Women's Views on News |
| Girls’ mental health a growing concern Posted: 11 Oct 2016 02:22 PM PDT
Research conducted for the Department for Education (DfE) has revealed that the mental health of teenage girls in the UK has worsened in recent years. The research which compared the experiences and attitudes of teenagers in 2014 with those in 2005, found an increase in "psychological distress" and 37 per cent of girls feeling unhappy, worthless, or unable to concentrate. The figure for girls has risen by nearly four percentage points since 2005, while the figure for boys – 15 per cent – has fallen slightly. The rise was particularly noticeable in young people from single-parent households and those living with stepfamilies, and in teenagers with a long-standing illness or disability which affected their education. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, described the situation as "a slow-growing epidemic". "There definitely does seem to be something happening. Over the period covered by the report we have seen a very disturbing change in admissions to hospital for self-harm in under-16s that have gone up by 52 per cent," she said. The study linked the increase in psychological problems with changing technology, stating that the dominance of social media and widespread access to the internet on mobile phones represented a "major change in the lives of young people". It cannot be denied that social media is invasive and can have a negative impact on users’ mental health and self-esteem. Instagram, for example, is often described as a showreel of people’s lives, showing only the best, most attractive and highly edited moments. And of course, there is the constant and stifling pressure to conform to society’s homogenised beauty standards, a pressure that girls are aware of from primary school age. By the age of 10, almost a third of girls say that how their bodies look is their number one worry, and 10 is also the average age when children start dieting. The research found that social media and smartphones played a part in everything from bullying to lack of sleep and pressure on friendships and relationships. The mental health of young people in the UK has been getting worse for a number of years, and now seems to be accelerating. ChildLine held 34,517 counselling sessions in 2013/14 with children who talked about suicide – a 116 per cent increase since 2010/11. The number of children and teenagers who have presented to hospital A&Es with a psychiatric condition has more than doubled since 2009, and the number of hospital admissions throughout the UK for 13-19 year-olds with eating disorders has almost doubled in the last three years. A spokesman for the Department for Education told the Guardian: "Children’s mental health is a priority for this government and we know that intervening early can have a lasting impact. "We are putting a record £1.4bn into transforming the dedicated mental health support available to young people across the country and are working to strengthen the links between schools and mental health services. "We are also driving forward innovations to improve prevention and early support, by investing £1.5m on peer-support networks in schools so children feel empowered to help one another." Figures recently obtained by Labour MP Luciana Berger contradict this however. They revealed that mental health spending will be cut in many areas of Britain next year, and the spending gap between different areas will also widen. For example, Haringey’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will put 16 per cent of its budget towards mental health, whereas that figure will be just 5 per cent for West Hampshire. This will be the third year that the government has failed to meet its target of increased spending on mental health, a failure which Berger, who heads Labour’s mental health campaign, described as “dangerous”. Berger said: “Time and time again Ministers have promised that mental health spending would increase. “Yet for the third year in a row this has not happened, with a majority of local areas planning to spend less of their budget on mental health. “The result is services stretched to breaking point, patients at risk, and proper standards of care being undermined. “There are bed shortages, massive waiting lists and cuts to early education and community services.” While there is a vast number of fantastic mental health charities, such as Mind and Place2Be, doing life-changing work, they too are under immense pressure, and it should not be left to them to deal with the government’s failings. Young people in the UK should not be suffering like they are, and should be given the help and support they need as soon as possible – not six months down the line. We can only hope that the Department for Education pays attention to these new findings and does something to ease what is becoming an epidemic. But, given the government’s track record on mental health, it doesn’t look too likely. To read the full report, click here.  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2016 02:05 PM PDT
Women are being filmed, followed and intimidated on a daily basis by anti-abortion protesters standing directly outside clinics providing abortions in the UK. But, clearly, women should be able to access legal healthcare free from intimidation and harassment. And over the past few years there has been an escalation in this kind of anti-abortion activity outside clinics in the UK, with women attending pregnancy advice and abortion centres now regularly exposed to groups of anti-abortion activists standing directly outside. Many of these anti-abortion protesters carry large banners with pictures of dismembered foetuses, distribute leaflets containing misleading information about abortion, and follow and question women as they enter or leave the centres, and carry cameras, or have them strapped to their chests or positioned on a tripod. Not surprisingly, women trying to access a lawful healthcare service in confidence report feeling intimidated and distressed by this activity. Even staff at clinics have on occasion needed escorting from the building by the police. It even reached the point where staff on NHS