Women's Views on News |
- Unheard at the Girl Summit?
- Words or actions after the Girl Summit?
- Feed a Family in the summer holidays
- Reclaiming the phrase ‘like a girl’
| Posted: 30 Jul 2014 08:26 AM PDT
Last week, the UK Government and UNICEF hosted a global GIRL Summit on child and early forced marriage (CEFM) and female genital mutilation (FGM). I attended as a representative of Southall Black Sisters (SBS) which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year in its fight to end violence against black and minority ethnic (BME) women and girls. I was also a member of the summit reference group. The summit had some inspiring speakers, particularly survivors, and some impressive commitments were made with millions being promised worldwide, particularly for work on FGM in the global south. It also helped to create a momentum for change, especially in relation to state responsibility in several countries in Africa and the Indian Sub-continent. Some countries from the global north also made commitments, such as Sweden, Canada and the USA, but it is unclear how much of this will be used to address the problems within minorities in their own countries. Many people, including black feminists, survivors and professionals, saw this event as a public relations exercise for governments and corporate bodies, and a showcase event for the UK Government facing an imminent general election. The focus on minority women and girl's issues, rather than violence against women and girls (VAWG) more generally, had also raised fears among some BME women groups and anti-racists of exoticisation and essentialism of minority or global south cultures and religions. These fears were partially justified as the summit did not sufficiently debate state responsibility to address these problems within the global north, which requires acknowledging and tackling barriers created by gender inequality, racism and poverty. As a member of the summit reference group, SBS argued for the need to tackle intersectional discrimination based on race, gender and class, and for the debates to be located within the VAWG and human rights framework. However, despite our presence at the summit, we too felt marginalised. There were few British BME women's groups in spite of my efforts for better representation. SBS was not given a slot to speak, even in the 'spotlight' workshops, or invited to the roundtable with a Home Office Minister. When the Prime Minister made a surprise appearance, his 'question time' seemed orchestrated. He ignored my raised hand, even though I was right in front of him and stood up several times to attract attention. What was he so afraid that I would ask? Many of the controversial or hard issues were not discussed at the summit – such as the impact of austerity measures, immigration controls and religious fundamentalisms. I had hoped that my questions would bring these to the fore, so that we can see genuine change within a generation, which was the summit's stated vision. While SBS work has focused more on forced marriage than FGM, there is much common ground. Most of the UK Government's announcements were on FGM. Although illegal for 3 decades, there have been no convictions on FGM. Instead of improving services to enable victims/survivors to come forward, the government said they were introducing new controversial laws to 'make parent's liable.' However, it was not clear how this is different to current liabilities under civil and criminal law, and why this should be limited to FGM without making an argument for this to be extended to all child abuse cases. Why not criminalise or penalise all parents who fail to protect their children? What would happen if they were unaware of the abuse occurring or unable to challenge it due to fear of violence? There are also plans to place a statutory duty on professionals to report FGM to add to the existing practice guidelines. Again, while there is already a duty under the Children Act, guidelines are difficult to implement unless there are robust inspection and enforcement mechanisms – a problem we are currently facing with the statutory forced marriage guidelines. While commitments were made for more funding, it was not clear how much of this would filter down to grassroots civic society organisations, and how much would be available for BME women's groups in the UK or for work on CEFM. Many frontline BME women's groups have closed down or reduced their services because of cuts in local authority funding.Austerity measures have also diminished services and the availability of legal aid more generally. Criminalisation of forced marriage in the UK, which came into force in June 2014, while giving the right message, ignores the fact that many victims/survivors say that they want protection from, but not the prosecution of their parents or families. In this context, it is crucial that support structures, such as those provided by BME women's services including specialist refuges, advice and advocacy and counselling, are enhanced to prevent the problem being driven underground. The summit also failed to deal with the thorny questions of immigration and asylum. For example, many women seeking asylum fearing forced marriage and other forms of gender related persecution in their country of origin are denied refugee status. Immigration controls introduced in the name of tackling forced marriage have been used to deny the right to family reunion to migrant communities. For example, an age related immigration policy which required both parties to be over 21 before an overseas spouse could come to the UK was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2011. In the cases of Quila and Bibi, in which SBS intervened, the Court ruled that the blanket policy used a 'sledge hammer to crack a nut' and violated the right to family life. With the forthcoming general election, the pressure to increase immigration controls is likely to intensify with each party vying to compete with the right wing agenda of UKIP which did well in the local and European elections in 2014. This