Women's Views on News |
| Party policies on sexual harassment: fail Posted: 23 Jun 2014 07:46 AM PDT
In May the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) published a legal analysis of the three main political parties' policies on sexual harassment which finds them "hopelessly inadequate". EVAW, a national coalition of women's organisations, requested the policies be disclosed by each party leader when the Liberal Democrats failed to act decisively on the Lord Rennard 'scandal' in January this year. A leading equality lawyer reviewed the responses sent by Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and Grant Schapps to the EVAW Coalition and says that as a set the policies are "hopelessly inadequate" and "demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of what the law requires." The cover letters and attached party policies in the main: Appear not to appreciate that the sexual harassment of party staff or members is unlawful; Do not state that a person making an allegation will be protected from 'victimisation', that is, incurring further discrimination as a result of making an allegation, as the law also requires and Currently have poor procedures for making an allegation, or have not disclosed these. The Conservative Party's 'Respect' policy for MPs and their members worryingly opens with the statement that MPs "have the right to expect to carry out their parliamentary business free from unfounded allegations of discrimination, harassment or bullying". The Lib Dems will not implement new policy and codes of conduct until the end of 2014. The Labour Party has disclosed policy for party staff only. It disclosed only a description of what it considers to be harassment and no details of procedures for how it should be dealt with. Labour says it is following up recent recommendations on how better to publicise its procedures within the party. The policies requested and disclosed do not refer to MPs' staff. These workers are employed directly by MPs in a manner similar to a small, private employer. Employment and equality law still apply absolutely to the terms and conditions of these people's employment. Karon Monaghan QC, who wrote the legal analysis, said: "None of the main political parties appear to understand that they are subject to the law against sexual harassment in their dealings with party members. "The Equality Act 2010 makes clear that it is unlawful to subject members of a political party to sexual harassment," Monaghan explained. "None of the documents produced by the party leaders evidence any understanding of the legal position. "Even their policies addressing the harassment of staff indicate a lack of understanding of the legal position. "The main political parties simply do not seem to understand their legal obligations and equally importantly what constitutes best practice."  |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2014 04:05 AM PDT
Armagh: 26 June: Women, Peace and Security: Developing Policy and Practice at the North South Ministerial Council Offices, Armagh from 10.30am – 2pm. This event from the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI), working in conjunction with WRDA and CFNI, will explore the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. In particular, focus will be given to guiding local elected representatives on how to integrate the principles of the resolution into their own work. Places are limited so register early to avoid disappointment. RSVP to Sinéad. Belfast: 27 June: No Peace Without Women at the Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast from 10.30am – 2.30pm. WRDA, CFNI and NWCI invite you to join us for No Peace Without Women. We have engaged with over 1,000 women during the past two years of our Women and Peace Building Project. Your views have influenced the development of a policy toolkit aimed at ensuring women's voices are heard in policy development. This final event will provide an overview of the United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and examine how the toolkit will be used to influence key decision makers, governments and agencies. It will offer you a chance to have a say in how WRDA's future peace building work will be developed. Places are limited so make sure to RSVP soon by contacting Kelli Boyles. Edinburgh: Until 27 June: The manuscript and printed work by Elizabeth Melville; on display in the library of New College, on the Mound, from 9am – 5 pm. Hemel Hempstead: 24 June: The Sistren at The Old Town Hall Theatre, High Street, Hemel Hempstead, from 8pm. The Sistren features three extraordinary players in the fight for women's rights: Mary Wollstonecraft, seen as the founder of modern feminism through her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women and mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein; Claudia Jones, founder of the first Black British weekly newspaper and considered by many to be the 'mother' of the Notting Hill carnival; and Emma Lloyd Sproson, suffragette, suffragist and Wolverhampton's first female councillor. A powerful drama imbued with humour and honesty, this