Women's Views on News |
- New panel to fight economic gender gaps
- UN Women releases parity report
- Women’s safety and public space
- No such place as a safe sex zone
| New panel to fight economic gender gaps Posted: 27 Jan 2016 10:04 AM PST
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
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
"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
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.  |
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