Women's Views on News |
- Politics on Twitter: where are the women?
- Women’s rights falling backwards
- Students start sanitary towel aid
| Politics on Twitter: where are the women? Posted: 16 Apr 2015 03:11 AM PDT
Getting women heard seems to be a complex problem, and one that requires significant social and political effort to overcome, so where do women fit in when it comes to political debate? In terms of numbers, at the start of this year just 148 out of 650 MPs are female. And outside Parliament? Social media has, we are told, democratised political discussion. As long as you have an internet connection and a Twitter account, you can instantly share your opinion on anything and engage with people you would never meet in "real life". However, the results of a study by BBC Trending indicate that women are also underrepresented in the Twitter debates that are increasingly shaping our political landscape. BBC Trending looked at the main political parties' Twitter hashtags over a month, and found that they were overwhelmingly used by men; just 25 per cent of the tweets on the hashtags were by women. Of course, any study that aims to determine the gender of Twitter users will face significant limitations, but even so the stark gender gap discovered here reveals an uncomfortable truth about political discourse in the UK. We live in a world where women are routinely attacked for expressing their opinions online. Most of us have some experience of this, and you need only look at the Twitter mentions of high profile women to see the level of vicious and deeply misogynistic abuse they encounter on a daily basis. The cultural critic Anita Sarkeesian has been subjected to a sustained campaign of online abuse for the past two years, just because she dared to critique the sexism in the video games industry. If commenting on video games can provoke so much abuse, is it any wonder that women are reluctant to discuss something as polarising as politics online? But it is not just about online harassment. More than nine million women did not vote in the 2010 general election, and sometimes it isn't hard to see why. We all know that, in terms of numbers, women do not yet have equality in the House of Commons – just 148 out of 650 MPs are female. The Westminster "boys' club" still dominates our politics, despite the trails blazed by inspirational female MPs like Diane Abbott and Harriet Harman. The press is more interested in Theresa May's shoe collection than her work as home secretary. And our prime minister can get a laugh for telling a female MP, the Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, to "calm down dear" during prime minister's questions inside the House of Commons. The recent, televised, party leaders' election debate however made exciting viewing, because – finally – there were some women discussing national politics. Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was declared the winner of the debate from different corners of the political spectrum, with Leanne Wood, leader of Plaid Cymru, putting UKIP’s Nigel Farage firmly in his place after his disturbing remarks about foreign HIV patients. We can only hope that the TV debate will mark a turn in the tide when it comes to women in politics. Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the king's horse for our right to vote; she couldn't have thought that over 100 years later we would still be fighting for our right to even speak. Let's hope that the voices of women are raised loudly at the ballot box. Don’t forget to vote on 7 May. Don’t forget to register to vote so you can vote! The deadline to register is 20 April.  |
| Women’s rights falling backwards Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:45 AM PDT
Part of the UK’s coalition government's June 2010 Budget and Spending Review was to be Welfare Reform; it was deemed to be the 'most radical shake up of the benefits system since the foundation of the welfare state. Northern Ireland has yet to see the full impact of the reforms, but notwithstanding this, there is evidence to suggest that women and children will be disproportionately affected by the changes. One of the facets of the UK’s new Universal Credit benefit system being rolled out will be to pay the benefit to 'a nominated person in each household'; the nominated person is likely to be the main earner and therefore likely to be the male. This is clearly a regressive step for women's economic equality and a return to the 'male head of household/breadwinner'. And detrimental. Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighted that when women are responsible for household expenditure, three quarters of it goes on childcare, food and education. This spending highlights that women are notably more likely to buy items that improve the welfare of children. The success of Universal Credit also depends upon some childcare infrastructure being in place to enable parents to find work. Unfortunately, Northern Ireland has no such an infrastructure. According to research by Employers for Childcare Charitable Group, families in Northern Ireland are paying £162 per week for childcare, which is one of the highest amounts in Europe. And research into Universal Credit conducted by Save the Children showed that many low income mothers are considering leaving work because they can no longer afford childcare. Northern Ireland has reached a pivotal juncture, and an important conceptual shift is necessary to ensure families can weather the storm of the welfare reform changes. The fact that the Northern Ireland Executive has yet to publish a Childcare Strategy or provide mitigation details on welfare reform, is very telling. They are, quite simply, failing to respond to the needs of women and children. If mothers are to be encouraged into the workplace then the Executive must provide help with childcare as well as publishing a Childcare Strategy. It must ensure exemptions in welfare reform proposals for low income families with children. And it must pay Universal Credit to the main carer in households – which is normally the woman. Unless we see some real action, the impact of welfare reforms will be dire – as will the consequences for the economic independence and rights and needs of women – and children – in Northern Ireland.  |
| Students start sanitary towel aid Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:40 AM PDT
If you struggle to find £2 for a box of tampons or pads, with a student loan or a full-time income, then just consider the people who are out of work, and worse, people who are living on the streets. MenstruAid UK is a group of Goldsmiths University students raising money to donate sanitary products to homeless shelters, refugees and those on the streets who need them. We would like to start giving people in shelters, and on the streets, sanitary products. We aim to build a support platform for people in need of sanitary products in London. We aim to find donations and raise money to be able to stock up on products we can provide to people who want them. Hopefully if this is successful we can branch out further in the UK. If you would like to donate money, please go to our Go Fund Me page. If you would like to donate products, please email us. And you can like us on Facebook. We also want to act as communicative service, where as well as providing these products to people, we are changing the stigma around sanitary products. Questioning why periods are so un-spoken about. Questioning why condoms are free at health clinics, but sanitary products are not. We aim to open a phone line, and operate on a first-come first-serve basis. People will be able to contact those who are involved in our group, and we will provide them with the products they need. We would also like to protest for toilets to be more publicly accessible, and for toilets in central London that cost, to install public shower facilities. FAQs: We would ideally like to set up a free phone, but as it is early days, we’re thinking of asking volunteers to give change along with a flyer with our phone number and details on and encourage people to use a pay phone. – But homeless people don’t have an address to post to? It will be decided on their terms where we meet them. This will be negotiated. We want to work a system where we do frequent visits to the same area to deliver sanitary products. The reason we want this to be on their terms is because we do not want to be patronising by offering tampons in public, but we would love to erase that unnecessary embarrassment so that socially it is as normal as asking for a tissue to blow your nose on. We also plan to load up shelters with sanitary products. – How are you planning to raise money for the products? Donations, fund raising, sponsors. – Will the products be branded? It isn’t a priority. Quantity is prioritised over quality in this case. – Is my money going to the right places? It is all volunteer-based work ran by university students, whose main concern is working for human rights. – Are you going to source an organisation to buy wholesale products, or are you accepting donations? We are hoping the prices will change whilst the protests against taxing tampons are happening. Due to the awareness around the protesting we are hoping that people will realise how stupidly pricey sanitary products are. Donations are more than welcome. If you have any further questions, suggestions, queries or concerns, please let us know.  |
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