Women's Views on News |
| Million Women march under threat? Posted: 24 Feb 2015 05:04 AM PST
Million Women Rise is a global call to action that echoes on London streets as women march along them on the Saturday closest to International Women's Day. But this year the march has been faced with an unexpected threat. From the police. Or rather, an absence of police. For the last seven years, the march has been accompanied by the police, but this year the Metropolitan Police have refused to support the event. Instead, Million Women Rise (MWR) have been told that if they want to go ahead with their march this year on 7 March 2015 then they will have to employ a private company to formulate their road closure plan and employ their own certified stewards. This, the organisers reckon, would cost the campaign approximately £10,000. A police spokeswoman told the Guardian that the police's core responsibilities were "preventing and detecting crime, maintenance of the Queen's Peace and protecting life and property". She said that because the proposed demonstration was expected to be crime-free there was little requirement for it to provide a policing operation. Million Women Rise’s march to ask the government and societies, both at home and internationally: To acknowledge the continued discrimination faced by all women, the additional discrimination faced by Black women and women from other minority groups, and reflect this in all public policy in the UK and internationally; For the adoption of a broad definition of violence against women, which makes the links between domestic abuse, rape and commercial sexual exploitation; To pledge support and resources to the women's not-for-profit sector which is at the forefront of supporting survivors of discrimination, abuse and violence. Women's services are essential to a woman's healing and empowerment; To support the demands of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) and End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes International Forum (ECPAT) for the protection of children and to adopt a cross government strategy addressing all forms of violence against women; To abolish the 'no recourse' requirement for abused women who have insecure immigration status; For all trafficked women and children to have a guaranteed minimum reflection period, specialist support and medical assistance, specialist safe houses for child and adult victims of trafficking and the right to a temporary residence permit if deemed at risk; To commit to changing public attitudes and behavior towards women and girls through education initiatives and public awareness campaigns as set out by school programs such as Womankind Worldwide initiatives; To hold the media accountable for the continued misrepresentation, misappropriation and abuse of the female body throughout all forms of media; To recognise that global war and conflict perpetuates violence against women and to stop all wars now. Three out of four fatalities of war are women and children; and For International Women's Day to become a National Bank Holiday in the UK and Ireland in recognition of and to celebrate women's achievements. Million Women Rise! holds that the prevention of violence against women and children is a cultural, social and political issue and must be a priority for all levels of government, and action for a national strategy to oppose men's violence is the responsibility of all political parties. And it must encompass: active prevention of violence against women and children; adequate provision of quality women-only support services for women and children; and appropriate and effective legal protection for women and children. Million Women Rise! a grassroots women-only campaign, is an entirely voluntary-led and run campaign which is part of a tradition that stretches back past the Greenham Common Women to the Suffragettes. It is entirely unfunded and each year it has struggled to pay the insurance sum needed. This announcement by the police has attracted widespread criticism – and raised several dormant questions. For of course we could ask how legitimate is it to ask the authorities for the right to protest. Feminists across the political spectrum would agree that male violence can be viewed as a response to women's liberation; that male violence is partly about women's power and a backlash to it. Since this announcement women have been asking how does it then work if women have to ask the (predominantly) male state for "permission" to protest against male violence. And what does this mean in terms of women's freedom from violence? There is also concern that this police action might breach the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a well-known, well-used, fundamental human right, the right to protest peacefully on the streets. But it is the ‘peaceful’ element which is the fly in the ointment; it seems that it is because the march is intended to be peaceful the police won't police it… Million Women Rise have issued their answer to the police; as things stand, they will march on regardless on 7 March. Founder and coordinator Sabrina Qureshi recently released a statement saying defiantly "we can't pay and we won't pay, but we will rise nonetheless and we will protest". And so – we rise. Marchers are meeting on Duke Street, near Selfridges, at 12 noon and will set off along Oxford Street at 1.15 to a rally at Trafalgar Sqaure. Come along! And if you can, wear red. For Million Women Rise red symbolises the colour of Woman and her blood. The blood of our sisters who have been murdered and raped. Our blood, which contains life, courage, respect, dignity and protection. In the meantime, if you would like to donate to and support the Million Women Rise campaign please do. To visit the facebook page, click here, or for the website click here.  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2015 02:36 AM PST
By Marion Sharples and Serap Altinisik. On 24 February, the European Women's Lobby, the largest network of women's rights associations in Europe, launches its most recent progress report on women on boards in Europe. This report, ‘Cracks in the glass ceiling or just a trick of the light?’, shows that overwhelmingly, the most effective way to increase the representation of women in decision making positions – and in this case, on company boards – is through binding legislation with regular monitoring, intermediary targets and strong sanctions. While some countries (such as Iceland, Norway, France and Italy) have taken the lead and introduced legislation along these lines, Europe as a whole is dragging its feet and making progress that is all too slow. The very latest data show that just two out of ten board members in Europe are women. 2015: Wake-up call 2015 is a highly symbolic year for women's rights as it marks 20 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, a fundamental human rights instrument for women and girls adopted in 1995. Two of the Beijing Platform for Action's strategic objectives were to “take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision making’ and to “increase women's capacity to participate in decision making and leadership”. Directive on women on boards Significant progress has been made since 1995, and especially in the area of women on boards. Inspired by best practices, the European Union has realised that greater action at the EU level is needed in order to bring about the higher representation of women in positions of economic power. In 2012, a directive was proposed with the aim of attaining a 40 per cent gender balance on non-executive boards in large, publicly listed companies across the EU. While this directive is currently being blocked by a small number of member states in the Council of the EU (Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Spain), newly appointed Commissioner for Gender Equality, Vera Jourová, has committed to seeing the directive passed by the end of 2015. Why quotas? The case for binding measures to ensure the empowerment of women in leadership position has never been stronger. Firstly, parity is essential in order to take the opinions, needs and wishes of both women and men into account at all levels of decision making. Secondly, diversity among employees and board members produces creativity and innovation through complementary knowledge and skills. Thirdly, there is a strong economic case for increasing the proportion of women on company boards; a range of studies from various national contexts demonstrate that companies with a higher share of women at top levels financially perform better. Fourthly, it is clear that self-regulation as a means of achieving parity is simply not effective. Where self-regulation and voluntary targets have been introduced, progress – if there has been any – has been painfully slow. Key recommendations: Binding measures must apply to both executive and non-executive boards Further action is needed to increase proportion of female CEOs Effective measures require regular monitoring and intermediary targets Measures must be enforced with firm sanctions Quotas must be introduced as part of a comprehensive policy package that seeks to address the fundamental causes of women's under-representation in economic decision making The European Women's Lobby’s vision It is clear that a change of system is needed: competitiveness, selfishness and the dichotomy of winners and losers have created a system of pervasive inequalities. The European Women's Lobby invites decision makers, member states and companies to make a choice: to stick with a failed system or to commit to a sustainable future based around collaboration and creativity, where leadership takes on a new meaning and all people, women and men, are included equally in decision making processes. The EU directive on women on boards is one important step towards this transformative change and should be implemented without further delay. ‘Cracks in the glass ceiling or just a trick of the light? Women on boards in Europe: Second progress report’ will be launched on 24 February at Rond Point Schuman 14, 1000 Brussels. Registration begins at 18:00 and the event is supported by the Italian Permanent Representation to the EU and will be opened by Ambassador Marco Peronaci. For more information please about this event, please click here. A version of this post appeared in Europolitics. Marion Sharples is policy assistant and Serap Altinisik is policy officer and fundraising coordinator at the European Women's Lobby.  |
| 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., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |