Women's Views on News |
| What next for refugee women and girls Posted: 12 Feb 2016 12:11 PM PST
The European Women's Lobby (EWL) and the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) have decided to work together to raise awareness on the situation of women and girls in Europe fleeing conflict. European and national policies are gender blind to the reality faced by women and girls on the road, especially when it comes to the different forms of violence they face at all stages of their journey towards peace. With the #womensvoices project, the European Women's Lobby and the Women’s Refugee Commission join up their efforts to influence decision-makers and make strong recommendations, run visible events, strengthen members' networking, and carry out awareness raising of the needs of women and girls refugees at both European Union and national levels. The European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW), a member of the European Women's Lobby, which has already issued a series of recommendations on gender-based dangers facing migrant and refugee women, will also be part of the #womensvoices project. And the adoption of the FEMM report on women and girls refugees gives rise to high hopes that the issue will be taken seriously by EU institutions in the coming months. War, conflicts and climate change often hit women and children the most. And although both women and men are victims of war and conflict, and are fleeing their homes, fewer women than men manage to make their way to a safer place. Several circumstances make the escape more difficult for women, such as menstruating, being pregnant and breastfeeding, and women often have the responsibility for children or other people to care for. And if they can leave the intial danger zone, during their journey many women and young girls are exposed to sexual violence, rape, prostitution and trafficking. Sexual abuse and violence before and during their flight and at the place they arrive in are used as strategies to deprive women and girls of their civil and human rights. The European Women's Lobby has already alerted decision-makers to the situation of women and girls refugees through an open letter to EU Ministers in light of the October 2015 European Council on Migration, and called for gender-sensitive policies and concrete action to end violence against women. In March this year, during the 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60), the European Women's Lobby and its member groups, will raise awareness on the protection risks faced by women and girls, based on its joint statement to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. In 2007, the European Women's Lobby worked with Asylum Aid UK and issued a key report “Asylum in not gender neutral: Protecting Women Seeking Asylum“. The Women's Refugee Commission has already issued two reports, one based on assessment trips to Greece and Macedonia in November 2015, together with UNHCR and UNFPA, and the second Slovenia and Serbia in December 2015. In both reports, the Women's Refugee Commission found that refugee women and girls faced grave risks and that the current protection response by government agencies, humanitarian actors and civil society organisations (CSOs) was inadequate. The second report contains recommendations for governments and the European Union, as well as humanitarian actors, especially in light of this widespread assessment: there is virtually no consideration of gender-based violence along the route to ensure safe environments, identify survivors and ensure that services are provided to them. The Women's Refugee Commission will be in Sweden and Germany in February 2016 to assess the situation of women and girls seeking asylum, and meet with front-line and women's organisations. The collaboration between EWL and WRC is therefore very important in terms of bringing a positive change for women and girls on the move. The #womensvoices project will run until June 2016, and aims to have an impact on EU-wide and individual national policies. Although the current situation of refugees is constantly evolving, the hope is that the impact of the recommendations will shine a spotlight onto the different forms of violence that refugee women and girls are currently facing within Europe. And that by highlighting the need for gender mainstreaming and gender-sensitive policies within the asylum process, given their international and national obligations and the voices of the groups’ members, decision-makers will act at national and European level, There is also the hope that this joint work will create a ripple effect among women's and migrant and refugee women's organisations across Europe and strengthen their coordinated actions and advocacy towards their own governments. To find out more about the project visit the EWL website, facebook page and Twitter.  |
| Posted: 12 Feb 2016 11:54 AM PST
The list of things that women should and shouldn't do seems never-ending. In fact, it grows incessantly. Throughout our lives, we women are dictated a list of dos and dont’s with regard to our behaviour, life choices, and bodies, to name but a few. Men, on the other hand, not only face significantly fewer restrictions but are also judged less harshly than women, as demonstrated by the mainstream media on a daily basis. Men have been seen and treated as the superior sex since time began, and it is only in fairly recent times that people have begun to challenge this concept. As a result, we live in a society largely governed by men, and one which rarely holds men to account for their actions – again, only now are we really beginning to see a shift in this. We have been taught to believe that men know best and therefore we shouldn't distrust or question them. Equally, we have been told that 'boys will be boys', meaning that when they do get it wrong, they are not held responsible. The financial crisis for example, predominantly orchestrated by men, has been swept under the carpet, with bankers continuing to be rewarded with large bonuses while ordinary people deal with the consequences of their actions. Victim blaming is still rife, with women regularly being held responsible for men assaulting, harassing and raping them and told that they were 'asking for it', or were stupid for putting themselves in a vulnerable position. The problem is brilliantly summarised in the growing cries for people to stop telling women how to avoid getting raped and to start telling men not to rape. A man's promiscuity is celebrated but a woman's is used against her. Contraception is ultimately a woman's responsibility given that aside from condoms, of which there is also a type designed specifically for women, there is little birth control available for men to use. In December, the annual report about the nation’s health, commissioned by the government and compiled by the Chief Medical Officer, currently Professor Dame Sally Davies, claimed that obesity in women was a 'national risk' and was then ridiculed in some media that being a national risk meant it should be treated as seriously as other threats to the nation, like terrorism. For the first time, the report focused solely on the health of England's female population, with Dame Sally using women to highlight the seriousness of obesity: "Look at what it does to us women – it impairs fertility; if you are pregnant there is a higher risk of miscarriage". She also said "it's having a massive and sad impact on women and their families" and referenced the effects on a woman's children and grandchildren. No one doubts the growing dangerous and fatal effects of obesity, nor of the fact that there are certain things women should avoid when pregnant such as smoking and drinking alcohol. But it seems a little extreme and unfair to shine the medical spotlight solely on women and make them feel liable for the health and wellbeing of all future generations. Being a mother already comes with a significant burden of responsibility and pressures without adding further to the risks and anxieties associated with pregnancy and parenthood; what about fathers caring for such issues? And if the future of generations to come is of such widespread concern, then why aren't we talking about and acting on climate change as the national risk that it so clearly is? Is obesity really more threatening than global warming and air pollution? It seems unlikely. Fairly straightforward and immediate steps could be taken to start tackling the potentially lethal environmental issues the world is facing, but those in positions of power have been denying that these issues exist or that we have in some way contributed to them, and seem extremely reluctant to do anything about it. Why? Probably because the energy, fuel and motor industries are hugely profitable and again, largely run by men – it isn’t really surprising that the UK’s Green parties are led or co-led by women and the only Green MP is also a woman. For so long society has consistently absolved men of responsibility and treated them as if they have no moral compass and no self-control, have no need of either, and yet still allowed them to govern ruthlessly. Negative attention is deflected away from men on to women by relentlessly scrutinising and criticising us, and fighting to keep us in subordinate positions so that men can carry on as normal. They decide what the problems are and then instruct others to solve them – others generally being women. That isn’t to say that women don’t behave irresponsibly and immorally as well, but it is far easier and more likely for a man to carry out and get away with criminal and corrupt behaviour than it is for a woman. But it is about time society shifted its gaze on to the people and issues that really pose a threat instead of focusing obsessively on often trivial aspects of women’s already disadvantaged lives.  |
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