Story published on Women's Views on News, Friday, April 13, 2012
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is desperate to win back female voters, after moves by Republicans to curb abortion rights in some states and limit insurance cover for contraception have led to a surge in support for Obama.
Romney is going on the offensive over jobs, claiming that 92 per cent of jobs lost over the past three years have been lost by women.
But a fact check by the Washington Post, reveals that more men than women lost their jobs in the early years of the recession, when George W Bush was in charge.
Jobs were lost in construction and finance, while female-heavy industries such as public services were hit later.
This pattern is normal in a recession. The Washington Post quotes US government figures which suggest 3.4 million men have lost their jobs since the start of the recession, compared to 1.8 million women.
Romney’s new-found appetite for women’s rights are dubious. Lanhee Chen, his policy director, could not confirm that he would support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, legislation introduced by Obama, to make it easier for women to file lawsuits for equal pay.
He has also been accused of deferring to his wife, when faced with questions about women.
“My wife has the occasion, as you know, to campaign on her own and also with me,” Romney told newspaper editors, “and she reports to me regularly that the issue women care about most is the economy,” he told reporters.
Friday, 20 April 2012
UK women have greater sense of wellbeing than men
Story published on Women's Views on News, Friday, 13 April, 2012
Women in the UK are happier and more satisfied with their lives than men, but, according to recent government statistics, they worry more.
Between April and September 2011, respondents to the Annual Population Survey were asked questions about their well-being for the first time.
They were asked to rate satisfaction with their lives, whether they found them worthwhile, their happiness and anxiety levels on a scale of one to ten.
Women scored an average 7.44 overall, against 7.34 for men.
Younger women and older women tended to be happier, found life more worthwhile and were more satisfied than the middle-aged, but levels of well-being started to decline for women over 80.
Women also reported higher levels of anxiety than men. Female respondents said they had an anxiety level of 3.29, whereas men put theirs at 3.09.
Women aged 50-54 were most anxious, while 16-19-year-olds rated themselves as the most carefree.
What We Do, a recent study of work and leisure activities produced by the Office of National Statistics as part of its National Measuring Well-Being Programme suggested one reason may be because fewer women work long hours.
But women fared less well when it came to participating in sport and fitness activities, widely believed to improve health and well-being.
Only 47 per cent of women had participated in sport and physical activity in the last four months, compared with 61 per cent of men.
Women in the UK are happier and more satisfied with their lives than men, but, according to recent government statistics, they worry more.
Between April and September 2011, respondents to the Annual Population Survey were asked questions about their well-being for the first time.
They were asked to rate satisfaction with their lives, whether they found them worthwhile, their happiness and anxiety levels on a scale of one to ten.
Women scored an average 7.44 overall, against 7.34 for men.
Younger women and older women tended to be happier, found life more worthwhile and were more satisfied than the middle-aged, but levels of well-being started to decline for women over 80.
Women also reported higher levels of anxiety than men. Female respondents said they had an anxiety level of 3.29, whereas men put theirs at 3.09.
Women aged 50-54 were most anxious, while 16-19-year-olds rated themselves as the most carefree.
What We Do, a recent study of work and leisure activities produced by the Office of National Statistics as part of its National Measuring Well-Being Programme suggested one reason may be because fewer women work long hours.
But women fared less well when it came to participating in sport and fitness activities, widely believed to improve health and well-being.
Only 47 per cent of women had participated in sport and physical activity in the last four months, compared with 61 per cent of men.
Friday, 30 March 2012
Women hit hard by council job cuts
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.
Friday, 16 March 2012
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, 2012One 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.
Saturday, 10 March 2012
New campaign to help 'forced out' young Londoners
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.
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.
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