Saturday, January 30, 2016

Women's Views on News

Posted: 29 Jan 2016 04:04 AM PST

We need to do everything we can to ensure that a tragedy like this is never repeated.

Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) and filmmaker Deeyah Khan have joined forces to launch a campaign in remembrance of Banaz Mahmod on the 10th anniversary of her murder.

Ten years ago Banaz Mahmod was brutally murdered and gang-raped by a team of men recruited and managed by her uncle.

Banaz was a victim of the repressive codes of "honour" operating in the close-knit Kurdish communities.

Forced into marriage at 17 years of age, then divorced after brutal domestic violence, Banaz fell in love with a man she chose, but this was considered to have brought 'shame' upon her family.

After holding a family council meeting, the family decided that Banaz had to die.

Although Banaz sought help from the police several times, she never received the help she needed and she was murdered, and her body was stuffed into a suitcase in London and driven to Birmingham and buried in a back garden.

Two of Banaz's rapists and murderers fled to KRG-Iraq where, sickeningly, they boasted about their role in her "honour" killing.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation's Justice for Banaz campaign was pivotal in successfully demanding that the British government extradite these men to the UK as well as highlighting police failures during Banaz's lifetime.

Because of the massive failings in Banaz's case, there was an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2008.

While it was disappointing that the individuals who had failed Banaz were not held accountable, there were clear conclusions that Banaz had been failed by the services which were there to protect her.

Strikingly, a report which IKWRO campaigned for that was published in December 2015 by HMIC, the body that inspects the police, revealed that the failings that led to Banaz's death in 2005 are still present today, with very few forces ready to cope with the specific demands presented by violence inspired by 'honour'.

Banaz's story was retold in the moving Emmy-award winning documentary, 'Banaz', which was directed by Deeyah Khan through Fuuse Films.

The film featured the work of Diana Nammi, Executive Director of IKWRO, who deals with many women in situations similar to Banaz.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) and Deeyah Khan are now joining forces to launch a campaign in remembrance of Banaz on the 10th anniversary of her death.

Diana Nammi said: "We know from IKWRO's work that lessons have not been learned from Banaz's case.

"There are still many women in situations like Banaz, and the necessary provisions to help them just aren't there.

"'Honour'-based violence (HBV) is a serious, organised crime and a matter of life and death which needs particular kinds of attention: the fact that multiple perpetrators are often involved, the escalation patterns, and the barriers to women from minority communities in reaching out mean that we need every service to be able to respond immediately and effectively.

"We call upon the government and all services to work together on five steps to ensure the safety of women like Banaz."

The five steps are:

Police forces across the UK must take on board the criticisms in the HMIC report of December 2015 and develop effective responses to 'honour'-based violence;

Other services, including education, health, social services and housing, must develop reports on their own readiness to respond to 'honour'-based violence similar to that conducted by HMIC;

Increasing expertise and collaboration across all service providers;

Healthy relationships education in schools that includes 'honour'-based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage; and

Secure funding of those NGOs which provide the greatest help to those at risk.

Deeyah Khan said: "It is devastating to think that so little has been learned from the death of Banaz Mahmod, and that another young woman could lose her life due to failings of British services.

"We need to do everything we can to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated, and that British police and other agencies learn to take violence against minority women seriously.

"The greatest tribute to Banaz's memory would be to identify and correct all the failings which continue to put the lives of women like her at risk."

Earlier this month Swedish MEP Anna Hedh, from the S&D group in the European Parliament, hosted a screening of 'Honour' – 'Heder' in Swedish – a film based on a real case, that shows different forms of violence against women made in the name of "honour".

Starting out as a no-budget project of the heart, this film has become a national tool for Sweden to use when honour violence is discussed.

The film’s creators, director Peter Sporremark and producer Ezzeddine Zein, gathered stories for six months from boys and girls suffering from honour violence. And together with experts, counsellors and teachers they put together the script to make it as authentic as possible.

Honour violence affects many people all over the world and Honour is an important and valuable resource to help a lot of the victims and to spread information about the problem.

For, as Zein explained, 'A student, at the very same school where I work, a 16 year-old boy, killed his own sister; Maria 19 years old, in the name of "honour". The boy stabbed his own sister with 120 stabs, can you believe it?

'After seeing that so close I decided I had to do something.'

The screening Anna Hedh hosted was followed by a discussion with the crew of the film, European Parliament researchers and women's rights organisations, such as the European Women's Lobby (EWL) and the Arab Women's Solidarity Association Belgium (AWSA-Be).