has already begun.For example, recently, a BBC Radio Women’s Hour programme conflated 'sham' and 'forced' marriages – forgetting that the former often involves a fraudulent act by both parties, who have no intention of remaining together after the wedding, while the latter involves duress for one or both parties where, under cultural pressure, there is often an intention to remain together for life. The historic role of religion in oppressing women, and the impact of growing religious fundamentalisms (in all religions) was minimised. The summit sought to obtain the support of faith leaders, who were being encouraged to sign a declaration opposing FGM and CEFM. Yet, as SBS know from experience, religious leaders can be like chameleons. They pay lip service in public, but do little in private to protect victims. Instead, many divert them into religious arbitration or informal mediation within communities which usually aim to reconcile women and girls to abusive situations at home. The state's multi-faith approach undermines the battle against forced marriage and FGM in the name of religious sensitivity – a problem prevalent under multiculturalism where respect for cultural difference has led to 'moral blindness' on the matter of BME women's rights. Indeed, influenced by SBS, 'mature multiculturalism' was advocated in the late 1990s by the then Home Office Minister, Mike O'Brien, as a solution to resolving the tensions between culture and gender. Secularism and perhaps a 'mature multi-faithism' will help to resolve the same tensions with religion. Some of the best parts of the summit were presentations by young people as part of the Youth for Change initiatives. Two young BME women, who act as the SBS school ambassadors in a team of 10 pupils tackling violence against BME women, attended the summit and discussed their campaign in an 'action session'. The SBS youth worker also discussed the success of the SBS project in schools which helped to change attitudes and behaviour among pupils and teachers within a 'whole school' approach. Both pupils and teachers in the project called for the subject to be embedded in the national curriculum, and for Personal, Health and Social Education, where it can be specifically incorporated, to be made statutory. In an inspiring speech, Malala Yousafzai said education for girls was part of the solution and called on those who thought CEFM and FGM was justified to “read the Koran again, there are people who need to do a bit more study”. She said that such traditions were man-made and not God-given. I attempted to speak to Malala after the speech before she had a lunchtime meeting with the Prime Minister. Having been excluded from a Ministerial round table during the lunch break, I had time to wait for Malala outside of the PM's meeting room, where I was told by officials that I should leave as she did not want to speak to anyone else. However, at the end the meeting, when Malala was being bundled away, I managed to shout 'they are trying to silence us! They are denying us a voice!' – Malala turned around and momentarily stared at me with a look of recognition. It seems that both of us understood what it is like to be calling for our voices to be heard from the margins. Hannana Siddiqui is is the Head of Policy and Research at Southall Black Sisters and the Chair of the Campaign to Abolish No Recourse to Public Funds. A version of this article appeared in OpenDemocracy on 28 July.  |
| Words or actions after the Girl Summit? Posted: 30 Jul 2014 06:30 AM PDT
A new package of action and funding to protect millions of girls at home and abroad from female genital mutilation and forced marriage was announced by the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron, International Development Secretary Justine Greening and Home Secretary Theresa May at Girl Summit 2014 last week. The Girl Summit, hosted by the UK government and UNICEF, aimed to mobilise domestic and international efforts to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and child and forced marriage (CFM) within a generation, and to accelerate the work of campaigners, governments and charities around the world to bring an end to these practices. Major steps to stamp out these practices are to include: A £1.4 million FGM Prevention Programme, launched in partnership with NHS England to help care for survivors and safeguard those at risk; New police guidance from the College of Policing and an inspection programme by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) that will look at how the police handle cases of FGM; A consultation on proposals to introduce new civil orders designed to protect girls identified as being at risk of FGM; New legislation that will mean parents can be prosecuted if they fail to prevent their daughter being cut; New legislation to grant victims of FGM lifelong anonymity from the time an allegation is made; A new specialist FGM service which will include social services, to proactively identify and respond to FGM; this will be supported by an ongoing package of work led by the Chief Social Worker Isabelle Trowler; New programmes to prevent child and forced marriage in 12 developing countries; and An international charter calling for the eradication of these practices within a generation. A new report from City University London in collaboration with Equality Now estimates that approximately 60,000 girls aged 0 to 14 years old were born in England and Wales to mothers who had undergone FGM. It estimates that approximately 103,000 women aged 15 to 49 and approximately 24,000 women aged 50 and over, who have migrated to England and Wales, are living with the consequences of FGM. In addition, approximately 10,000 girls aged under 15 who have migrated to England and Wales, are likely to have undergone FGM. And the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, has now called on charities to come forward with proposals to tackle FGM and child marriage and has promised the very best would benefit from match funding from the UK government. Greening has set aside a minimum of £1 million for projects working to end child and forced marriage and female genital mutilation. By matching charity appeals pound for pound, the department can ensure aid money is spent on the projects and charities that the general public support and give them a greater say in how aid money is spent. Charities will need to present their proposals to the Department for International Development by September, ahead of 6 month appeals which will start in February. Greening said: “FGM and child marriages aren't just happening in far off places. Right now, in London and all across the UK, there are girls without the same rights as their friends who are at risk. “That has to change. The time has come to not only break the silence on these issues, but to take a stand.” Charities can find out more about how to apply by clicking here.  |
