Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 01 Jul 2016 09:36 AM PDT
The events of the last few weeks have left many people feeling angry, scared, shocked and sad. And one event, the shooting in Orlando on 12 June, reminded LGBT people, supporting campaign groups and the rest of us that despite huge strides in legal equality for parts of the community, LGBT people are still the subject of hate and violence. And that where discrimination is allowed to persist, the consequences can be huge. Stonewall was founded in 1989 by a small group of people who had been active in the struggle against the then Conservative government's introduction of and support for Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Section 28 was an offensive piece of legislation designed to prevent the so-called ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools; but as well as stigmatising lesbian, gay and bi people it galvanised the LGBT community and their friends. The aim of forming Stonewall was from the outset to create a professional lobbying group that would prevent such attacks on lesbians, gay and bi people from ever occurring again. Stonewall has subsequently put the case for equality on the mainstream political agenda by winning support within all the main political parties and now has offices in England, Scotland and Wales. Some major successes of resulting from Stonewall's campaigning and lobbying include helping achieve the equalisation of the age of consent, lifting the ban on LGB people serving in the military, securing legislation which allowed same-sex couples to adopt – and the repeal of Section 28. More recently Stonewall has helped secure civil partnerships and then same-sex marriage, and ensured that the recent Equality Act protected lesbian, gay and bi people in terms of goods and services. Stonewall is here to let all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, here and abroad, know they are not alone. And now Brexit. Regardless of what your personal view is, it seems inevitable that things will change. We can't know whether leaving the EU will have an impact on human rights and equality legislation, but Stonewall will be watching developments closely and acting to protect and defend LGBT rights if they see them threatened. The referendum campaign has highlighted divisions that have built up between different communities over many years. Hate crime reporting has increased since the referendum result for many different groups and in many different locations. But we must remember that hate affects everyone, because where you see homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, you are also likely to see other forms of social exclusion, discrimination and prejudice, whether that's because of faith, gender, ethnicity, disability, age, nationality or anything else that makes us different. Now more than ever it is up to all of us to work with our neighbours, colleagues and friends to challenge those fears and set out a different path, where everyone is accepted for who they are. Ruth Hunt, chief executive of Stonewall, speaking about Brexit, said: "I can't offer a view on what it will mean for LGBT people because, frankly, I don't know yet. No one does. "What I do know is that the same things continue to be at the front of Stonewall's agenda today as they were yesterday: eliminating homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools, new laws for trans equality, support for LGBT communities abroad, working with employers to make their workplaces more inclusive, supporting LGBT asylum seekers and those in detention, and working across the country to create a culture that enables LGBT people to live freely and equally, without fear of hate crime." There are many ways each of us can help promote acceptance and cohesion in the coming months. To see how you can get involved with Stonewall’s programmes and campaigns click here. To find out more about what hate crime is, and 10 reasons why you really should report it, click here. If you feel threatened, call 999.  |
| Changes to prostitution laws recommended Posted: 01 Jul 2016 09:31 AM PDT
The Home Affairs Committee has published an interim report on prostitution saying that soliciting by sex workers and the sharing of premises by sex workers should be decriminalised. The Committee said the Home Office should immediately change existing legislation so that soliciting is no longer an offence and brothel-keeping laws allow sex workers to share premises, without losing the ability to prosecute those who use brothels to control or exploit sex workers. And there must be zero tolerance of the organised criminal exploitation of sex workers. The Home Office, the Committee said, should also legislate to delete previous convictions and cautions for prostitution from the record of sex workers, as these records make it much more difficult for people to move out of prostitution into other forms of work if they wish to. This inquiry will continue looking at issues related to changing the laws on buying sex. The Committee will be seeking further evidence on the impacts of the recently introduced sex buyer laws in Northern Ireland and France, and the model of regulation used in New Zealand, to make a better assessment for its final report. The laws on prostitution need ultimately to be reconsidered in the round, not least to give the police much more clarity on where their priorities should lie and how to tackle the exploitation and trafficking associated with the sex industry. Trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation is an important and separate issue from prostitution involving consenting adults, the Committee said. It is too early to assess the impact of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 on levels of