What can we change on May 22

Less than a third of councillors and MEPs are women.

According to the Fawcett Society just 32 per cent of England’s councillors and MEPs, only 13 per cent of elected mayors and just 12 per cent of council leaders are women.

The proportion of female councillors has not increased in the last ten years.

The figure for council leaders has dropped from 16 per cent in 2004.

The situation is even worse in Wales, where only 27 per cent of councillors are women, and in Scotland, where women account for less than a quarter of councillors; 24 per cent.

But even this is an better than women’s representation in the UK Parliament, which currently stands at 22 per cent.

This means the UK was ranked 65 out of 147 in a recent list of women in national parliaments compiled by the Interparliamentary Union. Only Ireland and Italy have a lower number of women in the European 

Parliament than Britain.

On 22 May elections will take place across the UK to elect 73 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

There will also be Local Elections in 162 English local authorities including 32 London boroughs, 36 metropolitan boroughs, 74 shire districts and 20 unitary districts.

Mayoral elections will take place in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.

There are no local elections in Scotland or Wales, but, following a major reorganisation of local government, there will be elections for 11 new shadow councils in Northern Ireland on the same day.

So how are women likely to fare?

The Hansard Society says the number of UK female MEPs should increase after the election because women have been placed high up on the main party’s lists.

According to Paola Buonadonna, writing in the Feminist Times 44 per cent of Labour and of Green Party candidates in the forthcoming European elections are women, 26 per cent of the Liberal Democrats' candidates, 22 per cent of the Conservative party's candidates and 18 per cent of UKIPs.

The European Union has been promoting equality between men and women since its inception, enshrining the goal of equal pay for men and women in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, Buonadonna, who is 

Media Director for the pro-EU membership campaign British Influence, pointed out.

A Directive on Equal Pay, she continued, was finally passed in 1975 to be followed by dozens of other pieces of EU legislation – against discrimination at work or in accessing services, combating violence, sexual harassment and people trafficking, establishing maternity rights and parental leave.

The EU funds national campaigns against gender-based violence and, in the last 7 years, has spent some €3.2 billion on Structural Funds to provide childcare and promote women’s participation in the labour market in Europe’s most economically depressed areas.

And, she added, the EU also promotes gender equality all over the wold with its humanitarian actions and through its trade agreements.

Regarding the local elections, WVoN contacted all four main political parties and none of them could tell us what proportion of their candidates in the council elections were women, so they are clearly not monitoring and tracking the numbers of women coming through at local level.

This is disappointing, because, as the Fawcett Society says, local government wields a lot of power.

“Not only is it [local council election] one of the key routes into Westminster, local government spending makes up a quarter of all public spending – over a £100 billion,” Fawcett has pointed out.

“Ongoing cuts to local government spending are having hugely disproportionate impact on women, undermining access to key services such as childcare, social care and special services for victims of violence against women.

“A lack of female voices around local decision-making tables will only exacerbate this situation.”

Fawcett argues that most councillors do not earn enough to live on from their local authority roles, so they must also have a job, unless they are retired or independently wealthy.

But council meetings take place at difficult times, making it hard for those in work or with caring responsibilities to fit them in.

Fawcett believes this current system should change, and councillors should have access to more flexible working arrangements.

And since the abolition of the Standards Board in 2012, councillors have no independent body to report allegations of sexism to, and so councillors are left to 'investigate' themselves.

Fawcett is calling on the government to establish an independent body to ensure some moral code for elected officials is upheld.

Fawcett is also urging its supporters to vote.

To help you find out more about the elections in your locality, Fawcett has set up a link to help you find your local authority website, and see who is standing for election.

Fawcett has also put together a list of #vote4equality questions which you can Tweet or email if you want to find out what each candidate, or the candidate you might choose, has to say on issues which include asking for a commitment that they will defend specialist women only services like Rape Crisis centres, and asking them to re-open Surestart Centres that have been closed in recent years.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 16 May 2014.

Women in close combat for and against

Defence Secretary may allow women in roles where they engage with and kill the enemy.

Last week the Ministry of Defence announced that it was bringing forward a review into whether women in the Armed Forces should be allowed to serve in close combat roles.

The review will look at whether women can serve in the infantry or in the Royal Armoured Corps in the army, roles where they would be required 'to close with' - and kill  - the enemy.

The Ministry now expects to reach a decision on the matter by the end of the year.

The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, said: “Our experience in Afghanistan has highlighted the increasingly important contribution women are making to operations.

“It is now sensible to review the army’s approach to the employment of female soldiers in the combat arms of the army: the Royal Armoured Corps and the infantry.

“The key factor informing this judgement,” he said, “will be the delivery of operational effectiveness.”

The Ministry of Defence last reviewed this policy in 2010 and concluded that there was ‘no evidence to show that a change in current policy would be beneficial or risk-free.’  A decision was made to maintain the then current position.

“There is no question that some women would be able to meet the standard required of personnel performing in close combat roles, both physically and psychologically.

“The key issue is the potential impact of having both men and women serving together in small teams.

“Under the conditions of high-intensity, close-quarter battle, team cohesion becomes of much greater importance; its failure having potentially grave and far-reaching consequences.

