Women's Views on News |
- Prisoners faced with underwear shortage
- UN starts talk about open defecation
- Teach boys and men to challenge attitudes
| Prisoners faced with underwear shortage Posted: 05 Jun 2014 07:38 AM PDT
A new report by the Prison Reform Trust, supported by the Bromley Trust, shows a system under significant strain with fewer staff, worsening safety, and fewer opportunities for rehabilitation. Unprecedented cuts to the Ministry of Justice’s budget, due to total £2.4bn by 2015-16, are creating a race to the bottom in prison conditions and the warehousing of people in super-sized jails, according to the Prison Reform Trust's new report Prison: the facts. Changes to prison rules introduced six months ago which include a ban on prisoners receiving books and other basic items are eliciting a strong sense of injustice in prisons and undermining opportunities for effective rehabilitation, a new briefing by the Prison Reform Trust reveals. Under these new rules, prisoners can be sent a one-off parcel at the start of their sentence but then are forbidden from receiving any items in the post other than letters and cards unless there are exceptional circumstances. Since the introduction of the scheme in November, the Prison Reform Trust's advice and information service has responded to many prisoners concerned about its impact on them and their families. The Trust has, for example, been contacted by women prisoners who cannot get hold of enough clean underwear to keep them hygienic during their period. The Ministry of Justice has introduced a fixed limit to the number of items of underwear that men and women may have in their cells, as well as placing restrictions on other items of clothing. Families are also prevented from sending in books and other basic items such as paper or pens to help people in prison with their education and learning and keeping in touch with their friends and families. They are also prevented from sending additional warm clothes and underwear to the prison. Instead people in prison are now forced to pay for these items out of their meagre prison wages to private companies who make a profit from selling goods to prisoners. The advice team has also been contacted by many elderly and disabled prisoners who are unable to work and cannot earn enough money to pay for items or things to keep them occupied during the long periods of time they are locked in their cells. Previously the families of these prisoners could have sent them a pack of cards, board games, books or magazines to give them something to do. Prisoners are now forced to pay for these items or obtain them from under-resourced prison libraries. Rates of pay for those working average around £10 a week and can be as little as £2.50 a week for a prisoner who is unable to work – out of which they must pay for phone calls, TV rental, stationery, reading material and any additional food, clothes and toiletries they may need. It costs 20p a minute to call a mobile from a prison phone during the week; and 9p a minute to phone a landline. The advice team has also heard from prisoners working outside in the community on release on temporary licence, but who are not able to get hold of enough clothes to keep them warm during the cold winter weather. One woman prisoner said: 'I have a thick padded jacket, which is brown and I am being told this will no longer be allowed. 'I cannot afford to buy a new coat as I only earn £12 a week as it is. 'This is not just me but other women who go out to work. 'Some work in London and will have the same clothes day in and out. 'Surely if we are working towards and maintaining all our goals we are entitled to a bit of leeway?'  |
| UN starts talk about open defecation Posted: 05 Jun 2014 04:15 AM PDT
Two teenage girls were gang-raped and killed recently after doing what half a billion women and girls are forced to do every day and night - go outdoors to try to find somewhere discreet to go to the toilet. These particular girls, thought to have been 14 and 15, went missing on the night of 27 May, the BBC reported. They had apparently gone out to relieve themselves as they had no toilet at home. Their bodies were discovered the following day. A post-mortem examination confirmed multiple sexual assaults and death due to hanging. Campaigners have highlighted the lack of sanitation in rural areas as being a risk to women’s security as well as their health, as women and girls are often attacked when going out to use the toilet, particularly at night. And now the United Nations has launched a new campaign to end need for the practice and improve access to toilets and latrines for the 2.5 billion people worldwide without even this basic level of sanitation. That is 15 per cent of the global population. "I am here to talk about something the world chooses not to talk about," the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, said in New York at the launch of the campaign last week, noting that he introduced the words "toilets" and "open defecation" into the diplomatic discourse, said people get embarrassed when the words are used. Poor sanitation, he pointed out, means children die from diseases that could have been prevented with adequate sanitation, and should be given international attention on par with more traditional issues. And around 1 billion people worldwide defecate in the open, using rivers, fields or other places to relieve themselves due to a shortage or absence of latrines or toilets. The practice contributes to the rise of sexual violence and harassment of women and girls, and increases health risks through the spread of diseases, such as diarrhoea. The campaign, among other aims, urges people to "search ‘open defecation’," find out more about the issue and participate in the solutions. As another part of the launch, Raya, a new Sesame Street Muppet employed to engage children with important messages surrounding proper latrine use and sanitation throughout Bangladesh, India and Nigeria, made a special report on the importance of good sanitation. The aqua-green sandal-wearing Muppet, introduced to the company by Eliasson, reported on her top story: "We need more toilets. "With more toilets in schools and pledges around the world, we can stop millions of children and grownups from getting sick. "Then we can remind everyone to wear shoes and sandals when they go to the toilet… and to wash their hands." Sesame Street, through the creative agency Mother, is