In her opening speech, Hedh highlighted the close links between honour-based violence and gender based violence. 'Honour-based crimes' receive this name because of the motivation of the perpetrators that is redressing a perceived loss of honour.

"However, women are the majority of the victims of honour crimes as its behaviour is the one that is judged on the basis of rules and traditions that are patriarchal and often established by men," Hedh stressed.

The screening came after the publication in December 2015 of a briefing note on 'Combating 'honour' crimes in the EU' released by the European Parliament Research Studies (EPRS).

Awareness of ‘honour’ crimes has increased in the EU in the past decade. Even though the majority of such crimes still usually go unreported, even when made known to the police, this type of crime has often been miscategorised.

Experts have warned that this type of violent behaviour is different from, for example, domestic violence, because perpetrators are usually groups of people who find rationale for their crime in their cultures or traditions.

The perpetrators believe that by abusing or even killing the victim, they are protecting the family’s or the community’s ‘honour’, which has somehow been ‘tarnished’ by the behaviour of the victim.

Globally, the majority of ‘honour’ crimes are committed in the Middle East and southern Asia.

Even though such crimes have mostly been associated with Islam, they also occur in Hindu, Sikh, Druze, Christian and Jewish communities.

The EU and the Council of Europe have given much attention to ‘honour’ crimes, mostly through documents dealing with violence against women in general.

Although the incidence of ‘honour’ crimes is higher outside the EU, increased migration and subsequent problems with integration of immigrants into host communities have contributed to these types of crimes becoming a serious issue for some EU countries as well.

Apart from individual, national efforts, EU institutions have also taken steps to combat ‘honour’-based violence, mostly within the framework of combatting gender-based violence.

The European Parliament has specifically addressed the issue through several resolutions covering ‘honour’ crimes as well as other types of violence over vulnerable groups.

The EU institutions have also shown concern for victims outside EU borders, and repeatedly address these issues in countries wanting to join the EU – for instance, Turkey – and in others such as Pakistan and Yemen.

During the debate after the screening of the film, Martina Prpic, author of the research, stressed the fact that "patriarchy is considered the root cause of honour-based crimes" and recommended "not to attribute them solely to immigrant culture and religion".

Prpic also informed about the controversy around the definition of honour crimes and the lack of accurate data in the EU, which is linked to the fact that most honour crimes are unreported.

In the UK, there are approximately 3000 attacks per year and a murder per month motivated by the notion of honour.

Pierrette Pape, Policy and Campaigns Director at the European Women's Lobby, highlighted how "violence against women is a consequence of the imbalanced power relations between women and men".

In the same regard, violence against women made in the name of honour is an illustration of the gender inequalities that are still present in our societies.

Pape praised how the film Honour manages to represent different types of gender-based violence such as forced marriage, virginity testing, harassment and murder.

These types of violence are very much linked to the culture of sexism and the collective understanding of a certain (detrimental) form of masculinity.

International legal instruments such as the UN CEDAW Convention and the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) specifically address the issue of honour-related crimes insisting on the fact that tradition or so-called "honour" cannot be seen as justification for any act of violence against women.

The EWL has been calling for ratification and adequate implementation of the Istanbul Convention in all the European countries and for the EU's accession to the Convention.

More concretely, Pape stressed the need to protect migrant women in Europe by providing them an effective legal status that doesn't make them depend on their family situation, in order to be able to flee a situation of male violence.

The EWL also calls for all asylum procedures to comply with the UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection and to include gender-related persecution as a ground for asylum.

Alicia Arbid, representing AWSA-BE, the Arab Women's Solidarity in Belgium, praised the movie as a tool to work on prevention and insisted on the need to put a focus on preventative measures to end crimes in the name of honour, working specifically as well on the issue of masculinities.

"As shown in the film, women's sexuality keeps being a taboo issue in our societies," Arbid said.

AWSA-Be is an association of men and women of Arab, Belgian and other origins, whose activities aims at encouraging women from the Arab World to free themselves from any form of domination, to break down stereotypes and to promote solidarity in favour of the emancipation of women and living together in diversity.

AWSA-Be also works to develop an understanding of women's problems in their respective societies.

Finally, Arbid stressed the need for adequate protection services to women victims of crimes in the name of honour and other forms of male violence.

This includes effective and holistic support to address the psychological and economic needs of these women.