| Feed a Family in the summer holidays Posted: 30 Jul 2014 04:05 AM PDT
The Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) has launched a Feed A Family campaign to help families in Leeds feed their children this summer amid fears that many families will be forced to turn to the city's network of foodbanks as they struggle to afford food during the six-week school holiday. The paper is calling on readers for their support over the next six weeks, and asking them to buy items on a special shopping list. Collection points have been set up around the city. For details of the list or the collection points, click here. Businesses, charities and organisations can of course also hold their own food collections or donate money to individual foodbanks. Foodbank coordinators reported a huge increase in the number of people who turned to them for support during the Easter holidays – which lasted for just two weeks. And of the 2,200 people Leeds South Foodbank has fed in the past eight months, more than half were hungry children. The dire situation in Leeds South, home to some of the city's most deprived areas, can only get worse during the school holidays when parents whose children are accustomed to receiving free school meals will now suddenly have to provide one extra meal for each child, every week day, for six long weeks. The Belle Isle Foodbank, at St John's and St Barnabas Church, is the busiest in the Leeds South area. The centre’s manager, Pauline O'Riordan, told YEP: "The school holidays are a nightmare for parents. "If there are three children, that's 15 school lunches missing. There are no extra benefits and very little in the way of lunch clubs and breakfast clubs. "It all stops in the school holidays but children are still hungry." The St John's Centre, which is based in Leeds city centre, has also answered the Post's pleas for help. A spokeswoman from the centre said: "The YEP's Feed a Family campaign is an excellent idea. "You don't realise how much these families are actually struggling and parents should not be going without food.” Rachel Reeves, Labour MP for Leeds West and shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, told YEP, "The reality is the summer can be a difficult time for some families with children who are not at school." "Child care needs to be found and for parents who get free school meals an extra meal a day has to be provided. "That can be something that puts financial strain on some people. "We are encouraging people to donate something this summer to their local foodbank and that is why I am supporting the YEP's campaign. "It is all about feeding families over the summer period, which is a time that many of us are going on holiday and looking forward to the summer. But for some families it actually can be a very difficult time." The Trussell Trust foodbanks provided emergency food for 133,539 people, including 47,639 children, in different parts of the country between July and August last year. The Trust is expecting that figure to soar this summer as parents find their family finances stretched. Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust, said: "As school summer holidays approach, many of the UK's poorest parents are deeply concerned about being able to feed their children over the long break. "Whilst the economy is showing signs of recovery, times are still very tough for families on the breadline and school holidays are particularly difficult as family finances can be stretched to breaking point in order to provide basic food for their children." To find a foodbank near you, in Leeds or elsewhere in the UK, click here. And as one mother of two warned:"Don't judge anyone unless you have been in the depths where you can't feed your children. "There is so much stigma surrounding foodbanks but this could happen to anyone from any background who just cannot make it through the week."  |
| Reclaiming the phrase ‘like a girl’ Posted: 30 Jul 2014 02:35 AM PDT The response had been equivalent to telling women they are 'weak and not as good'. A sanitary towel company's viral video has triggered thousands to rethink what it is to do something 'like a girl'. When four women, a man and a young boy are asked to run, hit or throw 'like girl', they respond by flaying about helplessly. However, when six young girls are asked to act 'like a girl', they fling out high karate kicks, whizz across the stage and punch the air furiously. When asked what she thought the phrase 'like a girl' meant, a rather confused child in the video said: 'I actually don't know if it is a bad thing or a good thing. 'It sounds like a bad thing. It sounds like you are trying to humiliate someone.' On being confronted with their ingrained sexism, the five adults and one boy acknowledged that their response had been equivalent to telling women they are 'weak and not as good'. 'I think it definitely drops their self-confidence,' one of the participants added. Twitter users have responded to the video, which has been championed by the likes of Chelsea Clinton and Gloria Steinem, by using the hashtag #LikeAGirl to share what the phrase means to them.
What are you proud to do ‘like a girl’?  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |