Women's Views on News |
| Pai undercover: another chilling revelation Posted: 10 Aug 2016 01:26 PM PDT
Hsiao-Hung Pai‘s third book, ‘Invisible: Britain’s Migrant Sex Workers’, published in 2013, focused on the story of two migrant sex workers in the United Kingdom. Pai worked undercover as a maid in brothels in Burnley, Lancashire, Bedford, and Finchley and Stratford in London, as part of her research for Invisible. And she wrote about Ming and Beata. They do not speak the same language nor the share the same cultural background, yet their stories are remarkably similar. Both were single mothers in their thirties and both came to Britain in search of a new life: Ming from China and Beata from Poland. Neither imagined that their journey would end in a British brothel. In her chilling exposé, Pai unveils the terrible reality of the British sex trade, where workers are trapped and controlled. Pai was previously best known for her book ‘Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain’s Hidden Army of Labour‘ which was short-listed for the 2009 Orwell Prize. Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Chinese immigrants in Britain travelled here to get away from desperate poverty, and since they are undocumented, they have to keep their heads down – and they work themselves to the bone. Pai went undercover to write this book too, in order to hear the stories of this hidden workforce, and revealed a scary, shadowy world where human beings are exploited in ways largely unimaginable. The shocking lack of freedoms these almost invisible stratas of society suffer is both shocking and scandalous and at odds with the idea of a modern Britain in the twenty-first century. And for ‘Scattered Sand: The Story of China’s Rural Migrants‘, which won her the Bread and Roses Award in 2013, she travelled across China to uncover the exploitation of workers at locations as diverse as Olympic construction sites and brick kilns in the Yellow River region, the factories of the Pearl River Delta and the suicide-ridden Foxconn complex. To write the book published as ‘Angry White People: Coming Face-to-face with the British Far Right’, Pai, an ‘inscrutable foreigner’, followed a group of individuals who got caught up in the wave of far right street movements that began in 2009. For remarks like ‘They’ve taken over our culture and our way of life’, ‘Britain for whites only’, ‘Islam is Britain’s biggest problem’, shocking as they are, are not strange words in Britain today, and the irate faces of far right street mobs are currently not strangers to our screens. Among those Pai followed are Darren, who took part in the formation of the English Defence League (EDL) but who left it after two years of activism; a Reading-based activist nicknamed Viking, who once occupied the cathedral in Derby in order to assert his right to carry a sword, and Tommy Robinson, founder of the EDL, who Pai saw ‘change from a young, foul-mouthed Luton lad to a suited and booted Oxford Union guest speaker’. Delving deep into the day-to-day of the most marginalised section of the white working-class, Pai uncovered that their ideologies are not an aberration in modern British society. On the contrary, not only are they very much a part of it, but they are constantly reproduced, rejuvenated and mainstreamed by the media and the powers that be. While the other people she has written about are – still – totally ignored.  |
| Sexual harassment at work still an issue Posted: 10 Aug 2016 01:20 PM PDT
More than half (52 per cent) of women, and nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of women aged 18-24 years old, said they have experienced sexual harassment at work, according to new research from the TUC and the Everyday Sexism Project that has just been published. The study is the largest of its kind for a generation and cited by leading academic Dr Jane Pilliger as one of the most extensive pieces of research on sexual harassment at work in Europe. It was carried out by YouGov and is based on the opinions of women who are working or who have ever had a job, and agreed to be surveyed about this topic and taken from an overall sample of British adults. Sexual harassment at work can take many forms, from suggestive remarks, jokes about a colleague's sex life, circulating pornography, to inappropriate touching, hugging or kissing, or demands for sexual favours. The study revealed that of those surveyed: nearly one in three (32 per cent) of women have been subject to unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature while at work; more than one in four (28 per cent) of women have been the subject of comments of a sexual nature about their body or clothes at work; nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of women have experienced unwanted touching – like a hand on the knee or lower back at work; a fifth (20 per cent) of women have experienced unwanted verbal sexual advances at work; and around one in eight (12 per cent) women have experienced unwanted sexual touching or attempts to kiss them at work. In the vast majority of cases (88 per cent), the perpetrator of the sexual harassment was male, and nearly one in five (17 per cent) women reported that it was their line manager, or someone with direct authority over them. The survey, published in a joint report with the Everyday Sexism Project called ‘Still just a bit of banter?’, also finds that around four out of five (79 per cent) women who said they experienced sexual harassment at work did not tell their employer about what was happening. Of this group, some thought reporting it would impact negatively on their relationships at work (28 per cent) or on their career prospects (15 per cent), while others were too embarrassed to talk about it (20 per cent) or felt they would not be believed or taken seriously (24 per cent). The study is also the first to include the opinion of women who identify as black, minority and ethnic origin (BME) who say they have been harassed at work. More than half (52 per cent) said they had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. To read ‘Still just a bit of banter?’ click here. The TUC’s General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, said: "How many times do we still hear that sexual harassment in the workplace is just a bit of 'banter'? "Let's be clear – sexual harassment is undermining, humiliating and can have a huge effect on mental health. Victims are often left feeling ashamed and frightened. "It has no place in a modern workplace, or in wider society. "Employers must be clear they have a zero tolerance attitude to sexual harassment and treat any complaint seriously. "It's a scandal that so few women feel their bosses are dealing with the issue properly. "Anyone worried about inappropriate behaviour at work should join a union to make sure they are protected and respected at work." The TUC and the Everyday Sexism Project are calling on the government to take action against sexual harassment and adopt a series of measures including: Abolishing employment tribunal fees to give more people access to justice – it currently costs £1,200 to take a case to court; reinstating provisions in the Equality Act which placed a duty on employers to protect workers from third party harassment – perpetrators of sexual harassment are often customers, clients or patients, who women working in sectors like retail, hospitality, healthcare, care and transport deal with on a daily basis. They currently have little protection from their employer when facing harassment, so reintroducing a duty on employers to act where an employee is being harassed by a third party would be an important step in tackling workplace sexual harassment; Giving employment tribunals the power to make wider recommendations – employment tribunals used to have the power to make recommendations for the benefit of the wider workforce, not just the individual claimant, in relation to discrimination claims. In workplaces where a culture of harassment has been allowed to flourish or where organisations have failed to respond adequately to complaints of harassment, the power to make wider recommendations would be of great benefit; Giving union equality reps full recognition and facility time; and Extending the full range of statutory employment rights to all workers, regardless of employment status or type of contract, to ensure that women on zero-hours contracts or agency workers are protected in the workplace. The TUC has also published a ‘Know Your Rights’ leaflet about sexual harassment, which is available here, and a guide for union reps, which is available here. The TUC also wants employers to take the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace seriously and to ensure robust policies and training are in place to protect staff. In response to these findings, the Everyday Sexism Project is launching a new platform, www.shoutingback.org.uk which will bring together in one place for the first time information about legal rights, reporting options and available support for women experiencing workplace sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination and abuse. Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, said: "Many people would like to think that workplace sexual harassment is a thing of the past. "In reality, it is alive and well, and having a huge impact on tens of thousands of women's lives. "These findings reveal the shameful extent of the problem and the reality of the touching, unwanted advances, and inappropriate comments women find themselves confronted with while simply trying to do their jobs. "This is shameful behaviour that has no place in 2016 and employers need to take urgent action to tackle the problem." You are protected from sexual harassment in the workplace by the Equality Act 2010, the TUC points out. It does not matter how long you have worked for your employer or whether you are a permanent employee, an apprentice or trainee, on a fixed-term contract or supplied by an agency, you are still protected by this legislation.  |
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