Need to look closely at food packaging

Posted: 29 Jan 2016 03:47 AM PST

Current EU legislation “ignores today's science on endocrine disrupting chemicals."

EU legislation on materials which come into contact with food is seriously inadequate, according to the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).

HEAL is seeking proper regulation of all types of "Food Contact Materials", including a prohibition on the use of both endocrine disrupting chemicals and "Substances of Very High Concern", or SVHCs, as defined under REACH chemical regulation.

HEAL is a European not-for-profit organisation addressing how the environment affects health in the European Union (EU).

Speaking at a recent meeting in the European Parliament, Lisette van Vliet, HEAL's Senior Policy Adviser said: "Current EU legislation of food contact materials is not fit for its purpose of protecting public health.

"It permits chemicals that are prohibited in other products under other EU law.

"Equally worrying is the fact that it ignores today's science on endocrine disrupting chemicals."

Concerns about plastics leaching into food from packaging have already led to an EU ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and limitations on the use of certain phthalates in food contact materials made of plastic.

Both these substances are known to be endocrine disruptors.

A recent study on plastic food containers by the Danish Consumer Council project, "THINK Chemicals" showed that chemicals can migrate from the plastic walls of the containers into any warm fatty foods, such as gravy or lasagne.

Chemicals in any material that come into contact with food can leach into food or drink.

This migration depends on how hot the material becomes, on the length of time the food is in contact with the material, the proportion of the food in contact with the material, and the food chemistry. Chemicals migrate more into fatty and acidic foods, for example.

Some migrating chemicals that are a menace to health, including carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals, are falling through the EU legislative net.

Concerns relate to chemicals in two particular categories.

First, the 58 chemicals that under the REACH legislation have been placed on the most harmful list (SVHC) and which must therefore be phased out.

These chemical are currently permitted in food contact materials. They include chemicals that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction, or are bioaccumulative – capable of building up and persisting in the body, or have hormone disrupting or other harmful properties.

The second category are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are associated with hormonal cancers (breast, prostate, testes) as well as reproductive problems (infertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes), metabolic disorders (diabetes, obesity), allergies, and neurodevelopmental problems (learning disorders, autism spectrum disorders).

A recent study estimated that prenatal exposure to the endocrine disrupting chemical, BPA was likely responsible for 42,400 cases of obesity in four year olds in Europe – and with health costs of 1.54 billion euros per year.

Bisphenol A is used to make certain plastics (polycarbonates) used in food packaging, coatings used on the insides of aluminium and metal cans, and lid closures on glass jars and bottles.

In addition to known hazardous chemicals, there are other chemicals (so-called non intentionally added substances) that will migrate, and their identity and structure is not known (especially in plastics).

Van Vliet said: "It makes no sense for the EU to be pushing Better Regulation but allowing these massive contradictions to continue between the law on "Food Contact Materials" and other EU laws regulating chemicals use.

"And it is highly inefficient for the single market to allow a roulette of defective EU laws, different or non-existent national laws, and whatever standards the food contact materials industry applies.

"Making sure that all the materials which come into contact with food are safe would better serve EU citizens, companies and actually produce better regulation."

Friday, January 29, 2016

Women's Views on News

Your money and your life

Posted: 28 Jan 2016 02:20 PM PST

New campaign tells those experiencing financial abuse about their rights – and offers help.

One in 5 people in the UK have experienced financial abuse in an intimate relationship.

Financial abuse can take many forms, but however it is done, it is a way of controlling a person's ability to acquire, use and maintain their own money and resources.

And if any of these situations feel familiar, you may be experiencing financial abuse.

Does anyone:

Prevent you from working, or stop you from going to work?

Prevent you from going to college or university?

Ask you to account for every penny you spend?

Check your receipts or bank statements so they can monitor how much you are spending?

Keep the log-in details, bank cards or PIN numbers for your joint account so that you cannot access the account?

Spend money allocated to bills for other things?

Steal, damage or destroy your possessions?

Spend whatever they want, but belittle you for spending any money?

Insist on control of all financial matters?

Insist that all the bills and loans are in your name?

Make you ask permission before making any purchase, no matter how small?

Make significant financial decisions without you (e.g. buying a new home, car)?

Place debts in your name?

Steal money from you, or use your bank card without permission?

Withhold child maintenance payments?

Initiate expensive post separation legal battles knowing you cannot afford to fight, or will bankrupt you?

Last year, Refuge and The Co-operative Bank joined forces to carry out the UK's largest study to date to uncover the true scale of financial abuse within intimate partner relationships.