premises where a clinic is located felt so intimidated by this kind of presence outside they asked for the abortion service the clinic provided to be withdrawn. Because this activity has been quite unusual there is no legislation in place that covers the scope of what is occurring outside clinics and that would allow the police to take effective action to prevent it. Appeals to the church leaders who support many of the people involved to reflect on the impact on women going in to a clinic for help have failed. That is why groups around Britain believe the time has come to act. Specific legislation is needed to ensure women can access pregnancy advice and abortion centres free from interference. The right to protest needs to be balanced with the right of pregnant women to obtain advice and treatment in confidence and free from intimidation. For those who wish to campaign to restrict women's reproductive choices, there are plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so. The space immediately outside clinics should not be one of them. This is not about closing down debate on abortion. Women accessing pregnancy advice and abortion services are not seeking debate – they are trying to make their own personal decision about their own pregnancy. Establishing protest-free zones outside centres would provide the reassurance and security women and healthcare staff need. A campaign calling for buffer zones is being led by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) and supported by dozens of organisations dedicated to the protection of women's health and rights. Please support the Back Off campaign to help achieve this goal. Please ask your MP to support the Back Off campaign and the call to create buffer zones outside British abortion clinics.  |
| The Guerrilla Girls visit London Posted: 11 Oct 2016 12:07 PM PDT
On 8 October the art collective Liberate Tate along with The Guerrilla Girls challenged the Tate art galleries to never again partner with any fossil fuel company once its controversial relationship with BP ends in early 2017. Liberate Tate, who have carried out a six year long series of unsanctioned art interventions in diverse Tate galleries over BP sponsorship, issued the challenge at Tate Modern from the Guerilla Girls' Complaints Department in the new Switch House building. The Guerrilla Girls are a group of female artists, writers, performers and arts professionals whose aim is to fight discrimination with humour, activism and art. As feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman, The Guerrilla Girls expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture. They are also the authors of stickers, billboards, many, many posters and street projects, and of several books including The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art and Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls’ Guide to Female Stereotypes. Part of Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK, they brainstorm with Greenpeace. The Tate has The Guerrilla Girls' Code of Ethics For Art Museums in its collection. In the installation on 8 October individuals and organisations were invited to post complaints about art, politics, the environment or other issues they care about. And the Tate was called upon to make the Fossil Funds Free commitment: a promise to not take any oil, coal, or gas corporate sponsorship. For more on the Complaints Department at the Tate click here. BP sponsorship of the Tate lasted just over 26 years. In February 2017 BP will be gone from the Tate with the end of the present contract. Already hundreds of institutions and artists, including some exhibited at the Tate, have signed up to be Fossil Funds Free. In July 2017 former BP CEO John Browne leaves as Tate's Board Chair. Liberate Tate are calling for the incoming Chair to have no ties to fossil fuels extraction so that the Tate's damaged reputation with artists and the climate-conscious public can be repaired after the poor judgements of the past, and the galleries can be part of the climate solution not part of the problem. The commitment is being coordinated by Platform London, who were also at the Tate on 8 October. Glen Tarman, of Liberate Tate, said: "In kicking BP out of Tate, the movement for fossil free culture has achieved something that appeared impossible. "We are now calling on [the] Tate to commit to not get into bed with a climate changing company ever again – to be 'Fossil Funds Free' for good." Artists, Tate visitors and art lovers everywhere are invited to join in and press the Tate to add oil companies to tobacco and arms manufacturers as companies never to be associated with. "If you agree that cultural institutions should not take sponsorship from oil companies in a time of climate change, make sure Tate and other museums you care about are part of a cultural world going fossil free for ever," Tarman said. On their present trip to London The Guerrilla Girls have one message on sponsorship and art museums promoting the oil industry. They said: "It's time to get out! "In an early poster of ours called The Code of Ethics for Art Museums, one of the commandments was: thou shalt not permit corporations to launder their image by funding exhibitions at major museums, until they cleaneth up their toxic waste dumps and oil slicks. "That was back in 1990, so we stated that problem early, and we stand by it." Platform campaigner Anna Galkina said: "Sponsorship masks BP's role in destroying indigenous lands, arming dictatorships and wrecking our climate. "That's why artists and art organisations are going Fossil Funds Free. [By] becoming free of BP, Tate can take this next step. We invite others across the world to join." The Fossil Funds Free commitment has so far been made by 400 artists, performers, and cultural organisations from around the world. They refuse to let their work be used to justify and promote dangerous fossil fuel extraction. To see the full list of signatories and for information on Fossil Funds Free click here. By creating an oil-free cultural sector, this movement aims to enable the transition to a liveable future without fossil fuels.  |
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