Thursday, March 27, 2014

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Action Aid to tackle female poverty

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:40 AM PDT

Mwakirunge Dumpsite, MombasaUK government to match donations to new appeal and help young women trapped in a cycle of poverty.

In many parts of the world, if you are born poor and female you don't have much of a chance – and 70 per cent of the poorest people in the world are female.

Too often, young women are trapped in a cycle of poverty. The violence and inequality they face means they remain poor and vulnerable – simply because they are women.

In the Mwakirunge dumpsite in Kenya right now, young women are trapped. The dumpsite is an unsafe environment which is poorly lit, with mounds of burning and toxic waste. They are forced to make enough money to eat by foraging – regardless of any serious environmental health hazards.

And alongside that, they face a significant risk of sexual harassment, violent assault. There is no alternative, no opportunity of an education.

This is Mwanahamisi's story:

Mwanahamisi Mariamu lives on a dumpsite outside Mombasa in Kenya. She said: ‘I scavenge at the dumpsite. I collect bottles, bottle tops and scrap metal. I don't know how old I am but maybe 16.

‘I also get very scared at night. The men around here drink a lot and it scares me,’ explains Mwanahamisi. ‘At night they roam around looking for girls to rape.

‘It happens to many girls, the men are strong and can be very violent so the girls have to go with the men whether they want to or not.’

She adds: ‘At night I try and stay in the house with my mother and siblings so that they don't know I am here.’

Poverty has meant Mwanahamisi has had to stop her education: ‘I don’t go to school now and I only reached nursery level but had to leave because there was no money.

‘All I really want is to go to school so that I [can] become a teacher. I want to learn things and to be able to teach others things that I know."

Mwanhamisi’s story, sadly, is not unusual.

Action Aid believes this is wrong and is hoping to offer these women and girls a way out with their ‘She Can’ appeal.

The She Can appeal is to expand Action Aid’s work to enable thousands of young women to live a life free from harm and violence, a life where they can be educated and are able to work themselves out of poverty.

And the UK government has said that it will match every pound raised in this appeal -  meaning twice as many women can be supported out of poverty.

Seventy per cent of the world's poorest people are women and girls;

Two thirds of the adults in the world who cannot read or write are women;

41 million girls worldwide are still denied a primary education;

Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, but earn only a tenth of its income.

The She Can appeal wants this to change.

To learn how you can help Action Aid to provide girls like Mwanhamisi with a way to escape this life visit the Action Aid ‘She Can’ appeal website.

Men to stand up for women’s rights

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 05:15 AM PDT

cropped-he-for-she-logoUN Women launches new campaign to involve men in gender equality.

Finally.

In a campaign called He for She, men are explicitly being asked to take part in winning the fight for gender equality for women.

With half the global population still constricted in its ability to contribute equally and fully to society, everybody is losing out.

Calls for women's equality to be recognised as an issue for everyone, regardless of gender, have become more vocal and frequent.

UN Women launched the HeForShe campaign calling on men to raise their voices for change on the eve of this year's International Women's Day.

Speaking about the movement, UN Women’s executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said, "This campaign encourages men all over the world to speak out against inequality faced by women and girls.

"It ties in elements of social media, online engagement and mobile communications, to engage and connect with audiences worldwide.

"My goal is to create a global movement that engages the whole of humanity."

Headlining the campaign are internationally known men including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actors Matt Damon and Antonio Banderas and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

Antonio Banderas is quoted as saying, “Real men don't hit women. I call for men to join me in standing up to the violence directed at women and girls.”

And Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Men and boys, we show our manhood through the way we treat our women. Our wives, our sisters and our mothers.”

John W. Ashe, president of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, said, ‘The road to achieving gender equality cannot and must not traveled by women and girls alone.

‘We cannot achieve gender equality without the full engagement of men and boys.'

Men around the world are encouraged to raise their voices and contribute a video to the HeForShe YouTube channel.

As the campaign says, 'Women's equality is human equality'.

Let's encourage UK men to add their voices.

And we can also keep an eye on the UK National Committee for UN Women – the voice of UN Women in the UK – and the Government Equalities Office for support and development of this campaign within the UK.

Conviction rates for domestic violence fall

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 02:09 AM PDT

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, reports of domestic violence have risen, but fewer are leading to successful prosecutionNew data shows that reports of domestic violence have risen, but fewer are leading to successful prosecution.

In Warwickshire, 7,434 incidents of domestic violence or rape were reported in 2012-13. Only 217 cases ended with a conviction.

This example marks the worst conviction rate (2.92 per cent) in the country and has been revealed by data collected by the office of Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, earlier this month.

The problem, however, is not confined to one or even two counties.

In the most comprehensive data on conviction rates for domestic violence and rape collected since the current coalition government came to power, it has been uncovered that while reported incidents of domestic violence increased by 11 per cent from 2010-11 to 2012-13, convictions in the same period in fact reduced by 11 per cent.

That equates to 838,000 reported incidents of domestic abuse in England and Wales during 2012-13 and just 52,500 of those resulting in a conviction.

The data shows that nearly 90 per cent of all reports of domestic violence to police forces in England and Wales were taken no further: police referred just 10.5 per cent of the cases to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2012-13 compared to 12.1 per cent  in 2009-10.

In addition, the 16,300 rape offences recorded by police in 2012-13 led to just 2,300 convictions.

That ratio marks the first time since 2008 that rape convictions have dropped below 15 per cent of the overall number of incidents.

Some argue that increased reports reflect historical abuse being reported more frequently in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, and suggest it is perhaps unsurprising that such reports are harder to convict.

High-profile trials ending in ‘not guilty’ verdicts – for example in the cases of William Roache and Dave Lee Travis – have also been cited as having perhaps discouraged local police authorities from taking reports through to prosecution.

However, Yvette Cooper has blamed the government, and said: "The scale of domestic abuse is shocking. The Government and the Home Secretary have turned their backs on this issue.

"Support and justice for victims is getting worse not better as a result of their failure."

"There has been an appalling lack of leadership from [Home Secretary] Theresa May. Why has so little been done to investigate this drop?

"The Home Secretary is failing to make ending violence against women a priority for the criminal justice system and the clock is being turned backwards as a result," she continued.

Cooper established that Labour would commit to publishing domestic abuse and sexual violence league tables for every police force across England and Wales in a bid to expose poor performance and raise standards.

In response, the coalition’s Crime Prevention Minister, Norman Baker, released a statement pointing out that the latest data from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows the highest ever conviction rate for violence against women and girls, and that the government already has investigations underway to assess how police forces deal with rape and domestic abuse.

"More victims are coming forward to talk about rape and domestic violence and I am determined to improve the response at every point in the criminal justice system to address these horrific and inexcusable acts", he added.

Whatever the political stance, it is clear that the problem of domestic and sexual violence is a huge and under-addressed problem in the UK.

A recent survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) highlighted that 44 per cent of UK women had suffered some form of physical and/or sexual violence, with 29 per cent of having suffered violence at the hands of a current or previous partner.

With figures like that, we just cannot afford a drop in conviction rates.