The research, led by academic Nicola Sharp-Jeffs at the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Metropolitan University, found that:

18 per cent of all adults in the UK have been a victim of financial abuse;

Victims span gender, age and income groups; however, 60 per cent of all cases are reported by women;

Financial abuse in relationships against women also lasts for a longer period of time compared to men, with 78 per cent of women saying their abuse went on over five years compared to 23 per cent of men;

For women, financial abuse rarely happens in isolation – 86 per cent experience other forms of abuse; and

One third of financial abuse victims suffer in silence, telling no-one.

Refuge and The Co-operative Bank have now launched a campaign – ‘My money, my life’ – aiming to shine a spotlight on this often overlooked form of abuse of domestic abuse and call for an industry-wide agreement so that banks support people who experience financial abuse in their relationships.

Based on this research the "My money, my life" campaign will inform those experiencing financial abuse about their rights and enable them to make positive choices about their own financial future.

Refuge has also produced a financial guide as a support resource for women who have experienced financial abuse.

This guide provides information about agencies that can offer support and it takes you through some of the steps you may want to think about to regain your financial independence and re-build your life free from abuse.

And Refuge will be working with The Co-operative Bank to push for change in the banking sector by making a series of recommendations on how the banking sector could positively support the victims of financial abuse in relationships.

The Co-operative Bank is committed to implementing key recommendations, looking to positively support victims of financial abuse by working with the banking industry in an effort to:

Develop a code of practice to guide financial institutions so there is consistent response to the disclosure of intimate partner financial abuse;

Develop awareness-raising materials for customers and guidance about how to recognise and cope with financial abuse in relationships;

Train staff to respond appropriately and create referral pathways to access specialist support; and

Develop a system where victims who need to report this kind of abuse don't need to tell their story repeatedly, which can be traumatic.

There is more information about domestic violence and how to rebuild your life following financial abuse on Refuge's website.

And you can help.

We need your help to raise awareness of financial abuse in relationships.

You can help by talking about it with friends and family and by spreading the word on social media.

If you want to get more involved with the campaign follow #mymoneymylife on Twitter.

You could also ask your bank what they are doing, and draw their attention to this campaign.

Thanks.

Speak out for a video project

Posted: 28 Jan 2016 02:09 PM PST

We hope that real live women speak out about the issues facing them.

According to the last World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, the UK has slipped from the 18th position to the 26th in terms of women’s equality.

And 44 per cent of women have experienced a form of male violence, 9 out 10 of lone parents are women and the gender pay gap is still 19 per cent.

Women are still invisible in the main leadership roles, from media – only 2 of the 18 major national newspaper editors are women – to politics – women ministers are only 22 per cent in the current government – to the economic world – according to the FTSE index only 25.4 per cent of women are company’s directors.

And current austerity policies are forcing women to pay off the majority of the deficit.

In the previous government we paid off 79 per cent of the UK deficit compared with the 21 per cent paid by men – see A Fair Deal for Women’s website for this data and to see sources related to women’s inequality.

And behind each one of these numbers there's a story, a personal life.

There's a woman facing cultural, social and economic barriers and often a women’s organisation supporting her to shape a new life.

The Women Speak Out project is gathering women's personal stories to show how current policies affect their real lives, making it harder in both public and private contexts – from work to education, from health and wellbeing to safety, from immigration to family life, being a carer, being a pensioner.

Women Speak Out is a video project: we want to film women who have experienced disadvantage and inequality.

Perhaps you haven't been able to access legal aid, or you're scared you'll lose out on cuts to your benefits, you've experienced pregnancy discrimination, or you're suffering from homelessness.

Please get in touch with Florence if you would like to tell your story, or if you work with women who would be interested in joining in.

We will provide media training so you gain the skills and confidence to speak to journalists, and challenge decision makers if you wish to.

We hope that if enough real live women speak out about the issues facing them and the government policies they worry about, women can take control of their own narrative at a time when much of the media and government rhetoric is negative and damaging – and can challenge decision-makers.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Casino Life February 2016

View this email in your browser

Welcome to Casino Life

... and welcome to London for most of you reading this, as we assemble for this years first exhibition and conference extravaganza. I think this is my 15th ICE in its various forms and each year it seems to get bigger and better - albeit less fun. Why? Well, time is money and if you discount day three when most people are high-tailing it back to their jobs elsewhere in the world, exhibitors – and attendees - have only a few hours to tour the show, meet old friends, recover from hangovers (Day two) and get some business done. Add up the staff hours, stand rental, build cost, catering, flights, hotels and it all starts to add up. Work it all out per hour and the costs are staggering – so hence the seriousness of it all. ICE after all is the show when most deals are sealed (allegedly) and somehow the fun seems to take a back seat. Or perhaps I'm getting old and it used to be better when execs were more approachable (ie visible – not in endless meetings in their stand village) and you could pose with the storm troopers / Willy Wonka without huge queues.

So here's an idea, although some may say it's heresy. ICE should have a press day – yes, another day added at the start – to allow true interaction, proper demonstrations and truly spotlight the new products – the innovations – allow the new staff who have been appointed to inspire, to do their funky thing and show! Too radical? OK, so make Day One for Press and VIPs only until lunch... then make the show go on until 1900 and then throw open the bars. We are here in London, in Docklands, to see a show, to meet up, to do business in one of the most amazing businesses in the world – so lets maximize it. Keep the audience on site until midnight... who wants to rush back to the West End for a party starting at 1900 where you'll meet the same people – in the same clothes?

OK, I'm toying with an idea, but it would be fun watching some of the press having to work for a change and review product live - plus do some proper interviews rather than churn out the manufacturers press releases. Yawn.

Back to this issue and our front page proudly shows Interblock – whose founder, Joc Pececnik, and CEO, John Connelly, we interview within. I remember seeing the first Organic roulette way back, sitting in a production shed in Slovenia and thinking "Wow! This looks odd – but how cool that it hasn't got brass handles". Most auto-roulettes at that time looked like a mahogany coffin cut and shut spin-off from an undertakers. Our lead interview this issue is with Roger Maris, CEO at the Ritz Club who looks back with fondness at some of the highlights of the past – but is definitely looking forward to the future. Interesting that the Ritz club will be opening an office in Hong Kong. I catch up with Carlos Campos at the Gran Via in Madrid four years after we last spoke to catch up on developments. Another development we are proud to have toured in our hard hats is the Hippodrome and Peter White chats to Simon Thomas who is as busy as ever. Roy Ramm has formed his own company, wittily entitled Extra Yard Ltd. and we enjoyed finding out how he is continuing to apply years of police and security experience to the casino industry. John Carroll is a veteran of ICE and every other gaming show besides so it was high time we spoke to him about how he represents some of the key gambling equipment manufacturers in the world. Finally we catch up with JJ Woods of Atlantic Casino Consultants to see what's happening in the Emerald Isle, and Victor Royer, Stateside who can tell you why Millennials gamble!

Try and pop in to see us on our stands at ICE: D6-C ND6-D SD5-B & SD5-A

Glyn Thomas

Visit the website

Copyright © 2016 Ace Publishing Ltd., All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you either opted in at our website, agreed to receive updates from us or kindly handed over a business card at one of the international events we both attend. Or we met in a bar somewhere....

Our mailing address is:

Ace Publishing Ltd.

Clennell, 4 Carriers Place

Blackham

Tunbridge Wells,, Kent TN3 9UQ

United Kingdom

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

New panel to fight economic gender gaps

Posted: 27 Jan 2016 10:04 AM PST

“The empowerment of the world's women is a global imperative.”

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment to provide thought leadership and mobilise concrete actions aimed at closing the economic gender gaps that persist around the world.

The panel will provide recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to improve economic outcomes for women and promote women's leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally-sensitive economic growth.

It will provide recommendations for key actions that can be taken by governments, the private sector, the UN system and other stakeholders, as well as policy directives needed to achieve the new targets and indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which call for the economic empowerment of women.

The panel is backed by the United Kingdom, the World Bank Group and UN Women.

The co-chairs of the panel are Luis Guillermo Solis, President of Costa Rica, and Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO of IKEA Switzerland.

They will be joined by the leaders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group, UN Women and a diverse range of eminent gender and equality actors, economics experts, academics, trade union leaders, business and government representatives from all regions.

The panel will be supported by an independent Secretariat, hosted by UN Women with backing from the UK government.

The UK's International Development Secretary Justine Greening, a founding member of the panel, welcomed its launch.

"Investing in girls and women isn't just about basic human rights, it's about fully unlocking the potential of half the world's population" she said.

"The UK is already at the forefront of this effort.

"At the Department for International Development I have put improving the lives of girls and women at the very heart of our work and Britain is successfully leading the fight against FGM and child marriage, as well as getting girls into school and women into jobs.

"Strong economies need the contribution of everyone – including women – and this panel will spearhead a movement to put women's economic empowerment on the global agenda like never before."

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, also a founding member of the panel, said: "The World Bank Group is strongly committed to gender equality, which is integral to ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

"Our new Gender Equality Strategy puts a much sharper focus on economic empowerment."

And he added: "No society, community or economy can achieve its full potential – or meet the escalating challenges of the 21st century – until all its people can achieve theirs.

"We are pleased to partner with the UK's Department for International Development and the United Nations in convening this important panel, whose work will accelerate progress towards the goals we share."

The High-Level Panel will help tackle gender gaps in economic opportunities and outcomes which persist around the world, building on the growing evidence and recognition by governments and the private sector that women's economic empowerment has a multiplier effect and boosts whole economies.

Research has shown that women invest their income back into their families and communities, including in health and education.

McKinsey Global Institute estimates that if women in every country were able to play an identical role to men in markets, as much as USD28 trillion would be added to the global economy by 2025.

Yet women continue to earn less than men, have fewer assets, bear the burden of unpaid work and care and be largely concentrated in vulnerable and low-paying activities when it comes to employment.

Women spend more than twice as much time on unpaid care and domestic work as men and women on average are paid 24 per cent less than men globally for the same work.

Moreover, 75 per cent of women's employment in developing regions is informal and unprotected.

These gaps constrain women's rights and hinder economic growth and productivity.

Significantly scaled up actions and political will are required to ensure that governments, development organisations and others invest in the economic empowerment of women for the benefit of whole societies.

The High-Level Panel will have its inaugural meeting during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in March 2016.

A series of regional consultative meetings will also take place, and the Panel's first report with action-oriented recommendations will be issued in September 2016.

"The empowerment of the world's women is a global imperative," Ban Ki-moon said.

"Yet despite important progress in promoting gender equality, there remains an urgent need to address structural barriers to women's economic empowerment and full inclusion in economic activity.

"If the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we need a quantum leap in women's economic empowerment."

You can join the conversation on social media by following the hashtag #empowerwomen as well as @UN_Women and @DFID_UK on Twitter.

UN Women releases parity report

Posted: 27 Jan 2016 09:47 AM PST

HeForShe IMPACT CEOs from Fortune 500 companies reveal gender data.

Ten of the world's leading companies have released new workforce gender diversity figures, including details on leadership roles and board membership, in UN Women's inaugural HeForShe Parity Report.

The unprecedented disclosure was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where many of the firms' heads had gathered along with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, and UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson.

Last year at the 2015 UN Women session at Davos, UN Women unveiled the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative to galvanise momentum in advancing gender equality.

HeForShe created the IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative to engage 10 key decision-makers in governments, corporations and universities around the world to drive change from the top.

The Corporate Impact Champions have made gender equality an institutional priority since they signed up, and the transparency displayed in Davos will help them measure commitments and inspire action from other employers.

The report’s figures show that a large gap remains between the representation of women in the workforce at large, and in leadership positions.

Although overall representation of women averaged 39.7 per cent in the 10 firms, the proportion of senior leadership roles held by women ranged from a low of 11 per cent to a high of only 33 per cent.

While this group outperforms global averages, UN Women has – as part of its gender equality drive for a 50-50 Planet by 2030 – set parity as the goal and the individual company commitments reflect a variety of pathways to achieve this.

The group of 10 companies includes AccorHotels, Barclays, Koç Holding, McKinsey & Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Schneider Electric, Tupperware Brands, Twitter, Unilever and Vodafone.

The UN has made this type of partnership a key part of achieving its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which prioritises gender equality as both a stand-alone goal and as an integral part of other goals.

The transparency displayed in the announcement is therefore crucial for measuring progress.

Recognising both the importance of this topic and the critical need for progress, IMPACT Champions have taken a bold stance on transparency. They have committed to periodically and publically share standard figures on gender representation.

Other findings from the report include:

40 per cent of Tupperware's Board and 61 per cent of its new hires are women, bringing it the closest to parity on these measures out of the group;

AccorHotels and Tupperware Brands have achieved board parity (between 40-60 per cent) today. Across IMPACT Champions, women hold 28.6 per cent of Board seats; and

Across all companies, women represent 39.9 per cent of new hires. Four companies have achieved parity in their new hires: Barclays, PwC, Tupperware and Unilever.

Four figures were selected as a standard baseline across all 10 companies, providing both a holistic workforce view as well as a detailed examination of key roles.

This analysis includes three figures that explore the current representation of women, and one leading indicator, which illustrates the direction of the company going forward.

Each company shared information from their completed 2014 reporting cycle.

This date provides a common starting point for all companies and shows the gender composition at the outset of IMPACT 10x10x10.

Corporate IMPACT Champions are reporting gender representation across: 1. The overall company; 2. Senior leadership; 3 the Board and 4. New hires.

One of these champions, Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of AccorHotels, said: "I am strongly convinced that women should be free to realise their career prospects and given the same opportunities as their male peers.

“As the CEO of AccorHotels, I have the capacity and the duty to push further for real change."

Another, Jes Staley, CEO of Barclays, said: "As a leader, husband and father, I believe that enabling true gender equality is a responsibility we all share.

“At Barclays, our partnership with the UN and support for HeForShe are indicative of the strength of our commitment to ensuring women can contribute fully to society, to industry and global economies."

Dominic Barton, the global managing director of McKinsey & Company, said: "Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is a part of our firm's history and daily practice.

"I see it as the business of executives to set clear goals and strive to reach them, even though we know it won’t be easy."

And Dennis Nally, chairman of PwC International Limited, said: "Part of my personal commitment is to move the needle on gender equality.

“HeForShe at PwC will harness the immense power of our network to promote inclusion and foster greater equality."

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO of Schneider Electric, said: "Companies have a key role to play as ‘change agents’ to build a world where gender equality is a reality. It is a question of determination.

"Leading by example and engaging more men in these challenges will be one of my key priorities."

Rick Goings, CEO of Tupperware Brands, said: "Some things just cannot wait. Men must stand up now for women’s equality.

"Why am I a HeForShe Champion? Not just because I can’t wait, but because I will not wait."

Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, said he personally was passionate about the HeForShe initiative, which is in line with Unilever’s ambition to empower 5 million women by 2020, and that he would use his voice to encourage sons, husbands, brothers and fathers to pledge their support and take action.

"I salute the courage of this group to reveal their equality profiles and their evident dedication to make radical change," Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women said.

"They lay bare in specific detail what we know to be the global norm – women are chronically under-represented in leadership roles and in formal employment overall.

"Through their experiences, we can identify and scale solutions to transform sectors, and eventually, achieve an equal world. They are shaping what corporate leadership looks like on this issue."

Mustafa Koç, chair of Koç Holding and an ardent supporter of UN Women, died at the age of 55 shortly before the event. He had been a dedicated IMPACT CEO and contributed a huge amount to the report and its launch in Davos, and UN Women has expressed its deepest condolences.

To read the report, click here.

Women’s safety and public space

Posted: 27 Jan 2016 07:30 AM PST

Are women ever really safe?

"There's always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm's length – that is to say to make sure yourself you don't look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don't have a trusting relationship".

This was the advice offered to women by the Mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, in the aftermath of the attacks which took place in the German city on New Year's Eve, reportedly coordinated and carried out by a very large throng of up to one thousand men.

Reker's comments are problematic in a number of ways, not least because they come across as extremely naïve and idealistic, as well as being completely inapplicable in the case of these attacks.

Most women, myself included, will read her statement in disbelief, wistfully thinking 'if only it were that easy and simple!'

I, and many others I'm sure, would sacrifice a lot in order to be able to live in a society where harassment and assault were eliminated by staying an arm's length away from strangers.

Sadly, the current status quo is far from this, and the large-scale attacks in Cologne lead me to ask where and when, if ever, are women safe nowadays?

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the Cologne attacks is the fact that they took place in a large, open public space packed with people – circumstances which would usually be deemed pretty safe.

Everybody knows that regardless of age or gender, although young women are more at risk than others, it is unwise to walk alone at night, particularly in quiet, badly lit areas.

The events in Germany on New Year's Eve are all the more shocking because they don't meet the criteria which forms the basis of generic safety advice; the attacks did occur at night, but they were carried out among and in full view of the thousands of partygoers in the square at the time.

It should be acknowledged that the density of people, and apparent general chaos, may have enabled the perpetrators to rob, grope and assault these women more discreetly, for want of a better word, and made it more difficult for bystanders to realise what was going on and intervene, as well as causing groups to separate.

And although we have been told that the situation was also badly handled by police, it is nonetheless deeply worrying that attacks of this nature and scale could happen in a central public place on one of the busiest nights of the year.

In light of these events, the usual guidance, 'safety in numbers' and so on, seems rather futile, and Reker's comments even more absurd – how can you stay an arm's length away from strangers when you are in a space crammed with them?

Should we now not only avoid going anywhere alone, particularly at night, but also steer clear of areas populated by strangers, i.e. all public places?

Women are not safe on their own, nor it would seem are they when they are surrounded by people.

So where does this leave us?

For a lot of women, the answer is scared, despairing, and desperately searching for some sort of solution – one in which our safety is not contingent on the restriction of our movements.

As it stands, most 'solutions' seem to be giving in in one way or another.

Take women-only spaces, for example.

Mocked and deemed unnecessary by some, appealing to others, and a step that we shouldn't have to resort to for many.

The view of the general public on such measures was made clear last summer, when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's suggestion of women-only rail carriages as a means of increasing their safety and comfort in light of widespread sexual harassment and assaults on public transport was met with protest and outrage.

I agree that segregation in this day and age is absurd, and that we shouldn't allow ourselves be backed into a corner, but right now, what is the alternative?

Perhaps it is not completely nonsensical to implement women-only spaces as a temporary measure while those in positions of power work out how to successfully deal with the problem.

I think many women would, albeit reluctantly, appreciate the choice, and for victims of attacks like those in Cologne, it may allow them to do things and go to places they would not otherwise feel able to.

Although on paper women living in the western world in 2016 appear to have a lot of freedoms, and of course we are very privileged compared to women in other parts of the world, the reality is that we are being stripped of our independence and our basic right to safety.

We have freedoms, but we cannot fully take advantage of them; our ever-reducing sense of security prevents us from travelling and living candidly in the way we deserve to.

It is not acceptable or fair that we live in a perpetual state of fear and anticipation, dictated by the long list of scenarios and places that we should avoid.

Nor is it right or just that the responsibility of preventing attacks like those in Cologne almost always falls to us, and if we fail and become victims of such attacks, then the blame also lies with us.

We simply cannot win.

It is clear however that effective action needs to be taken urgently, and perhaps a good place to start would be addressing those who pose the threat rather than those who are threatened.

No such place as a safe sex zone

Posted: 27 Jan 2016 06:41 AM PST

Why has an area of Leeds been given a licence for a managed sex zone?

by Mary Honeyball MEP.

A pilot project in Leeds where 'sex workers' are permitted to operate between the hours of 7pm and 7am has been made permanent.

The initial pilot in the Holbeck area of the city began in October 2014 with the managed area now made permanent despite the murder of a 21 year-old prostitute found within the zone just before Christmas.

The death of the 21 year-old is not the only violent crime to have taken place inside the zone, where there have reportedly been numerous attacks and two reported rapes.

Why, then, has the Holbeck area of Leeds been given permission for a permanent managed sex zone?

Putting sex workers and prostitution in a ghetto like this won't solve the problem.

Moreover it is hugely concerning that the decision was made less than three weeks after the prostituted woman I’ve already mentioned suffered fatal injuries an attack.

The project was apparently launched following research which revealed that police action against sex workers was failing to reduce levels of prostitution. That doesn’t surprise me – but to my mind the solution which then followed, to create a controlled zone, was the wrong one.

I agree that prostituted women should not be prosecuted by the police; however, another more understanding approach is, I believe, more helpful to these women, the vast majority of whom do not do the work they do through choice.

Many readers of this blog may know I favour the Nordic model of prostitution which decriminalises the seller of sex and instead criminalises the purchaser of sex. I heard on a radio debate last week that since this model was adopted in Sweden there has not been a single reported murder on a sex worker.

I am concerned that other local authorities are now considering a similar model following the apparent 'success' of the Leeds project.

Superintendent Sam Millar, who heads the Safer Leeds community safety partnership, said: "Our job is to keep people safe and that applies when people put themselves in risky situations". But I honestly believe there are other more sensible and more effective ways to help those in dangerous situations.

One way is to adopt the Nordic model, as I've outlined, but also to work in partnership with other agencies and stakeholders to help these women find a way out of prostitution which is I believe something they almost never go into out of choice.

There are far better and safer ways to deal with prostitution than by the creation of an unsafe hazardous area disguised as a 'safe' place to carry out sex work.

24 UK News

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Friday, January 29, 2016

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Casino Life February 2016

Welcome to Casino Life

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Archive