one of the UN partners working on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) issues, along with the UN Millennium Campaign and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, among others. The campaign is being launched in response to the deputy secretary-general's Call to Action on Sanitation, which focuses on open defecation and how to accelerate global action to reach the sanitation targets of the anti-poverty targets called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline. The MDG target to halve the proportion of people without access to sanitation has helped to raise the profile of the issue, and 1.8 billion people gained access to improved sanitation since 1990, but there is still far to go, a press release on the new initiative said. Meanwhile, the MDG target to halve the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water has already been met. If you do sanitation right, you actually help five MDGs, said Eliasson, child mortality goes down, maternal health goes down, and girls stay in school past puberty, so education rates improve. The Permanent Mission of Singapore to the UN was also at the launch, and announced that it will hold a special event to focus on open defecation and its impact on women and girls. The UN Deputy Permanent Representative of the country, Neo Ek Beng Mark, who also participated in the launch stressed that "we need to find a way to target the silences which are rooted in the taboos." "Open defecation is also a euphemism," he noted in reference to the launch. "What we are talking about is shitting in the open." The dangers of shitting in the open.  |
| Teach boys and men to challenge attitudes Posted: 05 Jun 2014 01:06 AM PDT
CARE believes that, while men and boys are part of the problem, they must also become a greater part of the solution. In the Balkans, CARE has pioneered an approach that shows men and boys can be allies and champions for change. This work with young men has helped change attitudes and behaviour – and stop the cycle of violence from spreading to the next generation. CARE found that after taking part in the Young Men Initiative: Boys had more equitable attitudes towards women; Boys were less likely to think violence is acceptable — both violence against women and as a general solution to their problems; Boys had more open ideas about what it meant to be a man. Mislav Mandir, one of the participants, said he now no longer believed “that to be a real man, you have to fight”. And Uros Radulovic said: “I began to respect girls and women more, and also respect people’s opinions, differences and diversity.” How it works: Alongside drama and sport activities, young men attend workshops on gender roles, violence and sex. Prejudices concerning ‘typical women's work’ and what it means to be a man are discussed and questioned. Research into this and similar initiatives shows: Boys involved in programmes that promote non-violent lifestyles are more likely to support women's equality; Programmes that work to transform gender norms and engage men are more likely to be successful; That’s because participants don’t just change their own attitudes – they act as champions for change in their communities. Gramos Salihu, a 16 year-old from Pristina, encourages friends and family members to get involved: "I want everyone to become part of it." We need to get it on the curriculum. Governments in the Balkans have recognised that this approach can really make a difference – and have added compulsory teaching onto their school curriculums. Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo have approved and accredited the programme for all secondary schools, and are training teachers to deliver the programme. It is a lesson the world can learn from – and that is why CARE is calling on governments throughout the world to include teaching on gender equality and ending violence against women in their national curriculums. Emir Piric, a high school student from Sarajevo, said: “Be a Man Club at school was a real turning point for me. “What I learned there made me start questioning many of my beliefs, and I realised how harmful and destructive they were for me as well as for my friends… “Change does not happen overnight, but it is a very interesting and motivating process to become a better person. “It was a real discovery for me to realise that we all have the power to change from within. Instead of fighting and causing trouble… “I want to work with other young people who are stuck on the wrong path like I was… “As a result, I am a better student, a better friend, a much better playmate, and I hope I will be a better man.” From 10-13 June representatives from over 140 countries around the world will be attending a global summit in London on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict. They have been invited by William Hague, UK Foreign Secretary, and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN. The summit will be focusing on ways to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of warzone rape. But CARE thinks this is a real opportunity to go further – to tackle the root causes of violence against women. To do this we need to shift global attitudes to women – and that means teaching boys and young men to challenge and change attitudes to sexual violence and overcome everyday sexism. Sickening attacks on women and girls are a daily occurrence around the world. As the summit takes place, women in South Sudan are being tied up and raped even as they seek safety from the conflict. This is the most vile and extreme form of attack, but the picture of discrimination is true the world-over. In the UK a poll revealed that around one in three girls (29 per cent) have experienced unwanted sexual touching in UK schools, and at least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence. CARE’s work in conflict and post-conflict settings has shown that working with men and boys really can break the cycle of violence. And the Everyday Sexism Project has shown that in the UK, and around the world, whether or not a country is experiencing conflict, the attitudes that lead to abuse and even violence against women are engrained in our societies. Please sign our petition calling on William Hague and Angelina Jolie to urge governments around the world to include teaching on gender equality and ending violence against women in their national curriculum.  |
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