trafficking, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identified 248 victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in the first three months of the Act’s operation, compared to 1,139 in 2014. Despite the obvious difficulties involved in getting data on an essentially covert industry, the Committee is “dismayed” at the poor quality of information available about the extent and nature of prostitution in England and Wales. Without a proper evidence base, the government cannot make informed decisions about the effectiveness of current legislation and policies, and cannot target funding and support interventions effectively. The Committee called on the Home Office to commission an in-depth research study on the current extent and nature of prostitution in England and Wales, within the next 12 months. Keith Vaz MP, chair of the Committee, said: “This is the first time that Parliament has considered the issue of prostitution in the round for decades. It is a polarising subject with strong views on all sides. “This interim report will be followed by final recommendations, when we consider other options, including the different approaches adopted by other countries. “As a first step, there has been universal agreement that elements of the present law are unsatisfactory. “Treating soliciting as a criminal offence is having an adverse effect, and it is wrong that sex workers, who are predominantly women, should be penalised and stigmatised in this way. “The criminalisation of sex workers should therefore end. “The current law on brothel keeping also means sex-workers can be too afraid of prosecution to work together at the same premises, which can often compromise their safety. “There must however be zero tolerance of the organised criminal exploitation of sex workers, and changes to legislation should not lessen the Home Office’s ability to prosecute those engaged in exploitation. “The Committee will evaluate a number of the alternative models as this inquiry continues, including the sex-buyers law as operated in Sweden, the full decriminalised model used in Denmark, and the legalised model used in Germany and the Netherlands.” To read the report, click here.  |
| Posted: 01 Jul 2016 06:11 AM PDT
This year the Women Chainmakers' Festival, to be held on 2 July, will again take place on Cradley Heath, in the West Midlands. The first trade festival dedicated to female trade unionists and has been running for over a decade, it was inspired by the 1910 struggle for a minimum wage for the mostly female chainmakers of Cradley Heath which was led by Mary Macarthur. In 1910 there were 3,500 chain makers working in small shops in the Cradley and Cradley Heath district. Two thirds of them were women. Tired of working day and night for starvation wages, the women chainmakers downed their hammers and stood up for their right to earn a living wage. In March 1910 the Chain Trade Board agreed a minimum wage of 2½d an hour to replace the old piecework system. Although this was low it meant a 100 per cent rise for most of the women, giving them 10 to 11 shillings (50 pence) for a 55-hour week. Many companies did not keep to this and tricked women – many of whom could not read or write – into consenting to a contracting out of this agreement. The women, led by the founder of the National Federation of Women Workers, Mary Macarthur, began a 10-week strike and successfully established the right to a minimum wage. Macarthur was born in Glasgow in 1880 and moved to London in 1903 where she became Secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League. She is perhaps best known for founding the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) in 1906. She was especially concerned about the relationship between low wages and women’s lack of organisation. She sat on the executive of the Anti-Sweating League and gave evidence to the select committee on homework in 1908. The chainmakers' landmark victory changed the lives of thousands of workers who were earning little more than starvation wages. Small chain making was the first industry to obtain minimum wage legislation, and local people, rightly, look back on the part they played in this campaign with pride. Thanks to the arrival of Pathé news in June 1910, the scandal of the women’s sweated labour attracted world-wide interest and sympathy from influential people who gave their support to the cause. Macarthur was the trade unionist who led this fight for better pay, and said that “women are unorganised because they are badly paid, and poorly paid because they are unorganised. Mary Macarthur also campaigned for a legal minimum wage and she stood as a Labour candidate in Stourbridge in the 1918 General Election but was defeated. The TUC‘s Midlands Regional Secretary, Lee Barron, said: "We are delighted that we have leading trade unionists and politicians joining us for this year's Women Chainmakers' Festival. "It is absolutely right that we celebrate the role of female trade unionists and to use events such as the Chainmakers' Festival to continue to raise awareness of the challenges facing women today. "In 2015 we brought the Chainmakers' Festival home to the heart of the dispute – Cradley Heath High Street and it proved a real hit. "I am really looking forward to another fantastic street festival, right in the heart of the community again this year. "There is a superb line up of entertainment so I urge people to come along and have a great day." The day will be a packed family fun day of music, comedy, street theatre, speeches, stalls, children's activities and a fun fair. Activity will be split between two sites, with activities taking place on Cradley Heath High Street and the day culminating in a ‘Workers' Picnic’ in Mary Macarthur Gardens.  |
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