Women's Views on News |
| Call for greater abortion access Posted: 16 Dec 2015 05:10 AM PST
Northern Ireland’s pro-choice campaign group Alliance for Choice have launched a new campaign to ensure abortion remains high on the political agenda for the May 2016 Assembly elections. Called #trustwomen, it is a social media campaign that will involve supporters in lobbying for MLAs to trust women to make decisions about their own lives, will ask for legal change to allow greater abortion access and push for a free vote on any progressive change. You can ask Alliance for Choice for postcards for your friends, family and networks to send to your MLAs, or you can email your Stormont candidates. Supporting the campaign, Dawn Purvis said: "We already know that the general public are way ahead of our politicians when it comes to the issue of progressive change. "The Millward Brown Survey carried out by Amnesty International in October 2014 showed that two thirds of the population are in favour of women having choice in the same terms as outlined in the High Court judgement last week. "Therefore it is important that this issue remains high on the political agenda so that the views of the electorate are considered by those who wish to represent them from 2016 onwards." Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Alliance for Choice's chair, Kellie O'Dowd, said: "We are asking our current and potential MLAs to trust women. "As a campaigning organisation we think it is important that current and future politicians are aware of how the current law impacts on women. "During the campaign we will be sharing the real life stories of women who have been affected by the current law and we will be asking our politicians to support progressive legislative change and a free vote should legislation come to the floor of the Assembly." And vice-chair Emma Campbell, who designed the campaign's new website, said: "Our campaign has a simple message with a simple answer to the question Do you #trustwomen? "We are hoping to gain public support from the trade union movement, the women's sector the community, and the public who do trust women. "Our website is easily accessible and offers a range of ways people can get involved from e-mailing their MLA to running information sessions in the community, or visiting our stall on Saturdays in [Belfast’s] Cornmarket 2-4pm."  |
| Posted: 16 Dec 2015 04:24 AM PST
By Olivia Bailey. "Women are very poorly represented at all levels of the Labour Party, particularly at the top. “Why then, when the principle of equality is at the very centre of socialism, has the Labour Party failed so dismally to practice what it preaches?" [From] ‘Quotas now: women in the Labour Party', Fabian Tract 541, 1990. These words have the same resonance now as they did 25 years ago. Women in the Labour Party are still under-represented, particularly at the top. Although women make up 44 per cent of Labour's membership and 43 per cent of Labour's MPs, where positive action is not used women's representation falls away. Women make up just 30 per cent of CLP Chairs, 16 per cent of Labour council leaders, 11 per cent of the most senior Labour Party staff and 0 per cent of Labour's Leadership team. While 'All Women Shortlists' and gender quotas have made an important difference, the Party still has a long way to go if it wants to practice what it preaches on women's equality. Using the findings from a ground-breaking survey of over 3000 Labour Party members, the new Fabian Report 'Practising What We Preach' reveals that women in the Labour Party are still facing a range of barriers when they put themselves forward for selection. One third of women who said they've stood for a national or regional selection said that they'd faced unwelcome scrutiny of their private lives, compared to just 11 per cent of men. Half said they couldn't afford what they needed to campaign, compared to 27 per cent of men. Just 44 per cent of women said they felt the process was transparent. The report also reveals that women are much less likely than men to put themselves forward for selection, our survey showing them to be 14 percentage points less likely than men to say they want to stand. Setting out a range of steps the Party could take to improve the representation of women, Practising What We Preach argues that the Party must make gender equality an organisational priority in order to prevent the 'new politics' looking exactly like the old. We suggest a range of changes to the rulebook, including a new rule on gender balance in leadership roles, including the Leader and Deputy, and a standardised target for 50:50 at every level of the Party. We suggest a new focus on training and development, with equality and diversity training for local parties and leadership training for women who have already been elected. And, we also suggest greater efforts to improve transparency – to help potential candidates understand what they need to do, and also to better make the case for positive action to Party members. Practising What We Preach aims to start a debate in the Labour Party, rather than proposing definitive solutions. Posing a series of discussion questions, it asks Labour members and supporters to discuss the issues it raises, and submit their thoughts ahead of a final report in the summer of 2016. Click here to read the full report; to access the data tables click here. You can submit your ideas by emailing representation[at]fabians.org.uk. ABOUT THE SERIES This is the first of five discussion papers the Fabian Society will publish as part of a new series on representation. The other four papers will cover sexuality, race, disability and class. The objective of the project is to make practical recommendations to the Labour Party about how it can better reflect the country it seeks to represent by improving the diversity of its representatives, from officers in local parties through to parliamentarians. Olivia Bailey is Research Director at the Fabian Society. A version of this article appeared on the Fabian Society’s website on 15 December 2015.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |