimedia producer Rob Eagle will present a selection of excerpts from documentaries on LGBT history. Clips will include both historic, seminal LGBT history documentaries, including Before Stonewall and Word is Out, and from recent films with older LGBT people, including Rob’s own ongoing documentary project, Having a Gay Old Time. Buddhas of Suburbia: faith, migration and suburban change in London – Suburbs are conventionally imagined as monotonous, monocultural, materialist and secular, but recent research in West London contradicts this, suggesting that suburbs are shaped by dynamic multicultural connections. Dr Claire Dwyer will argue that creativity and modernity are important elements in the changing geographies of religious architecture in the suburbs. Until 22 March: The Mistress Contract by Abi Morgan at Jerwood Theatre downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W She and He are the pseudonyms of a real-life couple who live in separate houses in the same city on the west coast of America. She is 88. He is 93. For 30 years he has provided her with a home and an income, while she provides 'mistress services' – 'All sexual acts as requested, with suspension of historical, emotional, psychological disclaimers.' They first met at university and then lost touch. When they met again twenty years later, they began an affair when She – a highly educated, intelligent woman with a history of involvement in the feminist movement – asked her wealthy lover to sign the remarkable document that outlines their unconventional lifestyle: The Mistress Contract. Was her suggestion a betrayal of all that she and the women of her generation had fought for? Or was it brave, honest, and radical? Then — on a small recorder that fit in her purse — this extraordinary couple began to tape their conversations about their relationship, conversations that took place while travelling, over dinner at home and in restaurants, on the phone, even in bed. Based on reams of tape recordings made over their 30 year relationship, The Mistress Contract is a remarkable document of this unconventional couple, and the contract that kept them bound together to this day. The Mistress Contract is Abi Morgan's Royal Court Theatre debut. Her theatre credits include most recently 27 for National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly's Lovesong. Her previous plays for the stage include Skinned, Splendour and Tiny Dynamite. A BAFTA award-winning writer; on film, she wrote the screenplay for The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep and Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender and on television, her credits include The Hour, Birdsong, White Girl and Sex Traffic. Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12. Until 23 March: Hannah Höch exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 Hannah Höch was an artistic and cultural pioneer. A member of Berlin's Dada movement in the 1920s, she was a driving force in the development of 20th century collage. Splicing together images taken from fashion magazines and illustrated journals, she created a humorous and moving commentary on society during a time of tremendous social change. Höch was admired by contemporaries such as George Grosz, Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters, yet was often overlooked by traditional art history. As the first major exhibition of her work in Britain, the show puts this inspiring figure in the spotlight. A determined believer in artistic freedom, Höch questioned conventional concepts of relationships, beauty and the making of art. Höch's collages explore the concept of the 'New Woman' in Germany following World War I and capture the style of the 1920s avant-garde theatre. The important series 'From an Ethnographic Museum' combines images of female bodies with traditional masks and objects, questioning traditional gender and racial stereotypes. Astute and funny, this exhibition reveals how Höch established collage as a key medium for satire whilst being a master of its poetic beauty. Tickets £9.95/ £7.95. Manchester: 27 February: Reclaim the Night Manchester meeting at Owens Park, Wilmslow Road, Manchester, from 7pm. Sexual violence against women is an epidemic. Together, we have the power to fight back: on 27 February, we Reclaim the Night. We will light up the city of Manchester, amplify our voices and take to the streets. This creative, inspiring event is open to the whole community and will be full of colour, light and noise: this year’s theme is ‘sound,’ so we’ll be raising our voices and uniting our energies to stand up to street harassment and sexual violence. Starting at Owens' Park, Wilmslow Road, Fallowfield at 7pm, a neon parade will head down Wilmslow Road towards Manchester Students' Union. The march will be led by a women’s-only block, open to all self-defining women, and followed by a mixed march open to all genders. The evening continues with the Reclaim the Night After Party, a festival of the finest women talent, with live comedy and music, arts and crafts, fun activities, community stalls and awesome DJs till late – at Manchester Students’ Union from 9pm. This year is going to be bigger, brighter and louder than ever. Bring your glow sticks, bring your friends and bring your voices.  |
| Million women rise – enough is enough Posted: 24 Feb 2014 01:09 AM PST
Violence devastates the lives of so many women, families and communities. Just look at the reality of the UK today: One woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her life; Domestic violence has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police); Two women are murdered every week by their partner or ex partner; One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute; One woman in four will experience sexual assault as an adult; Only 5 per cent of rapes reported to the police result in the perpetrator being convicted in court; Women are more worried about rape than any other crime; 250 cases of forced marriage are reported each year; Up to 1,420 women per year are trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation; One woman a month is murdered in the name of 'so called' honour; Nearly 90 per cent of local authorities do not have a rape crisis centre; Over 20,000 girls could be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK. And then there is the ongoing rape and genocide of our sisters and children across the world from Eastern Congo to Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Ivory Coast, Mali, Pakistan, Bangladesh, London, Bradford, Bolivia, Brazil, from Tamil women to Wales, East Europe, western Europe to the Americas – and on and on. The list is very, very long. Women continue to be attacked, exploited, and violated in many different ways, in their homes, on the streets, on public transport, and at work. The Million Women Rise (MWR) campaign to end violence against women is an international struggle for female emancipation and liberty. Ordinary women who want to see an end to all forms of male violence against women. Come and say a loud and clear ‘No’ to violence against women: join the Million Women Rise March in London on 8 March 2014 to say Enough is Enough! The march will be forming up on Duke Street – right next to the Selfridges on the main road of Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB – at 12 noon, and will be setting off at 1pm for a rally at Trafalgar Square. Wear red; for Million Women Rise it symbolises the colour of Woman and her blood, the blood of our sisters who have been murdered and raped, our blood which contains life, courage, respect, dignity and protection. The Million Women Rise march is open to all women and children. It is women-only for a number of reasons: Women and children in the UK and elsewhere around the world continue to experience violence; every minute of every hour of every day in our homes, on our streets, on our public transport, at our places of work and in countries where there is war. Women have been socially, culturally and economically conditioned to defer to men, to take the lead from men, to behave in ways approved of by men. The idea for the Million Women Rise event came from a group of women who dreamed of a strong visible presence of thousands of women marching together, in unity, to say 'enough is enough'. On this particular day, we want women to come and feel the strength, the exhilaration and power of being with other women, to celebrate ourselves, to sing, shout and chant at the top of our voices, in all our diversity, to demonstrate however we want because we're women in the company of other women. Join us.  |
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