Women hit hard by council job cuts

Story published in Women's Views on News, March 29, 2012
Over two thirds of the 200,000 people who have lost jobs in English and Welsh local authorities since the last election are women, according to research by the GMB union.

According to the research, which is based on government figures, 146,690 women lost jobs in local government between June 2010 and December 2011, 68 per cent of the 210,470 jobs lost overall.

In some regions, such as the south east, women accounted for over three-quarters of the jobs lost, and in some councils like Slough, the number of women who lost their jobs exceeded the number of jobs lost overall.

But a spokeswoman for Slough Borough Council said: “The majority of the people working here are women.

“All our corporate directors, bar one, are women, our chief executive is a woman, all our policy team are women.”

Kamaljeet Jandu, GMB national officer for equalities, said the drop was entirely predictable because the public sector employed more women than men.

According to the Local Government Association, 75.8 per cent of all local government workers are women, and whilst male employment in councils fell by ten per cent between December 2010 and December 2011, 6.8 per cent of female workers lost their jobs.

Jandu said the drop in the number of women employed in the public sector represents a serious loss of income for their families.

“Many households depend on having income from two wage earners to pay the mortgage and the household bills.

“The impact will be even worse in the quarter of households with children that are headed by lone parents, 90 per cent of whom are women,” he said.

Women and girls jailed for fleeing abuse in Afghanistan

Story published in Womens Views on News, March 29, 2012

Human Rights Watch is calling on the Afghan government to release over 400 women it says have been imprisoned for ‘moral crimes’ like fleeing a forced marriage or domestic violence, or zina, sex outside of marriage,

The charity released a report yesterday called ”I had to run away“, which was conducted with 58 women and girls arrested for ‘moral crimes’ and jailed in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities in Afghanistan.

The authors estimate that almost all girls and over half of women in prison in Afghanistan have been accused of ‘moral crimes’.

“It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

“No one should be locked up for fleeing a dangerous situation even if it’s at home. President Karzai and Afghanistan’s allies should act decisively to end this abusive and discriminatory practice.”

Human Rights Watch says Afghan women face a justice system stacked against them.

They say that while running away, or fleeing home without permission, is not a crime under the Afghan criminal code, the Afghan Supreme Court has instructed its judges to treat women and girls who flee as criminals.

And while domestic violence was outlawed in 2009, police arrest women solely on a complaint of a husband or relative.

Prosecutors ignore evidence that supports women’s assertions of innocence. Judges often convict solely on the basis of “confessions” given in the absence of lawyers and “signed” without having been read to women who cannot read or write.

After conviction, women routinely face long prison sentences, in some cases more than 10 years.

Arabic divorce laws make the situation worse, as a man can simply declare himself divorced, but for a woman the process is much more difficult.

“Courts send women to prison for dubious ‘crimes’ while the real criminals – their abusers –walk free,” Roth said.

“Even the most horrific abuses suffered by women seem to elicit nothing more than a shrug from prosecutors, despite laws criminalizing violence against women.”

This sends a clear message to others enduring abuse that seeking help from the government is likely to result in punishment, not rescue

“The Afghan government and its international partners should act urgently to protect women’s rights and to ensure there is no backsliding,”  said Roth.

“President Karzai, the United States, and others should finally make good on the bold promises they made to Afghan women a decade ago by ending imprisonment for ‘moral crimes,’ and actually implementing their stated commitment to support women’s rights,” he said.

Republicans try to block extension of services for victims of domestic violence

Story published on Womens Views on News, March 15, 2012

A new row over women’s rights threatens to engulf the US legislature - this time it’s about domestic violence.

Democratic Senate members are pushing to extend the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, so that it extends funding to reach Indian tribes and rural areas.

It would increase the availability of free legal assistance, extend the definition of violence against women to include stalking, provide training for court staff to deal with families with a history of violence and extend programmes to cover those in same sex relationships.

It would also allow more illegal immigrantMurkowskis who are victims of domestic violence to claim temporary visas, and would include same-sex couples in programs for domestic violence.

Yet Republicans accuse the Democrats of using domestic violence to extend immigration rights and say there are not enough safeguards to ensure that funding is well spent.

They also claim that extending protection to groups like same sex couples dilutes the focus on domestic violence.

Some believe the Democrats are using the bill to score political points.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama told the New York Times: “I favour the Violence Against Women Act and have supported it at various points over the years, but there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition.”

But at a private Senate Republican lunch on Tuesday, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska reportedly warned her colleagues that the party was at risk of being painted as anti woman — which could spell disaster for the elections this autumn.

The row follows recent moves by Republican-controlled states like Virginia and Ohio to force women seeking abortion to undergo an abdominal ultrasound and, in the case of Ohio, to deny the procedure when a heartbeat was detected. 

Republicans in the Senate also tried unsuccessfully to block a measure by the Obama administration, to stop employers and insurance companies refusing to cover contraceptives and other items they object to on religious or moral grounds.

One in seven UK women expects to be financially dependent on partner in old age

Story published on Womens Views on News, March 15, 2012

One in seven women in the UK expects to have to rely on her partner for her income in retirement, according to new research.

Fourteen per cent of women who responded to an online poll, commissioned by financial services website unbiased.co.uk, said they expected to have to rely on their partners for money when they retired, compared to five per cent of men.

The survey also found that only 41 per cent of women had private pensions, compared with 54 per cent of men.

