Women's Views on News |
- Do three things to help women
- Online event discussing women migrants
- Grandparents are sacrificing careers too
| Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:55 AM PDT This week, negotiations on the future architecture of international development, known as the post-2015 development agenda, are entering a critical phase at the United Nations. The current global development framework, the Millennium Development Goals, expires at the end of 2015, and the international community has been engaged in a process to develop a new global framework over the last year. This week, the Open Working Group (OWG) for Sustainable Development Goals, a group of 70 countries who have been tasked with developing the sustainable development goals, is convening their last meeting before they hand over their suggestions and report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later in July. Here's what you can do: 1. Write a letter to your government asking for sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights to be included in the Open Working Group report. Click here for a template letter. Click here to see who to send your letter or email to. 2. Add your voice to the World We Want dialogues: go to this page and ask for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. 3. Sign the #IDecide petition to be presented to the UN Secretary-General: Do you decide what you do with your own body? Whether to get pregnant? Who you love and how? Shockingly many women and men around the world are denied these basic rights by governments and by tradition. And while that's a tragedy for them, it's also a tragedy for their communities and their countries – because denying women and girls their right to decide key issues in their lives keeps whole communities in an economic trap. We can't beat poverty without safeguarding sexual and reproductive health and rights – that's why we're asking for your support for the 'I decide' campaign. As world leaders decide on what replaces the Millennium Development Goals – we need to make sure that sexual and reproductive rights are at the heart of those new targets. We're aiming to get one million signatures to present to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in the summer of 2015. Please add your name and make a difference to millions of women, men and children around the globe.  |
| Online event discussing women migrants Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:21 AM PDT
Economic globalisation has led to significant increases in migration. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CARE International UK are hosting a two-day public conference in London and online on 17 and 18 July to highlight migration as a key factor for sustainable development and the need to better protect the human rights of migrants. Its title is ‘Women, migration and development: Investing in the future’. It will focus on two key thematic areas: vulnerabilities faced by women migrant workers and challenges in developing lasting policy solutions. The key objectives of the event are: To highlight the challenges faced by vulnerable migrant workers, including the particular vulnerabilities faced by women migrant workers; To advocate for appropriate strategies and policy and practical responses, based on the experiences of CARE, their partners, and others, in order to protect migrant workers' well-being particularly with respect to safe mobility and access to healthcare; To recognise women migrants' contribution as economic actors and advocate for policies and planning processes that will ensure their protection; and To advocate for the recognition of the role of migration as a key development enabler in the post-2015 development agenda. Many national policies discourage migration beyond national borders. However, there is strong evidence showing the positive effect that migration can have at source and destination countries. There is also a pressing need to protect the wellbeing of migrants – to facilitate their safe mobility and to ensure they have both the right and access to decent work and health and other basic health services. CARE has been working on gender, migration and development issues for several years throughout the world. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is the UK’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. The conference is being held at 203 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8NJ, but is also being streamed online. To see the programme click here. To watch the event live online, click here. Among the confirmed speakers are: Jill Helke – director of International Cooperation and Partnerships, IOM; Dr Piyasiri Wickramasekara – vice president, Global Migration Policy Associates; Dr Fiona Samuels - Research Fellow, Social Development, Overseas Development Institute; Dr Priya Deshingkar - Research Director, Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium; Allison J. Petrozziello - Gender and Migration Specialist, UN Women; Eve Geddie - Programmes Director, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants; Barbara Rijks - Migration Health Program Coordinator, IOM; Hiranthi Jayaweera - Senior Researcher COMPAS, Oxford University; Elizabeth Shlala - Research Associate, COMPAS, Oxford University, London School of Economics; Yasmin Alibhai-Brown – Journalist and author; Awale Olad – Public Affairs Officer, Migrants’ Rights Network; Doris Bartel - Senior Director, Gender and Empowerment at CARE-USA; and Cathy Riley - Assistant Country Director, CARE Nepal, CARE International.  |
| Grandparents are sacrificing careers too Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:09 AM PDT
Almost two million British grandparents have given up work, reduced their hours or taken time off to care for grandchildren, as families struggle to meet the rising costs of childcare. According to the Family and Childcare Trust, the cost of childcare has risen by 27 per cent in the last five years, meaning that as well as time grandparents are forking out cash, estimated to be in the region of £8 billion in the past year, to pay for a variety of their grandchildren’s needs. The survey, organised by charities Grandparents Plus, Save the Children and the Family and Childcare Trust, found that 14 per cent of grandparents – or around 1.9 million people – have reduced working hours, given up a job, or taken time off through annual or sick leave to care for a grandchild. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is more likely to be grandmothers that are sacrificing their own careers in order to help out mums and dads who are struggling with childcare, An estimated 1.45 million grandmothers have been affected, compared to 450,000 grandfathers. Around 40 per cent of grandparents who do look after their grandchildren say they do so for the child's parents to be able to work, but for 17 per cent it is simply because the parents cannot afford childcare. "Grandparents are a hidden army of carers – giving a lifeline to parents who need to get back to work and who often cannot afford childcare,"said Sam Smethers, chief executive of Grandparents Plus. And the director of UK Poverty at Save the Children, Will Higham, added: "The failure of all parties to tackle the cost of childcare has conscripted a gran and granddads' army to pick up the pieces." "The reality is that many parents struggling on a low income are being priced out of using formal childcare and have no option but to give up work, or rely on friends and family," he continued. The prohibitive cost of childcare has long been a barrier for women returning to work; a survey earlier this year by Mumsnet and UK think tank the Resolution Foundation found that two-thirds of mothers said the high cost of childcare was an obstacle to them working, or working more. The generosity of grandparents is vital for many parents, particularly those in low-income or single-parent families, but not everyone has the luxury of a family support network on-hand to help with childcare. Anand Shukla, chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust, said: "Up and down this country, grandparents provide much needed and heavily-relied upon informal childcare for hard-pressed parents. Without them, many parents would not be able to go back or stay in work." "Recognition of the role grandparents play is vital, but not everyone is lucky enough to have grandparents close by who can fill the gap created by unaffordable and inflexible childcare. "Making sure all parents can access high-quality, affordable childcare when they need it must be a key priority for the government," he said. As well as advocating access to affordable childcare, the report found strong support for the extension of workers' rights, currently available to parents, so that grandparents also have more flexibility to help with childcare without having to sacrifice their own careers. "This is generation generosity in action… it suggests we need to re-think working requirements for the ageing population, who are being expected to work longer and care more for grandchildren," said Smethers. "This simply isn't sustainable."  |
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