Louise Nousratpour
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's Charter activists vowed at their annual conference on Saturday to "agitate, educate, organise and litigate" against the government's assault on their jobs, services and rights.
Charter for Women chairwoman Mary Davies told delegates in London that massive public-sector job cuts and attacks on the welfare system threatened turn the clock back on gender equality.
David Cameron's Big Society idea would inevitably rely on a swelling army of unemployed women doing unpaid caring work, she warned.
But speakers hailed the looming co-ordinated pension strike by state workers on November 30 as a first step towards wider action to bring the Con-Dem to its knees.
Gloria Mills of the Unison union, which boasts more than a million women members in the public sector, said that her union was working "round the clock" to deliver a Yes vote.
She complained: "The government has decided to protect the pension of the male-dominated uniform professions - the fire brigade, the armed forces and the police - while penalising the female-dominated sector such as nurses and teachers.
"So if you're aiming a hose or a gun, you're fine."
Southall Black Sisters speaker Pragna Patel explained how her organisation "help women who were completely invisible in society, with the state turning a blind eye to domestic violence in minority communities in the name of 'cultural sensitivity'."
She told delegates how the organisation had used equality impact assessments to force authorities to rethink local cuts and closure decisions.
Both the government and local authorities have been caught flaunting equality laws and bypassing impact assessments when making decisions about where the austerity axe should fall.
She recalled the London-based group's major victory in 2008 against the Ealing Council's plans to cut its funding.
Ms Patel also urged delegates to remain vigilant to a shift in funding from progressive organisations to reactionary faith groups as happened in the case of the Poppy Project, which lost its government funding to the Salvation Army.
"The Salvation Army is now in charge of dealing with highly traumatised sex-trafficked women and girls," she said.
The Charter for Women is a set of key demands launched in 2004 to bring gender equality back into sharp focus.
It has the backing of the TUC, among other organisations.
Mums and babies 'at risk' from caesarian free-for-all
Louise Nousratpour
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Mothers and babies will be put at risk by proposals to give all women the right to give birth by caesarean section, experts warned at the weekend.
Draft plans to extend access to the procedure - currently only deployed where there is medical need - have been floated by the NHS National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
But Royal College of Midwives chief executive Cathy Warwick said that CS for non-medical reasons was "inappropriate" and expressed confidence that "when women are fully aware of he evidence they will not be asking for CS."
Some studies have found that mothers are two to three times more likely to die following a caesarean section than after giving birth normally.
And gynaecologist Wendy Savage told delegates to the annual Charter for Woman conference that it was already "madness" that a quarter of mothers in England and a third in Ireland had had the procedure.
Ms Savage, who made history as the first woman consultant to be appointed in obstetrics and gynaecology at The London Hospital, said that the safest way for healthy women to give birth was natural and the best place to do it was at home with two midwives present - as required by law.
She added that a chronic shortage of midwives meant that home births are not being encouraged.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the report, due out next month, was still subject to consultation.
Sunday October 30, 2011
The Morning Star
Mothers and babies will be put at risk by proposals to give all women the right to give birth by caesarean section, experts warned at the weekend.
Draft plans to extend access to the procedure - currently only deployed where there is medical need - have been floated by the NHS National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
But Royal College of Midwives chief executive Cathy Warwick said that CS for non-medical reasons was "inappropriate" and expressed confidence that "when women are fully aware of he evidence they will not be asking for CS."
Some studies have found that mothers are two to three times more likely to die following a caesarean section than after giving birth normally.
And gynaecologist Wendy Savage told delegates to the annual Charter for Woman conference that it was already "madness" that a quarter of mothers in England and a third in Ireland had had the procedure.
Ms Savage, who made history as the first woman consultant to be appointed in obstetrics and gynaecology at The London Hospital, said that the safest way for healthy women to give birth was natural and the best place to do it was at home with two midwives present - as required by law.
She added that a chronic shortage of midwives meant that home births are not being encouraged.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the report, due out next month, was still subject to consultation.
Campaign to turn backs on Page 3
Louise Nousratpour
Friday October 14, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights activists today stepped up campaign for tighter regulation on "sexualised and degrading" images of women in tabloids and newspapers, including a ban on The Sun's topless "Page 3 Girls."
The Turn Your Back on Page 3 campaign urged ministers today to extend the Bailey review, which tackles the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, to include a probe into the Murdoch newspaper's use of imagery.
The group said: "Page 3 symbolises the acceptance and normalisation of the sexual objectification of women and girls that pervades our daily newspapers and popular culture and therefore ultimately, symbolises and contributes to our unequal status.
"The government either values and respects the female half of humanity or it doesn't and the removal of Page 3 would be a momentous step in the right direction in proving to society that is does."
Turn Your Back On Page 3 spokeswoman Francine Hoenderkamp welcomed Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and shadow equalities minister Harriet Harman's support and urged other MPs to get behind the campaign.
She slammed Rupert Murdoch's "abuse and manipulation of our democracy and free press and his attitude towards the representation of women in the media."
Women's rights group Object said: "With the recent Murdoch scandal, the inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press and government concern over the sexualisation of children, now is the perfect time to step up our lobbying to get rid of the Page 3 phenomena."
Friday October 14, 2011
The Morning Star
Women's rights activists today stepped up campaign for tighter regulation on "sexualised and degrading" images of women in tabloids and newspapers, including a ban on The Sun's topless "Page 3 Girls."
The Turn Your Back on Page 3 campaign urged ministers today to extend the Bailey review, which tackles the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, to include a probe into the Murdoch newspaper's use of imagery.
The group said: "Page 3 symbolises the acceptance and normalisation of the sexual objectification of women and girls that pervades our daily newspapers and popular culture and therefore ultimately, symbolises and contributes to our unequal status.
"The government either values and respects the female half of humanity or it doesn't and the removal of Page 3 would be a momentous step in the right direction in proving to society that is does."
Turn Your Back On Page 3 spokeswoman Francine Hoenderkamp welcomed Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and shadow equalities minister Harriet Harman's support and urged other MPs to get behind the campaign.
She slammed Rupert Murdoch's "abuse and manipulation of our democracy and free press and his attitude towards the representation of women in the media."
Women's rights group Object said: "With the recent Murdoch scandal, the inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press and government concern over the sexualisation of children, now is the perfect time to step up our lobbying to get rid of the Page 3 phenomena."
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