is a play not to be missed. Tickets £12 /£10. Leeds: 26 June: The Routes to Solidarity's annual conference to promote migrant and minority women's activism. Bangladesh Community Centre, Roundhay Road Oakwood, Leeds, LS8 4AR from 10.30 – 3.30pm. London: 24 June : OBJECT: make this year's Wimbledon a 'Sexism-Free Wimbledon 2014': making placards around the idea of 'Wimbledo's and Wimbledon'ts', that have one green side with positive facts and quotes about women at Wimbledon, and then a red side criticising sexist quotes and unequal treatment that women have faced in previous years. Please bring your own facts, chants, slogans ideas as well. Twitter: We will promote the direct action using hashtag #makingaracket and #sexismfreewimbledon. If you want to join us please email for more details. 27 June: Feminist Fightback Film Club presents: Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger at Unit 5E, 5 Pundersons Gardens, London E2, from 7pm. For decades, performance artist and write, Kate Bornstein has been exploding binaries and deconstructing gender – and her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering gender outlaw. Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger is her latest tour, capturing rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist-theorist-activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style and astonishing candour. By turns meditative and playful, the film invites us on a thought-provoking journey through Kate's world to seek answers to some of life's biggest questions. 28 June: Transpose: Rage and Pride edition at Hackney Attic, Mare Street, London E8, from 7pm. Now in its third year, Transpose returns to London Pride for a night of music, poetry, activism, love and creative rage. Celebrating trans and/or queer artists, supporting The Born This Way/Horizons Foundation for LGBT refugees, building community. Music from Seth Corbin and Not Right, poetry and spoken word from Kat Gupta, Jude Orlando Enjolras, Andra Simons and Jessie Holder. Tickets £7: moneys go to the Born This Way Foundation. Until 28 June: Orange Tree Theatre Festival at Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, London TW9. The final production of the season and the last under the stewardship of Sam Walters will be a festival of new work from new directors. Featuring: I Dream Before I Take The Stand, by Arlene Hutton, directed by Katie Henry. From the writer of Last Train to Nibroc , a defence lawyer cross-examines a woman during her testimony in a sexual assault case – and in doing so, horribly distorts her perfectly innocent walk in the park. The play was called “a new feminist classic” when it premiered in Edinburgh in 1995. 7 to 75; created by Amy Hodge and the company of five. An exploration through text and movement of the journey through a woman’s life… from 7 to 75. Until 5 July: The F Word Project: Five Feminist Fables for the Twenty-First Century at Space Station Sixty Five, Building One, 373 Kennington Road, London, SE11 A body of art collected in a series of feminist graphic novellas by Maureen Burdock. Each novella features a common heroine originating from a culture whose current traditions cause women hardship, despite which they emerge strong and triumphant. The F Word Project increases awareness of women's struggles worldwide and the need for elimination of the injustices they experience. It provides inspirational role models for women by creating brave protagonists from various walks of life. In addition to the depiction of problems, the intelligence and goodness of human nature that make change possible are emphasised through the use of humour and engaging art and narratives. Manchester: 29 and 30 June: Laughing Cows Comedy Night at The Frog and Bucket Comedy Club, 102 Oldham Street, Manchester, from 8pm. Laughing Cows Comedy has been proudly celebrating, showcasing and developing women in comedy since 1998 throughout the UK and Europe. Hosted by Kerry Leigh with Birthday Girls. Birthday Girls are Beattie Edmondson, Rose Johnson and Camille Ucan. Collectively, individually and existentially they have been seen or heard on things like Live At The Electric (BBC3), Absolutely Fabulous, Dick & Dom's Funny Business (BBC2) and Sketchorama (BBC Radio 4) Birthday Girls were in a sketch group called Lady Garden, now they are in a new sketch group called Birthday Girls. They have known each other for many years and have been working together for many years. Since they've been friends the following things have happened: Lehman Brothers collapsed, Kosovo achieved independence, and swine flu broke out. Coincidence? We think not. Oxford: 28 June: Disco for Choice meeting at the corner of Staunton Road and Headley Way, Oxford. Every month, people who would seek to end a woman’s (and transmen and gender fluid/queer people’s) right to choose what happens to her (his/their) body picket the entrance to the hospital. They call it a “prayer vigil” but as a commentator in Cardiff recently pointed out “since when have a prayer vigil needed placards?” You are invited to counter this protest with a pro-choice disco – bringing joy and fun to celebrate a woman’s (transman, gender queer/fluid person’s) right to choose. Bring your best moves, a placard if you want to, but definitely some fun spirit for which will hopefully be a lovely sunny picnic and disco.  |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2014 01:44 AM PDT
