Women's Views on News |
- Calling for choice in Northern Ireland
- Change our voting system?
- Plans for UK’s first women-led mosque
| Calling for choice in Northern Ireland Posted: 20 May 2015 05:40 AM PDT
In Northern Ireland abortion is only allowed in very restrictive circumstances, namely to save a woman's life or to avoid permanent and serious damage to her health. And Amnesty International's recent report on maternal health and reproductive rights has confirmed that Northern Ireland has some of the most restrictive and draconian approaches to abortion in Europe. There were only 23 “legal” procedures carried out in Northern Ireland last year – but it is a well-reported secret that several hundred women travel ‘abroad’ every year to have abortions. However, pressure is mounting to change the law. In a recent announcement the Department of Justice Minister David Ford recommended a change to Northern Ireland's abortion law, allowing terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. Currently women are told that such a termination can not be performed and that they have to continue with the pregnancy until the baby either dies in the womb or at or shortly after birth. Commenting on the support for this change Minister Ford said that there was, "A substantial body of support to make limited changes to the law on abortion." Moreover, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has now been granted the right to a judicial review; they seek to change the law to allow termination in the case of serious malformation of the foetus as well as in cases of rape or incest. Nathalie Lieven QC argued that the current situation breached rights to freedom from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, discrimination and entitlements to privacy under the European Convention on Human Rights. Some of the pressure to change the law comes from Alliance for Choice, which is a cross-community organisation campaigning for the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act current in England, Scotland and Wales to enable similar abortion provision in Northern Ireland. Alliance for Choice also aims to ensure women's voices are heard, particularly those one thousand or so women who travel each year to England and elsewhere to access abortion services. Kellie O'Dowd, chair of Alliance for Choice, commenting on the proposal by Minister Ford, said: "While we cautiously welcome the legislation proposals around fatal foetal abnormality, these will [only] impact on a tiny percentage of women who seek terminations in cases of crises pregnancy." "The Northern Ireland Executive must extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland." It is not just those in Northern Ireland putting pressure on politicians for change. Challenges range from actvist campaigners Speaking of Imelda to the United Nations. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has reiterated their call that the "State party should expedite the amendment of the anti-abortion law in Northern Ireland with a view to decriminalise abortion." Their recommendation also says that the Northern Ireland government "should also ensure that legal abortion not only covers cases of threats to the life of a pregnant woman but also other circumstances such as threats to her health and in cases of rape, incest and serious malformation of the foetus." But recent comments on abortion by Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, calling for ‘guidelines’ rather than change, and the views of the previous Health Minister Jim Wells, both from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), show how elected representatives in Northern Ireland have brought their very personally held religious beliefs to bear when making decisions which effect the women of Northern Ireland. And the 7 May election results mean that women can not be overly optimistic. As we await the outcome of the Judicial Review and the possible miniscule change to the abortion law, Alliance for Choice is asking you to take action. To try to take one action a week; write a letter to a newspaper, to your MP, Tweet a politician, make a meme and post it on the Belfast or Derry Alliance for Choice facebook page, ‘come out’ as pro choice, share WomenOnWeb info, share your story. Stand up and show that you want a choice. Thanks.  |
| Posted: 20 May 2015 04:34 AM PDT
The Conservatives won 331 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons on 36.9 per cent of the vote on a 66.1 per cent turn out after the election on 7 May. On 18 May Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, and Amelia Womack, Green Party deputy leader, and politicians from the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the SNP and UKIP added their names to a 120,000-strong petition calling for a fairer voting system. They then handed the petition, organised by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy, in at 10 Downing Street. In total, petitions with nearly half a million signatures – gathered on petitions from the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy, Avaaz, the Green Party, 38 Degrees and 16 year-old British Youth Council campaigner Owen Winter – were handed in. Over one million people voted for the Green Party at the General Election, which saw only one Green MP, Caroline Lucas, re-elected, albeit with an increased majority, for Brighton Pavilion. Bennett claimed that the Green Party would have won 24 seats in parliament instead of just one under a fairer voting system. The Avaaz petition called on the government to recognise ‘the unproportional results' of the 7 May election and had over 90,000 signatures. 