“None of the research that has been done has been able to conclusively answer the key question of the impact that gender mixing would have on the combat team in close combat conditions,” an MOD statement said.

The UK's Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, said last week that he had brought the review forward from 2018 “not because there are thousands of women desperate to join the combat arms, but because of the message that the Army is not fully open to women who can meet the fitness and other requirements - the message that sends to women who might be looking to join other parts of our military.

“We won't compromise on the fitness that we require for people to be able to keep themselves safe and to do their job effectively.

“That will obviously mean that some roles will have limited numbers of women,” he added.

Which means women will be required to carry 63 kilos of kit into a combat zone.

The announcement has received mixed reactions from women.

Barbara Ellen, writing in the Observer, said: “It seems to me that Hammond should be less concerned with the message being sent out, and more about addressing the key issues surrounding women in direct combat, some of which cannot be dismissed as mere chauvinism.

“For a start, Hammond needs to be more specific about these "fitness levels", currently reputed to be so punishingly high as to be out of the reach of most men.

“Does the fact that so few women could realistically acquire this ultra-alpha "male" brand of fitness mean that their combat numbers would end up being tokenistic?

The training, she remarked, would be “offered to deter outside criticism regarding sexism, but would women who didn't succeed at the male-oriented tests be dismissed as failures who couldn't hack it?

“Conversely, if standards were altered to accommodate female difference (please note, not 'inferiority' but 'difference'), would this result in placing effectively under-trained women and their colleagues at even greater risk?”

She is also concerned that women in close combat roles would still be unusual and represent a ‘warped kind of trophy’ - and be exposed to rape.

Perhaps the MOD would be better spending its time looking at the criteria it uses to select people for close combat roles and the Special Forces and their relevance to the job, instead of worrying that women will upset the ‘cohesion’ of team engaged in combat.

And women would undoubtedly be at risk of rape in the field of battle.

But women who take on these roles would be fully aware of the risks and would eventually play a part in challenging them.

Excluding women is not the answer.

Story published in Women's Views on News,  15 May 2014.

Women less optimistic about economic recovery than men

YouGov infographic shows gender gap in confidence in economic recovery widening.

Recent good news about the economy seems to be leaving women cold, according to statistics released the polling organisation YouGov.

YouGov has been asking respondents how they thought the financial situation of their household would change over the next 12 months since 2011.

While men’s financial expectations have moved from net minus 46 per cent from 2011 to minus 13 per cent in to 2014, women’s expectations have moved improved from minus 54 per cent to minus 27 per cent in the same period.

The gap between men’s and women’s expectations is widening as women are now 10 per cent more likely to say their finances will be worse in a years’ time than men's when in previous years the gap was 7 per cent.

These trends are also reflected in women’s approval of the government’s handling of the economy.

Men’s approval of the government’s ongoing economic record went up from minus 16 per cent in 2011 to minus 1 per cent in 2014, women’s approval rating on the economy currently stands at minus 14 per cent, up from minus 24 per cent in 2011.

YouGov offers a number of possible explanations:

Firstly, women have been hit harder by benefit cuts.

Secondly, they are - were - more likely to work in the public sector, which has experienced cuts and job losses.

And thirdly, they are more likely to be hit hard by recessions generally as many women tend to occupy low skilled, insecure jobs which are the first to suffer.

Story published in Women's Views on News, 2 May 2014. 

Tenth country signs Istanbul Convention

Call for UK to ratify European treaty on violence against women.

Last week Andorra became the tenth country to sign the European Treaty on Violence Against Women and Girls. Denmark followed days later.

Which means it will soon be legally binding on the countries who have ratified it.

The treaty will be legally binding on all 11 countries from August this year now that it has been ratified by the required ten countries, eight of which had to be members of the Council of Europe.

The treaty is a ‘comprehensive legal framework’ aimed at preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators.

The treaty characterises violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination.

It states, in its Article 5, that countries should exercise due diligence when preventing violence, protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators.

The Convention defines gender as "the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men".

It sets out which offences states ratifying the convention must criminalise including: psychological violence; stalking; physical violence; sexual violence, including rape, forced marriage; female genital mutilation; forced abortion and forced sterilisation.

Sexual harassment must be subject to "criminal or other legal sanction".

The Convention also includes an article targeting ‘honour based’ crimes.

Countries ratifying the treaty must also establish services such as hotlines, shelters, medical services, counselling and legal aid.

Known as the Istanbul Convention, it is the first European treaty aimed specifically at combating violence against women and girls.

“This is a defining moment for women in Europe for whom the home is a place of danger,” said Gauri van Gulik, global women’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch.

“This treaty will oblige governments to take concrete steps to help women and girls facing violent attacks.”

According to a survey of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency one in three women in the European Union has experienced some form of physical and/or sexual assault since they were aged 15.

Over half of the 43 Council of Europe member states, including the UK, have now signed the treaty – the first step in the process of ratification.

The UK signed the treaty in 2012, but has not yet ratified it. Women’s Aid and the TUC are among organisations campaigning for it to do so.

