Women's Views on News |
| Posted: 27 Jan 2017 09:54 AM PST
Money makes the world go round: but what is it really? And how is it produced? Above all, who controls its production, and in whose interests? Money is never a neutral medium of exchange. Political economist Ann Pettifor and journalist Ellie Mae O'Hagan will be discussing history's most misunderstood invention: the money system – and a system that is dominated by men – on 16 February. While women are largely responsible for managing household budgets, they have on the whole been excluded from managing the nation's financial system and its budgets. And at present the networks that dominate the financial sector are overwhelmingly male, and often shockingly sexist. Their dismissive attitude towards half the population and their enjoyment of an unequal distribution of knowledge are not coincidental. The creation and management of society's money does not currently loom large in contemporary feminism. But it is a feminist issue, and it is central to the liberation of women from the servitude of unpaid work. Pettifor is a political economist, perhaps best known for correctly predicting the Global Financial Crises in several publications including 'Coming soon: The new poor' and 'The coming first world debt crisis' and for leading the international movement for the cancellation of debts, Jubilee 2000. In her new, ‘accessible, brilliantly argued’ book, 'The Production of Money: How to Break the Power of the Bankers' Pettifor explains in straightforward terms history's most misunderstood invention: the money system. Money: what is it really? And how is it produced? Above all, who controls its production, and in whose interests? Money is never a neutral medium of exchange. Nor are bankers simply go-betweens for savers and borrowers. Pettifor argues that democracies can reclaim control over money production and subordinate the out-of-control finance sector to the interests of society, and also the ecosystem. She also examines and assesses popular alternative debates on, and innovations in, money: positive money, helicopter money and the rise of goldbugs. And she sets out the possibility of linking the money in our pockets (or on our smartphones) to the change we want to see in the world around us. ‘The Production of Money: How to Break the Power of the Bankers’ will be published by Verso Books on 7 February. Ellie Mae O’Hagan, the co-founder of the Words by Women Awards, is an editor at openDemocracy, and writes for the Guardian, the New York Times, the Independent and the Times, among others, and has appeared on Woman’s Hour, Newsnight and Channel 4 News. Tickets for ‘Money is a Feminist Issue: Ann Pettifor and Ellie Mae O’Hagan’, which is being held at the London Review Bookshop at 7pm on 16 February 2017, are available here.  |
| Labour, Brexit and women’s rights Posted: 27 Jan 2017 09:41 AM PST
Theresa May has now published Article 50 legislation – the Bill to start the UK’s disentanglement from the European Union – in preparation for MPs’ votes. MPs have been given just five days to debate it – and try to amend it. The Bill, which is only eight lines long and contains just 130 words, was published this week after the Supreme Court ruled that MPs and peers must give their consent to invoking Article 50. The government aims for the Bill to have cleared the House of Lords by early March. Labour has tabled a number of targeted amendments to the Article 50 Bill (the European Union [Notification of Withdrawal] Bill). Their amendments seek to improve the Brexit process, and ensure Parliament is able to hold the government to account throughout the negotiations. Labour is also tabling an anti-tax haven amendment to ensure the Prime Minister does not use Brexit to weaken Britain's laws concerning tax avoidance and evasion. Labour will also support two amendments drafted by Melanie Onn MP which aim to protect workers' rights and ensure there is no drop in employment protection after the UK leaves the European Union (EU). Labour has said the amendments will: i) Allow a meaningful vote in Parliament on the final Brexit deal. Labour's amendment would ensure that the House of Commons has the first say on any proposed deal and that the consent of Parliament would be required before the deal is referred to the European Council and Parliament. ii) Establish a number of key principles the government must seek to negotiate during the process, including protecting workers' rights, securing full tariff and impediment free access to the Single Market. iii) Ensure there is robust and regular Parliamentary scrutiny by requiring the Secretary of State to report to the House at least every two months on the progress being made on negotiations throughout the Brexit process. iv) Guarantee legal rights for EU nationals living in the UK. Labour has repeatedly called for the government to take this step, and this amendment would ensure EU citizens' rights are not part of the Brexit negotiations. v) Require the government to consult regularly with the governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland throughout Brexit negotiations. Labour's amendment would put the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) on a statutory footing and require the UK government to consult the JMC at least every two months. vi) Require the government to publish impact assessments conducted since the referendum of any new proposed trading relationship with the EU. This amendment seeks to ensure there is much greater clarity on the likely impact of the government's decision to exit the Single Market and seek a new relationship with the Customs Union. vii) Ensure the government must seek to retain all existing EU tax avoidance and evasion measures post-Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said: "Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the government using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. Our country can do much better than that. "We respect the will of the British people, but not the will of this Tory government to impose fewer rights at work and worse public services, while the largest corporations pay even less tax. "Labour will ensure that the British people, through Parliament, have genuine accountability and oversight over the Brexit negotiations because no one voted to give Prime Minister Theresa May a free hand over our future." The Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, Keir Starmer, said: "Now that Parliament has the right to trigger Article 50, we need to ensure there is proper grip and accountability built into the process. "Labour's amendments will also seek to ensure the Prime Minister secures the best deal for the whole country – including tariff and impediment free access to the Single Market and that there is no drop in workers' rights. "Labour's amendments will significantly improve the government's Bill – in particular by ensuring the House of Commons has the first say on the final Brexit deal and that there are regular opportunities to hold the government to account. "Labour's amendments will also seek to ensure the Prime Minister secures the best deal for the whole country – including tariff and impediment free access to the Single Market and that there is no drop in workers' rights. “We will also vigorously oppose any plans to reduce powers to tackle tax avoidance or evasion. "The Article 50 Bill will be the start, not the end, of the Brexit process and Labour will hold the government to account all the way." And Melanie Onn MP, who has tabled two amendments, with Frontbench support, on workers' rights, said: "The Tories can't be allowed to use Brexit as an excuse to water-down people's rights at work. "That's why I am introducing amendments to protect in British law all workers' rights which originate from the EU, including maternity pay, equal rights for agency and part-time workers, and the working time directive."  |
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