Friday, March 18, 2016

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Invest in care to help the economy

Posted: 17 Mar 2016 09:50 AM PDT

wbg, ITUC, report, care industry, employment, europeInvesting 2 per cent of GDP in care industries could create 1.5 million jobs.

A new report launched recently by the UK’s Women's Budget Group for the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) shows that investing public funds in childcare and elder care services is a worthwhile investment that is more effective in reducing public deficits and debt than austerity policies.

It would boost employment, earnings, economic growth and fosters gender equality.

Key findings of the report, entitled 'Investing in the Care Economy: A gender analysis of employment stimulus in seven OECD countries', are:

The government should rescind damaging austerity policies and invest in social infrastructure. It would provide employment, address the current crisis in care, and reduce gender inequalities in both paid and unpaid work;

In total, up to 1.5 million jobs could be created in the UK if 2 per cent of GDP were invested in care industries, compared to 750,000 for an equivalent investment in construction;

Simulation results from seven OECD countries showed that investing 2 per cent of GDP in public services of care would create almost as many jobs for men as investing in construction industries in the UK, USA, Germany and Australia but would create up to four times as many jobs for women;

Women's employment rate would rise by up to 8 points in the USA and more than 5 points in the UK, Germany, Australia and Japan, reducing the gender employment gap by up to 50 per cent in the US and a quarter in the UK and

Compared to business-as-usual austerity policies, a significant public investment boost would have larger positive effects on economic growth and debt reduction in the mid-term (by 2030).

Commenting on the findings, Dr Jerome De Henau, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Open University and one of the authors of the study, said: "The recipe for a recovery based on a combination of 'quantitative easing' – that is expanding the money supply available to investors – while cutting back on public expenditure, has failed to stimulate growth, just as feminist economists and those on the political left predicted.

"This has now even been recognised by international institutions, including the OECD, whose Chief Economist called for greater public investment in developed countries to stimulate growth.

"Our research clearly shows that investment in the social infrastructure – in particular the care industries – not only delivers better social outcomes than austerity cuts by ensuring we have a healthy and educated society but also significant economic benefits.

"Far from seeing the care industries as a drain on public finances, spending should be seen as an investment akin to investing in the physical infrastructure," Henau continued.

"In fact, our research clearly shows that investing in the social infrastructure generates more jobs and has a greater effect on output than a comparable investment in construction.

"It is also worth noting … that an investment in the care industries has the potential to significantly reduce the gender employment gap, although a large number of jobs would also be created for men."

And he called on the Chancellor George Osborne to invest in Britain's future by making the care industries a priority for public investment.

The report’s co-authors along with Henau were Susan Himmelweit, Zofia Łapniewska and Diane Perrons.

The full report is available here.

A briefing paper summarising key findings is available here.

Save Carlisle Women’s Refuge

Posted: 17 Mar 2016 06:02 AM PDT

Campaign to save Carlisle women's refugeSince 2010, domestic violence services across the UK have lost over 30 per cent of their funding.

Life-saving services are disappearing, and those that remain are so over stretched that they are forced to turn away 1 in 3 women.

Women and non-binary people facing violence cannot escape unless there are public services to support them in doing so.

And in the week of the ‪#‎Budget2016 Cumbria County Council has revealed that Carlisle Women’s Refuge, their only funded refuge for survivors of domestic violence, will close in just two weeks’ time.

It was opened in 1999 by Women's Aid but has since been run by Impact Housing Association, with funding support from Cumbria County Council.

Impact Housing has not sought to renew its contract to run the refuge, since the county council decided to reduce funding by £500,000 in its new budget. And no other association has yet stepped up.

Carlisle Women’s Refuge, explaining the situation as they understand it so far, said: ‘The refuge has been in our community for 30 years as a safe space for women to go who are fleeing domestic abuse.

‘The refuge has supported 139 women and their children in the last four years to recover and re-build their lives.

‘Impact Housing successfully ran the service for 25 years with funding from the County Council. Last year the council put the contract for services out for tender with a 12% reduction in funds and a change in the way the funding is received.

‘As we understand, this was due to cuts from central government, the fact that refuge services are not a statutory duty of the council and because the money was not ring fenced, however we are waiting for a response from the County Council.

‘Impact decided after much deliberation that the contract was not viable and that it could not realistically bid for the service saying that this, “was very difficult and not done lightly”.

‘No other providers have bid and therefore the current provision is to close on 31 March 16.

‘As we understand it, no attempt has been made thus far to save the service and no negotiations have taken place.

‘The campaign to Save Cumbria Women’s Refuge aims to ensure that the provision for a women’s refuge in Carlisle is made a priority.

‘We will not allow these women to be forgotten and to risk more lost lives as a result of domestic abuse.’

You can help by signing this petition and liking and sharing Carlisle Women’s Refuge’s facebook page.

Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes – a staunch campaigner for help for victims of domestic violence and sex abuse – is also bewildered and angered by the closure decision.

"I believe there is an inherent cultural problem across the county in relation to domestic violence and abuse," he told The Cumberland Times. "There is a willingness to believe we don't have a problem. We do.

"Anyone in need of help can, of course, contact the victims' advocate at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. But I see closure of this refuge as a retrograde step."

Women’s rights and the risks of Brexit

Posted: 17 Mar 2016 05:07 AM PDT

women's rights, referendum, EU membership, TUC, BrexitThe European Union has made significant improvements to the rights of women at work.

On 23 June British voters will vote in a referendum to decide if Britain should continue its membership of the European Union or leave.

Working people will have a big stake in the referendum because workers' rights are on the line.

The TUC is concerned that leaving the European Union (EU) – called Brexit – puts at risk many vital workplace rights currently underpinned by EU law – paid holidays, extra maternity rights and better conditions for part-time workers, as well as many better jobs in export-reliant industries.

Britain's membership of the EU has led to significant improvements in the rights of women at work.

EU law has extended rights to equal pay and strengthened protection from sex discrimination.

It has improved the treatment of pregnant women and new mothers in the workplace and introduced new entitlements for parents to take time off.

Many women also benefited from basic rights, like paid holiday, that were introduced at EU level – many of the two million workers who had no paid holiday before the Working Time Directive were part-time women.

In 1984 the UK government was forced to include equal pay for work of equal value in the Equal Pay Act 1970 after it was taken to court by the European Commission.

The original Act had only given women a right to equal pay with men doing the same work or in the same grade as them.

The right to equal pay for work of equal value allowed women to challenge lower pay for jobs that were seen as 'women's work' compared to 'men's work' of a similar level of skill, effort or responsibility.

Many landmark cases followed: cooks comparing themselves with craftsmen; cleaners and dinner ladies getting equal pay with refuse collectors; and speech therapists getting equal pay with clinical psychologists.

EU law also helped women working part-time gain equal pay and benefits compared to full-timers (on a pro-rata basis).

It ruled that to give them less would be indirect sex discrimination as mainly women work part-time.

This led to about 400,000 part-time women workers in the UK gaining an occupational pension for the first time.

Rights to paid time off for antenatal appointments and strong duties on employers to protect pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers from harm in the workplace were introduced in the UK as a result of EU law.

EU law also guarantees women a minimum period of maternity leave, a right to return to the same job and protection from dismissal or any other unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy or maternity.

Rights for parents and carers to take time off in an emergency and for parents to take 18 weeks' unpaid parent al leave per child also have their origins in EU law. In the UK, one in 10 working parents of pre-school children (and one in five single parents) rely on parental leave each year.

And nearly one in four parents take time off to deal with emergencies like a child falling ill or childcare arrangements breaking down.

There would be a great deal of uncertainty following a vote for Brexit.

But a government that is keen on cutting 'burdens on business' would be unlikely to leave workers' rights intact.

Rights that are kept after Brexit may be made less effective. For example, EU law says that compensation for victims of sex discrimination must not be capped.

But Conservative MPs and advisers have said that they want to limit discrimination awards. And the limit on unfair dismissal compensation (which is not protected in EU law) has recently been lowered.

Many of the improvements in working women's rights have come from EU case law – court rulings that then had to be followed in similar cases across all member states.

But if Britain left the EU, the UK government would be free to override any judgement that improved workers' rights.

And if we left the EU, British women would not benefit from any future gains.

For example, a new consultation of trade unions and employers has just begun at EU level on a new package of rights to improve work/life balance, including proposals for carers' leave, flexible working and stronger protections from dismissal for new mothers.

For more referendum information from the TUC click here.

On 23 June British voters will decide if Britain should continue its membership of the European Union or leave. Make sure you are registered to vote. Click here to register. Registering usually only takes 5 minutes.