The findings come as little surprise as new jobless figures show women continue to be disproportionately hit by unemployment.

According to the latest Labour Force survey figures released on Wednesday, the number of unemployed people in Britain rose by 28,000 between November 2011 and January 2012 – 23,000 of them, 82 per cent were women.

New campaign to help 'forced out' young Londoners

Story published in BlottR, March 10, 2012

A campaign will launch next month to support young Londoners 'forced out' due to rising rents and benefit cuts.

Youth Fight for Jobs and Education is calling for more council housing, affordable rents, low interest mortgages and mortgage holders to be able to transfer back to affordable rents if they fall into arrears.

Since January Local Housing Allowance, a benefit paid to those on low incomes or out of work benefits living in private rented housing, will only cover the cost of a room in a shared house for single claimants under 35 years.

Previously, claimants under 25 could claim the cost of one bedroom flat.

Last Autumn London councils estimated that nearly 200,000 unemployed households would be unable to afford their rent when changes to Local Housing Allowance and other benefits were implemented.

Figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government on Thursday, showed the number of households accepted as homeless by London boroughs between October and December 2011 was 27 per cent higher than at the same time in 2010.

The number of rough sleepers in London has also risen by nearly 8 per cent, and last month Westminster

Council admitted that 1,540 primary school children and their families could be forced to move out because of the changes.

Last year average rents in London rose by 6.3 per cent, according to LSL Property Services.

But Housing Minister Grant Shapps said the increase in homelessness was due to a ‘debt laden’ economy, inherited from the previous Labour government, and that an extra £70m had been made available to councils to help homeless people.

The government aims to save £2bn on Local Housing Allowance by 2016. It has made an extra £10m available to councils to ease the transition this year.

Young Londoners Forced Out will be launched at a meeting at the University of London Union, Malet St, at 7.00 pm on Tuesday, April 17.

Art, craft and street food will breathe new life into Walthamstow Market

Story published in BlottR, March 5, 2012

Waltham Forest Council is looking for artists, antique dealers, street food sellers, purveyors of upcycled goods, anyone with a new and different idea, for a new street market in Walthamstow this spring.

‘Saturdays at St James’ Street’ will start on March 31, and the council hopes it will breathe new life into the western end of Europe’s biggest street market.

The stalls will be free for the first three months and half-price thereafter.

The council has commissioned architect firm Gort Scott to run a competition to find the best quality traders, similar to the one recently organised to find tenants for the Wood Street Market.

“Rather than just find stalls that will come and go, we are looking for a core group of traders to get in at the beginning, become founding members and work with us to help the market grow.

“It will be these regular stall holders that will give the market its character and make it the destination for a substantial part of locals’ weekly shopping,” said Competition Co-ordinator Mellis Haward.

Haward said they had received great feedback about Wood Street since it re-opened in mid-February, and boasts a florist, a furniture upholsterer, a pottery, art gallery and bakery.

The St Jame’s Street market stalls were launched just last week, but Haward said interest was growing.

“I went to a couple of food markets and had a really good response from traders who don’t have a Saturday pitch and who are interested in Walthamstow,” she said.

To apply for a stall, please go to: http://walthamstowmarket.com/

The closing date for applications is March 12, 2012.

Bangladesh open cast mine threatens fundamental human rights, warns UN

Story published in Womens Views on News March 5, 2012

The United Nations has warned the Government of Bangladesh that a planned open cast mine will threaten the fundamental human rights of people living in the area.

The mine is planned for the Phulbari region of North-Western Bangladesh.

Last month, WVoN reported on a campaign to halt the development of the massive mine and a coal fired power station, which could displace up to a quarter of a million rural people.

The mine would reportedly extract 572 million tonnes of coal over the next 36 years from a site covering nearly 6,000 hectares.  The project would destroy 12,000 hectres overall, 80 per cent of which is fertile agricultural land.

Opponents also claim the project could cause irrevocable damage to the Sunderbans, one of the world’s largest mangrove forests, as the mined coal would be transported through the area before being exported.

The UN statement, issued on behalf of seven independent human rights experts, comes after US-based human rights group International Accountability Project submitted an urgent appeal for action to ten UN human rights experts in September 2011.

The statement said: “The Government of Bangladesh must ensure that any policy concerning open-pit coal mining includes robust safeguards to protect human rights.

“In the interim, the Phulbari coal mine should not be allowed to proceed, because of the massive disruptions it is expected to cause.”

The statement confirmed opponents’ fears that the Phulbari development would displace vulnerable farming communities and threaten the livelihoods of thousands more by causing irreversible damage to water sources and ecosystems in the region.

The experts were concerned that a national coal policy, currently being discussed by a parliamentary committee in Bangladesh, might allow open-pit coal mining and therefore allow the Phulbari project to go ahead.

“We welcome Prime Minister Hasina’s acknowledgement that coal extraction in Bangladesh would threaten densely populated areas.

“Mixed messages, however, are emerging and investors continue to push forward,” the experts warned.

Speaking to WVoN, Rumana Hashem, one of the leaders of the campaign against the mine in the UK, welcomed the statement and hoped the Bangladesh Government would take the findings seriously.

Kate Hoshour, senior research fellow, at International Accountability Project, added: “We are extremely pleased to learn that seven UN experts took coordinated action this week by calling for an immediate halt to the project, and are hopeful that their action will avert a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in Bangladesh.”