Women's Views on News |
| Help for sexual assault survivors Posted: 28 May 2015 04:28 AM PDT It is estimated that one in five women in England and Wales has experienced some form of sexual violence since they were aged 16, although the real figure is likely to be higher because of women's fear of reporting to the police. We are increasingly hearing about rape and sexual assault in the media, but little attention is given to the lasting impact of that violence on survivors. As a society we want to see offenders brought to justice, but once a sentence has been handed out we want the story to be over. But the reality is that, although seeing their rapist go to prison may bring a survivor some relief, the hard work of coming to terms with what has happened to them is just beginning. Pavan Amara is a trainee nurse and rape survivor who is helping other women to take back control of their bodies and health. She was raped as a teenager, and it has had a lasting impact on her life. Now 27, Amara told the Guardian recently: "I couldn't go to the doctor any more because I didn't want to be touched. "I didn't want to be in a crowd [and] it affected my relationships, but the biggest thing it affected was my perception of my body and my body image. I felt terrible." After desperately searching for support with her body image issues, and speaking to other sexual assault survivors facing similar problems, Amara decided to take action. Last August she founded My Body Back, which supports women struggling to make peace with their bodies after suffering rape and sexual assault. The project runs a quarterly session called Cafe V, which is a trans-inclusive safe space for women to talk about their bodies, with trained professionals on hand. The workshops have been popular; 40 women attended the first session. When talking to women, Amara also found that the after-effects of sexual assault were putting their health at risk. Many were unable to go to cervical screenings, STI tests and other medical procedures, because the trauma of being touched was too great. Working with the NHS, Amara has set up a specialist clinic in Whitechapel, London, where women can go to have these procedures in a safe environment. The clinic will open in August this year, and will allow women to take back control of their medical procedures. All the staff will be trained to work with sexual assault survivors, and patients will be in control at every stage. Women will be welcome to insert their own speculum, and if certain body positions or phrases make them uncomfortable, they won't be used. By the end of the year, My Body Back also hopes to open a clinic where women who have been raped can anonymously self-test for STIs, and receive the results by text message. Pavan Amara and her team are working to tackle the unseen but all too real after effects of sexual assault, and provide healthcare that is centred around the needs of vulnerable women. Hopefully the NHS can learn from My Body Back and offer survivor-focussed services around the rest of the country.  |
| Posted: 28 May 2015 04:07 AM PDT
Last year, a single mother from the London Borough of Newham who has 3 children, was moved by Newham council and housed outside of London in Hertfordshire. Now, over one year later, her temporary contract there has ended. She has been offered yet another short term contract, but this time in another place even further away from London – in a poorly maintained house in Birmingham, which has rotting cupboards and broken gates. This mother's plight shows the utter insecurity of current housing policies and the disruption that is caused by social cleansing. For how many times will she be shoved from pillar to post? Single mothers face enough pressure without housing insecurity thrown in on top. Their children's lives are also being adversely affected by this absence of a secure and stable home environment. This is how social exclusion begins; families are unable to fully take part in their communities when they constantly have to move, and how they are left isolated when they are placed hundreds of miles away from their wider family and any support. Children lose friendships due to being forced to change schools time and time again, and lose touch with their relatives – and the relatives lose touch with the children. The Focus E15 campaign supports the right of single mothers to bring up their children in a long term secure environment near their support networks and extended families. The Focus E15 campaign wants councils to stop playing political football with people’s lives. Please support this mother who is asking to be housed near to her support networks in London or to be left to stay in Hertfordshire, where her oldest child is at school. You can give support and solidarity for this mother at her housing appointment on 29 May, at 1pm: come and stand outside Bridge House 320 Stratford High Street, Stratford E15 1EP in solidarity. Or you can tell Newham’s Mayor or Newham council that single mothers deserve our support and should not be left stranded.
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| Women’s health matters: 28 May Posted: 28 May 2015 03:43 AM PDT
On 28 May – the International Day of Action for Women's Health – women's rights activists and allies advocate worldwide for women 's comprehensive health and well-being, particularly their unmet sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). This May 28, they are calling on governments worldwide to respect, protect, and fulfill women's right to health, dignity and bodily integrity, and end violence against women in all its forms. Women 's health advocates and their communities have been commemorating 28 May since 1987, when during the International Women's Health Meeting in Costa Rica, Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (LACWHN) proposed to celebrate 28 May annually as the International Day of Action for Women's Health. LACWHN and the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) have maintained the campaign through yearly collaborative Calls for Action, each year focusing on a particular topic related to women's health. The range of topics throughout the years have included: Access to Quality Health Care; Feminisation of Poverty; Access to Safe and Legal Abortion; Government Accountability in Prioritizing Health Markets; Health Sector Reform and Women's Health; Women and HIV/AIDS; International Trade Agreements and Women's Access to Health; Violence Against Women as a Global Health Emergency; Young People's SRHR and Access to Contraceptives. Governments around the world are currently in the final stages of establishing the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will include a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will guide international development policies, priorities, and funding over the next 15 years. Throughout this and other recent global review processes, violence against women has rightly received due attention from governments and UN institutions alike as "one of the most prevalent forms of human rights violations worldwide," constraining women's empowerment and impeding sustainable development. Yet one form of violence, particularly experienced by women and girls if they are young, unmarried, poor, HIV affected, of diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, living with a disability, or in other vulnerable situations, remains rampant and unaddressed: namely, the institutional violence they experience when they are denied their right to health and are unable to access sexual and reproductive health services. "Institutional violence," or violence perpetrated by the State, has traditionally been understood as largely occurring within extreme circumstances of conflicts, disasters, and economic crises. As defined by the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, however, violence against women includes "physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State or its agents regardless of where it occurs." With this definition in mind, examples of violence and discrimination resulting from the violation of women's right to sexual and reproductive health are far too common and widespread, such as: The denial of the right to access safe and legal abortion services; Forced or coerced sterilisation; The denial of access to contraceptives including emergency contraception. This 28 May remind governments worldwide that #WomensHealthMatters. We must hold leaders accountable, and ensure that commitments related to sexual and reproductive health and rights are retained – if not strengthened – in future development efforts. To see some of the actions that have been taken for this 28 May, click here. And join in.  |
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