They argue the UK is still a long way from providing the level of services to women who have experienced violence that the treaty stipulates, and point to cuts in specialist provision and support to voluntary organisations providing support to women in recent years.

The UK would also have to show it was tackling the root causes of violence against women namely sexism and gender stereotyping.

“Ratifying the Istanbul Convention will send a clear signal that the UK will not tolerate violence against women and be a vital step in moving towards a society that enables women to escape, cope and recover from violence,” wrote Claire Laxton, public policy manager for Women’s Aid.

Laxton urged supporters to sign this petition and encourage others to do the same.

Story pbulsihed in Women's Views on News, April 28, 2014.

Older women need flexible working

More older women are long-term unemployed and fewer working flexible hours.

Older women are falling further behind in the jobs market, two leading UK charities claim.

Analysis by Age UK and Carers UK found that while the total number of people working has grown steadily over the last two years, the significant fall in the number of older women in jobs indicates that many want to work but can’t find suitable employment.

Age UK looked at the Labour Force Survey and found that long-term unemployment among women aged 50-64 rose from 34.5 per cent in 2010 to 40.7 per cent in 2012 – an increase of nearly a fifth.

And in 2012, 36.8 per cent of women worked flexibly, down from 38.3 per cent in 2010.

The charities say that caring commitments - for ageing parents, children and grandchildren - prevent many older women from working traditional hours.

They say that as a result women find themselves locked out of the jobs market and the result is the fall in the numbers working flexibly.

Age UK and Carers UK believe improving opportunities to work flexibly could help many of these unemployed women find work.

A recent TUC report  found that almost half of women over 50 are in part-time work with average wages of less than £10,000.

The report argued that many of these women could only take part-time jobs because of their caring responsibilities which thus trapped them in low wage jobs.

The Labour Party set up a Commission on Older Women as part of its Policy Review.  It recently published its interim report calling for government-funded programmes targeted at helping older women back to work, for companies to conduct gender pay audits and for a public debate about whether parental leave could be shared with grandparents.

The government has committed itself to extending the right to request flexible working to all employees in June 2014.

The charities welcome this as an important first step, but believe that we should go further to encourage employers to promote and encourage flexibility in the workplace.

Flexible working can include a range of options, including working from home, doing flexitime or compressing hours, all of which can allow people to balance personal responsibilities with work.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK said, “We know that many older women especially are finding it impossible to hold down a full time job at the same time as fulfilling their caring responsibilities.

“In the end, many have to stop employment altogether or take a poorly paid part-time job, where their skills are often wasted and their income plummets.

“That’s why we need ‘Flexible by Default’, so that everyone can work flexibly unless their employer can justify otherwise to harness the wasted potential of many older women - and indeed older men.”

Heléna Herklots, chief executive of Carers UK, said: “1 in 4 women in their 50s and 60s have caring responsibilities, many struggling to combine paid work with supporting ageing parents or an ill partner.

“Unless carers can access flexibility at work and reliable care services at home they are at risk of being forced to give up work entirely, with serious costs not just to their family finances but also to their employer and the economy.”

Currently, only parents with children under the age of 16 and those with formal caring responsibilities can request flexible working.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 15 April 2014.

Post natal care vital

Royal College of Midwives launches campaign to improve care after childbirth.

Pressure Points is a new series of research reports from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) designed to highlight what they see as the shortcomings of post natal care in the UK.

The most recent report is called 24 hour signs and symptoms.

It focuses on how well mothers are being told, within 24 hours of the birth, of the signs and symptoms they need to look for in their own health and in the health of their new baby that should alert them to any need to seek medical attention.

The Royal College survey involved asking mothers, midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs), and they say the results they got back are ‘a concern’.

Only around a quarter of mothers (24 per cent), surveyed by Netmums, recalled being told about the signs and symptoms to look for, while almost a half (47 per cent) said they were definitely not told.

The RCM says women don’t get this information because midwives are overstretched and don’t have the time to give women the care they need - and deserve.

When surveyed by the RCM less than a quarter of midwives believed that the number of postnatal visits a woman received was determined by her needs; almost two thirds thought the number was determined by the pressures on their maternity unit.

Over a third of midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) said they wanted to spend more time with women at this crucial time.

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “It is clear that there is a great deal of frustration amongst maternity care staff because they want to do more but can’t because of the lack of numbers.

“It is clear that mothers, babies and families are being short-changed when it comes to postnatal care.

“Midwives want to give better care but can’t because there aren’t enough of them, especially in England, and resources are too thinly spread.”

The first report in the Pressure Points series focused on improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of new mothers.

The RCM is urging supporters to 'like' their campaign on Facebook, follow it on Twitter using the hashtag #pressurepoints and by sharing their infographic.

“Birth will always be special, but postnatal care is just as important to get right.

“Good maternal health and high quality maternity care throughout pregnancy and after birth can have a marked effect on the health and life chances of newborn babies, on the healthy development of children and on their resilience to health problems encountered later in life.

“Postnatal care is crucial in ensuring parents feel adequately supported and equipped with the skills and knowledge to give their baby the best possible start in life,” Warwick said.

“Please support our campaign to make sure that happens.”

Story published on Women's Views on News, 17 April 2014.