Women's Views on News |
| Cocoa suppliers and women’s rights: improving? Posted: 07 Apr 2015 06:36 AM PDT
In 2013 Oxfam launched the Behind the Brands campaign, which used consumer power to hold the world’s largest food and beverage companies to account for the impact their business has on the world and its people. These are the companies that make a large portion of what you buy every day. Twice a year, Oxfam takes a look at publically available information on the agricultural sourcing policies of the top ten food and beverage companies. Oxfam then assesses how well the top 10 food and beverage companies are performing on 7 themes: transparency, women, workers, farmers, land, water, and climate. And although multinational companies may not necessarily be best-placed to deliver the changes that need to happen on the ground, they are in a key position to engage, empower and influence others. For example, Mars, Mondelez (formerly Kraft) and Nestlé collectively source nearly 30 per cent of the world’s cocoa, while Coca-Cola is the world’s largest buyer of sugar and controls 25 per cent of the global soft drinks markets, followed closely by PepsiCo with 18 per cent As far as Oxfam’s campign is concerned, Unilever has narrowly overtaken Nestlé for first place on the scorecard, while Associated British Foods (ABF) is trailing at the bottom and Danone has slipped down the ranks to 8th place joint with General Mills. Danone holds the lowest score in any of the 7 themes, achieving just 1/10 for its attempts to support female farmers and female agricultural workers in its supply chain. There is clearly still a lot more that companies at the bottom of the scorecard could do to show that they are serious about addressing social and environmental issues in their supply chains. And one challenge for all of the Big 10 is to implement the commitments they do make to improvements so that the lives of those producing the agricultural ingredients can be improved. But there are some promising signs that the Big 10 will deliver on their commitments. For example, following public commitments made in 2013, Nestlé, Mondelez and Mars have now published assessments that consider the impacts of their cocoa supply chain operations on women. The companies have also published action plans that set out how they will follow through on the recommendations of these assessments. Mars welcomed the latest Behind the Brands report, saying: 'we are pleased that it recognises the progress companies have made in their policies and practices. 'We agree with the report's emphasis on women in farming and on land and worker rights, and we know there is still much more work to do in these areas. 'Real progress will require a number of stakeholders working together to reach meaningful solutions, and we value our work with Oxfam in that effort.' Mondelez said they were pleased Oxfam has been raising awareness for these important issues, and: 'we appreciate they're recognising our ongoing work in advancing the rights of women in the cocoa supply chain'. And Unilever said they were committed to promoting human rights across their supply chain. Their employees were focused on delivering this as part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and work with many partners to push standards and boundaries where necessary. While they are delighted this has been recognised by Oxfam, they were under no illusion about the scale of the challenge that remains and recognise where improvements can be made. One area of focus this year, Unilever said, will be on empowering women in their supply chain. They will, they said, 'continue to drive change across our business and industry and call on others to do the same'. Oxfam will continue to track the progress of these action plans, as well as other companies’ commitments through public roadmaps. To see how you can help change the way the food companies that make your favourite brands do business, click here.  |
| Women win in leaders’ debate coverage Posted: 07 Apr 2015 04:34 AM PDT
The positive coverage of the female politicians in last week’s leaders' debate shows that it’s high time there were more women in politics. Much of the media analysis of last week's leaders' debate on Channel 4 highlighted the strength of the female candidates: Nicola Sturgeon from the Scottish National Party (SNP), Leanne Wood from Plaid Cymru and Natalie Bennett from the Green party. Despite some analysis which indicated that the female candidates were unknown to the public before the debate, it was the women who came out on top in subsequent analysis. The Guardian's Anne Perkins highlighted that the debate was 'three women against some public schoolboys' (excepting Labour's Ed Miliband) and 'the nearest thing to gender balance in the history of British democracy'. 'There was a chasm between the women's approach and the approach of the men that was only partly about their proximity to power,' Perkins wrote. 'What the women had in common was a connectedness to the wellsprings of political activism [and each] in their own way wanted to defend the things that distinguish Britain as a civilised country.' Also in the Guardian, Michael Billington argued that 'it was the women who came out on top, largely because they responded better than the men to the dramatic moment.' Natalie Bennett, he pointed out, was the only one to raise the question of climate change, while Sturgeon's 'bite' in the debate earned her audience support. Meanwhile Miliband was more 'concerned to address the viewers at home than to engage with his fellow leaders'; Conservative's David Cameron 'wore that familiar look of suppressed tetchiness'; UKIP's Nigel Farage reduced every issue down to unchecked European immigration; and the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg was in the 'absurd position' of attacking the government's record despite having played a role in forming it. Kevin Macguire, writing in the Mirror, pointed out that Farage fared worst in debate – with his 'vile' attack on HIV victims being called out by Wood to significant applause. Macguire was full of praise for the three female leaders, arguing Sturgeon 'embodies a formidable challenge' and Bennett offered 'radical alternatives'. By contrast, he argued, the two would-be Prime Ministers (Cameron and Miliband) struggled to stand out from the crowd. Other commentary pointed out that this was the first ever televised leaders' debate to include women on the panel, analysed the potential effects of Sturgeon's soaring popularity for Labour, and praised the performance of the debate chair Julie Etchingham. It was not only journalists who were swayed by the women's arguments. A reader of the Evening Times wrote in to express their support for the female candidates who 'were articulate and talked sense', with Sturgeon particularly standing out. Twitter coverage was generally very supportive of the women's debating skill, with many comparing their measured, value-driven points against the squabbling and blame-driven points of the male leaders. And some of the English public also took to Twitter to express their wish that they could also vote for Sturgeon. This coverage is important for many reasons, not least because the discussion of the women's – and particularly Sturgeon's – success breaks from the tradition of discussing the attire of female politicians. When launching their ViewsNotShoes campaign, the chair of the Fawcett Society, Belinda Phipps said: "We see more coverage of the leaders' wives and what female politicians look like than reporting of the views and campaigns of women in politics. "The media need to get real. More than half of the population of the UK is women and women can, and will, influence who forms the next government." However, the wealth of media and public praise for the female politicians in this debate signals something of a long-overdue change. Considering the female vote could hold the balance of power in this year's election if the nine million women who did not vote last time choose to do so this time, it is important that the voices of female politicians are heard and respected, and this debate provided a good platform for that. An all-female live debate is also going to be held on LBC radio on 9 April. The Conservative's Nicky Morgan, Labour's Harriet Harman, Liberal Democrat's Lynne Featherstone and UKIP's Suzanne Evans will discuss their policies and pledges – reflecting the growing emphasis on hearing women's voices in this election. The strength of the women in the leaders' debate also provided a welcome and poignant contrast to the 'cacophonous' Westminster-style slanging-match showcased by the male leaders of the main parties, with coverage arguing that women 'shape[d] the debate' and 'emerged with credit'. In the end, the public and media were left repeating the same question: why are there not more women in Parliament? You have to be registered to vote on 7 May. It is easy to do. The deadline to register to vote is 20 April 2015. To register, click here.  |
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