'We have,' it reads, 'a democratic deficit within Britain that needs to be urgently addressed. We urge you to implement a voting reform review which looks at alternatives, voting age and the process of registration as one of the first acts of parliament. Winter's petition alone had over 226,000 signatures. But the Conservative manifesto for this year's elections rules out any scrapping of the current 'first past the post system' and points back to the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum which saw 67.9 per cent of people – of a turnout of 42.2 per cent – vote No. And that No was not so much because people didn't want change but more because they did not support the Alternative Vote system. The Green Party's suggested alternative, Proportional Representation, ensures the number of MPs each party gets better matches the proportion of people who voted for that party. It is deemed fairer because the number of MPs a party gets corresponds to the number of votes they received and so represents people's choices more accurately. Proportional Representation is not just backed by the Green Party; people from across the political spectrum see it as the most logical, democratic way of voting. And polling released shortly before the General Election revealed that 74 per cent of the public support the principle of proportional voting, where votes are accurately translated into seats. Speaking on 18 May, Natalie Bennett said: "The case for electoral reform is stronger than ever. "Millions of people in Britain were disenfranchised at the last election, as the creaking old voting system failed to take into account people's views in our new multi-party politics. "If this Government is serious about re-energising our politics, they must look seriously at constitutional changes which allow people's opinions to be better represented in the House of Commons. "I'm pleased to be joining together with other parties today to be calling for a new voting system which allows a variety of voices to be heard in Parliament." And as Bennett, writing later in the Huffington Post, said, ‘Opponents of reform often claim that other systems are “too complex” for voters to understand, but Scottish, Welsh and London voters are managing perfectly well – and what could be simpler or clearer than a system where if you get 10 per cent of the votes, you get 10 per cent of the seats in parliament?’  |
| Plans for UK’s first women-led mosque Posted: 20 May 2015 01:09 AM PDT
The Muslim Women's Council (MWC) has begun consultation on plans to create the UK's first women-led mosque. Speaking at the ‘Daughters of Eve’ conference earlier this month, the Muslim Women's Council’s chief executive Bana Gora said the organisation planned to "build a mosque for women, and run by women". The first of its kind in the UK, the project follows a MWC "audit" of mosques. In the Daughters of Eve announcement, published on the MWC website, the organisation said: "Muslim women have been marginalised for many decades by mosques in the UK, which are male-dominated, patriarchal spaces." The MWC says its plan is based on the core value of inclusivity, and the vision of creating a "safe space for all women". This would encompass an all-inclusive space for worship, a safe space where women's issues can be discussed, discussion/debate space, an Islamic divorce service, a bereavement service, a legal advice service, a parenting advice service, feeding the homeless and above all a spiritual retreat and sanctuary. Among the problems identified by the MWC audit of local mosques, Gora said women's representation on governing bodies was currently "non-existent". She also described the continued use of segregated spaces as "dated and unwelcoming", and said the current treatment of women in mosques undermines the belief that men and women are "spiritual equals". "[We] found that the services offered by mosques were not always adequate for women,” Gora said. “Rather than just complain, we decided to do something about it." The Muslim Women's Council was itself formed following conversations with Muslim women in the northern UK city of Bradford, which is also the planned location for the new mosque. The "alienation" and unequal treatment of women, MWC has said, has far-reaching consequences, particularly for young Muslims who may feel their religion is "no longer relevant" or who are "going to extremes". This sentiment has recently been echoed by former crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal. In a report for the BBC, Afzal highlighted the key role played by Muslim women's groups in combating radicalisation. The MWC will now commence consultations with Islamic scholars and experts from Bradford, elsewhere in the UK and further afield. If successful, Gora has said she hopes to provide "a good practice guide of how mosques should be providing space for women – a sort of prototype of what mosques should be doing." The MWC project follows the opening of the US's first women-only mosque in Los Angeles, in February this year. There is a long tradition of women's mosques, or nüsi, in China. And a decade ago Dr Amina Wadud made waves when she led Friday prayers for a mixed-gender congregation. In general, however, there is little precedent for women leading mixed congregations, and the MWC has also said it disagrees with this idea. The organisation now faces the challenge of balancing its vision of empowering women with its goal of avoiding divisiveness; moving the UK's Islamic communities forward while deciding which religious practices are too deeply embedded to challenge – yet.  |
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