The mother a 15 year-old girl who died after taking Ecstasy is calling for a meeting with the Home Secretary to campaign for "recreational drugs" to be legalised and regulated. Anne-Marie Cockburn, speaking following the inquest into the death of her 15-year-old daughter Martha Fernback, said she wanted to meet the Home Secretary, Theresa May, and other leading politicians, to discuss possible changes to drugs laws. At Martha’s inquest, Oxfordshire Coroner's Court was told that the 15 year-old died following a cardiac arrest two hours after taking 0.5g of crystallised MDMA, known as Ecstasy. The drug Martha had purchased and taken was 91 per cent pure. The average street-level purity of 58 per cent. In her statement following the inquest, Cockburn said: "Martha wanted to get high, she didn't want to die – no parent wants either, but one of those is preferable to the other. "I wish the drug education she received had enabled her to make a more fully informed decision, instead of leaving her so vulnerable and in danger. "I would like to meet with Theresa May, Norman Baker and Yvette Cooper to start a sensible dialogue for change, from prohibition to strict and responsible regulation of recreational drugs. "This will help to safeguard our children and lead to a safer society for us all by putting doctors and pharmacists, not dealers, in control of drugs." Cockburn is being backed in her call for a change in the way drug use is handled – in effect an end to the war on drugs – by Bristol-based drug policy think tank Transform. The drug war, Transform points out: Undermines international development and security, and fuels conflict; Threatens public health, spreads disease and causes death; Undermines human rights; Promotes stigma and discrimination; Creates crime and enriches criminals; Causes deforestation and pollution and Means billions is wasted on ineffective law enforcement. Unlike the costs of other policies, says Transform, these costs of the drug war have never been properly acknowledged or investigated by the governments and agencies responsible for them. These negative impacts have been generated in large part by handing the drug trade, which is valued at roughly USD320 billion, to organised – and often violent – criminal profiteers. And, Transform points out, even the international agency responsible for enforcing global prohibition, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has acknowledged that international drug policy has created a "lucrative and violent black market [for drugs]". The black market is one of five negative "unintended consequences" that have been identified by the UNODC as products of the current approach to drugs. The others are: 'Policy displacement' – scarce resources are redirected from health to enforcement; 'The balloon effect' – enforcement does not eliminate drug production, transit and supply; it simply shifts it somewhere else; 'Substance displacement' – enforcement does not eliminate drug use; at best it moves users on to different drugs and Stigmatisation and discrimination – drug users are deterred from seeking treatment and support And on a individual level, countless numbers of women and girls get caught and imprisoned after being duped or forced into being drug mules, throwing their own and their families lives into chaos and hell. One of Transform's key strands of work involves producing and disseminating a range of resources that not only provide a critique of the war on drugs, but also offer a vision of what could come after it. Their publication, ‘After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation’, demonstrates how legal regulation of drugs could work in practice. ‘Blueprint’ has been widely endorsed by a range of high-profile public figures, from the former President of Colombia to the UK's President of the Royal College of Physicians. It proposes specific models of regulation for each main type of currently prohibited drug, and demonstrates that legal regulation is not an unthinkable, politically impossible step in the dark, but a sensible, pragmatic approach to controlling drug production, supply and use. Cockburn said: "Strict and responsible regulation of recreational drugs is vital, this is crystal clear to me now. "Free drug testing facilities should be widely available … by putting some safeguarding measures in place, levels of harm are significantly reduced. "Had Martha been able to access drugs that had been legally produced and labelled accordingly, she would have been able to make a more informed decision – in fact, I'd go as far as to say that she might still be alive. "The question is: how many more Marthas have to die before we change our approach? It’s not acceptable to allow the risks to remain.”  |
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