Women's Views on News |
| How to register to vote anonymously Posted: 31 Mar 2015 07:47 AM PDT
The next General Election will take place on May 2015 and will involve all parts of the United Kingdom. In order to vote in the General Election 2015 you must be over 18 and on the electoral register. It is possible to register to be on the electoral register anonymously and from a confidential location such as a refuge. Here are some frequently asked questions about registering to vote anonymously, put together by Women’s Aid, that should be helpful. 1. When is the deadline for registering to vote in the General Election 2015? The deadline to register to vote is 20 April 2015. 2. What is anonymous voter registration? Anonymous voter registration is available to people whose safety would be at risk, for example some survivors of domestic violence, if their name or address were listed on the electoral register. 3. What is the process for registering anonymously? Applications for anonymous registration must be made in writing. A person must complete an application to register to vote as well as an application for anonymous registration. Applicants must also satisfy their local Electoral Registration Officer that their safety or that of any other person in the same household would be at risk if their details were made public. This is called the 'safety test'. The safety test is as follows: 'the safety of the applicant for an anonymous entry or that of any person of the same household would be at risk if the (electoral) register contains the name of the applicant or their qualifying address. A domestic violence survivor applying for an anonymous registration would need to provide a reason why they think their safety would be at risk if their details were listed on the electoral register and evidence of domestic violence. Evidence the electoral commission will consider is either a court order that is in force to protect them from a perpetrator of domestic violence or a qualified person supporting their application. 4. How do I apply for anonymous voter registration? Contact your local elections office. Their contact details can be found here. Or print and fill in this form. 5. Can I register to vote anonymously online? It is not possible to register to vote anonymously online. 6. Who will see details such as National Insurance Numbers during the application process? The Electoral Registration Officers will see the content of the application when it is processed. However, the content of anonymous applications are not available for public inspection at any time. 7. Will someone be able to find my name and address from the electoral register? People registered anonymously are included at the end of the relevant part of the register without a name and address. Anonymous entries are shown only as an 'N' and a number. Only Electoral Registration Officers, the jury service (upon written request), the security services, and police forces will be granted access to the anonymous voters' information held by the Electoral Registration Office. 8. When voting from a refuge or anywhere with a confidential location, will an address be required to send a polling card/postal vote to? Poll cards and postal votes are personalised and need to be sent to you in an official envelope. You can request that poll cards and postal votes are sent to a different address from the address you are registered at. For example, you can request that your polling card is sent to a refuge you are currently resident at. 9. Can I register to vote when living at a refuge or other confidential address? You can register to vote anonymously at any address where you are resident. 10. Can an individual register to vote when living in temporary accommodation? You can still register to vote even if you do not have a fixed address. You need to fill in a form called a 'Declaration of local connection'. Contact your local elections office for more information. For more information about registering to vote and to find the local elections office for the council area you live in click here. This advice providing advice on anonymous registration has been provided by the Electoral Commission.  |
| Women’s Manifesto for Northern Ireland launched Posted: 31 Mar 2015 04:25 AM PDT
Welfare reforms will hit families in Northern Ireland harder than in the rest of the UK. Northern Ireland has the highest claimant count and inactivity rate in the UK and 28 per cent of children in Northern Ireland live in poverty. Household incomes, poverty rates and the labour market have all worsened in Northern Ireland in the last five years and more so than in Great Britain. Paid work is not an equal experience for women and men. Women are concentrated in low-paid and part-time jobs – 75 per cent of female employees work part-time, many on zero hour contracts with neither job security nor decent conditions of employment, unable to access tax credits most needed by the poorest families. Two thirds of those earning minimum wage or below are women and women's annual earnings are on average 33 per cent below that of men. Almost 80 per cent of lone female parents aged between 16-34 live in poverty, 60 per cent of whom are in debt. The poverty rate for pensioners is higher in NI than in other parts of the United Kingdom with nearly half a million female pensioners in NI living below the poverty line including fuel poverty. Many of the 'working poor' households pay interest only mortgages, and worry about the future repossession of their homes. Migrant women workers struggle to have their qualifications recognised and are often exploited in much lower paid jobs or without access to public services or assistance. Both the 'Empty Purse Campaign‘ and the ongoing lobbying being carried out by the women's sector in Northern Ireland are crucial in maintaining pressure on the Northern Ireland Assembly to recognise the impact of the pending Welfare Reform Act, cuts and zero hour contracts. One part of this is the new website for the Women’s Regional Consortium which has gone live, featuring many resources for local women, including an extensive e-library and a directory containing hundreds of useful contacts. The site will provide regular updates on the Consortium’s activities. The Women's Resource and Development Agency (WRDA) is one of the seven partners in this Consortium, working to provide a voice for women in disadvantaged and rural areas alongside FWIN, NIRWN, WOMEN’STEC, TWN, WSN and The Women’s Centre Derry. And this week sees the official launch of the WRDA’s Women's Manifesto. The Manifesto calls on politicians to: Introduce a dedicated women's employment strategy to address the dominance of women in low paid work. Guarantee that budget decisions made in Northern Ireland will not affect women disproportionately. Make every effort to ensure that in paid work there is a level playing field for women and men. Require mandatory pay audits and a government strategy with concrete measures and timetable to eliminate the gender pay gap and promote flexible working arrangements for men and women. It urges the Northern Ireland Executive to: Follow the example used by Nordic countries by linking early years and childcare policy and provision; Recognise childcare as both a social and economic issue; Acknowledge that lack of childcare is a barrier to women entering/re-entering the labour market; as well as Commit to the full implementation of the new childcare strategy (with a due date of spring 2015) and assign responsibility to a lead department. It calls on politicians to: Introduce a standardised programme of relationships and sexuality education in the school curriculum; [Ensure] unrestricted access to contraception and non-directive information; Extend sexual and reproductive health services across Northern Ireland; Use evidence based policy-making on reproductive health issues; and De-criminalise abortion in line with international human rights standards so that health professionals can provide such care without the threat of prosecution. The Women’s Manifesto also calls on the Northern Ireland Executive to: Review and strengthen sex equality legislation in respect of equal pay provisions and positive action measures, and work for legislative harmonisation in single equality legislation; Introduce robust measures to collect gender disaggregated data and use the analysis to deliver gender responsive budgeting across public spending; Match the situation of women in Northern Ireland against the European Union Women's Charter and meet the challenge of the EU Strategy for equality between women and men through effective delivery of the Northern Ireland Gender Equality Strategy; Work with the UK Government to make a full report to the UN CEDAW Committee on progress and remaining work to be done in Northern Ireland to meet the Committee's expectations as set out in its concluding observations in 2008; and to Fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 'Women, Peace and Security' in Northern Ireland and base the reform of local government on the principles of UNSCR 1325. The Assembly and Local Councils need to take decisive steps to advance women's equality. And WRDA calls on all parties and candidates to commit to the demands in this Manifesto, and to incorporate these demands into their policy decisions.  |
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