Tag Archives: activism

#Vote4equality: Thursday 22nd May, European elections

From email:

On Thursday 22nd May, the country will go the polls to vote for the European Elections. In addition, almost 180 parts of England and Northern Ireland will be voting in local councillors or Mayors. Today women make up just:
– 32% of elected councillors
– 13% of elected Mayors
– 32% of Members of the European Parliament

Local government wields an enormous amount of power – a quarter of all public spending goes through local authorities, and three-quarters of their employees are women. It is vital that women’s views are equally represented in decision making at this level.

What you can do:

Arm yourself with the facts: Read our top stats on women’s representation in local government
#Vote4equality: Tweet your council candidates! Find out who your local council candidates are and ask what they will do for women

Donate to Fawcett:

Here at Fawcett we work tirelessly in public and behind the scenes to improve the representation of women in all public bodies. becoming a member of Fawcett. Every donation will be used wherever the opportunity is greatest to achieve greater gender equality. Forwarding this message onto just two of your friends could double the income from this appeal. Why not spread the message by telling the community you’ve supported Fawcett’s fighting fund through Twitter and Facebook?

Established in 1866, Fawcett is the UK’s leading campaign for equality between women and men. Our vision is of a society in which women and men enjoy equality at work, at home and in public life. As a campaigning charity, we need your voices behind us and we are always in need of financial support. Not already a member? Join us today.

PETITION: York Feminist Network – Lap dancing campaign

From email:

Hello,

I hope you don’t mind me sending you this quick message.

I’m a member of the York Feminist Network, and a number of our group are calling on City of York Council to reject the application for renewal of SEV (Sexual Entertainment Venue) licence from lap dancing club ‘Upstairs’ (part of The Mansion), on Micklegate in York. The current licence expires on 30 November 2013.

As Council policy states that we are not able to object on moral grounds, our campaign takes a more community-focused argument, concerned with the impact on local residents, creating ‘no-go’ areas for women and damaging both the character and reputation of York as a welcoming, family-friendly city.

This is the link to our petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/906/553/769/lap-dancing-clubs-no-place-in-our-community/.

If you are able and willing to share it amongst your group, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you ever so much,

Rachel (York Feminist Network)

EVENT: WomenCentre Kirklees, raising awareness of FGM, Fri 8th Nov 2013, Huddersfield

From email:

Please find attached an event on raising awareness of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This has been organised by WomenCentre Kirklees and the ‘Women Together’ project.

Friday 8th November 2013 – 10.00 – 15.30 – The Mission, Huddersfield

All details on attached flyer and booking form.

Also, along with the event the ‘Women Together’ project is launching its book around the narratives of asylum seeking and refugee women who have been affected by gender violence.

Please circulate around your contacts.

The event has got limited places so please book early to avoid disappointment.

Regards,

Melody

Huddersfield
Tel: 01484 450866
Email redacted.

WomenCentre, Calderdale and Kirklees
WomenCentre Ltd, 23 Silver Street, Halifax, HX1 1JN
Company Number 6084795, Charity Number 1118366

PETITION: #losetheladsmags

It’s time for shops to Lose the Lads’ Mags

Today it’s no longer acceptable to have ‘girly calendars’ on office walls. Why? Because they create a sexist and degrading environment for female employees and customers. So why, then, do supermarkets and newsagents still think it’s OK to expose staff and customers to degrading, pornographic lads’ mags – the modern day equivalent of ‘girly calendars’ – in their stores?

A woman who works in Tesco told us, “I hate that Tesco sells these mags and papers like the Sun and the Star. In the store I work in there is a laddish culture and I don’t think having these magazines help that…”

Lads’ mags portray women as dehumanised sex objects. There is extensive evidence this fuels sexist attitudes and behaviours and creates a conducive context for violence against women.

We’ve also obtained brand new legal advice showing that shops selling lads mags’ – like WH Smith and Tesco – are potentially breaching equality legislation. Stocking and displaying lads’ mags and papers with Page 3-style front cover images can constitute sex discrimination or sexual harassment under the Equality Act. Employees could take legal action on this basis and, where the magazine is visibly on display, customers could also have a claim. Legally as well as ethically, lads’ mags are well past their sell-by date.

That’s why we’re joining with Object, Women’s Aid, End Violence Against Women and many others to tell shops to lose the lads’ mags.

Sign the petition and ask shops to lose the lads’ mags!

As is the case with ‘girly calendars’, people shouldn’t have to see sexist, degrading lads’ mags when they are going about their work or doing their shopping.

Sign the petition today.

SURVEY: Take our Feminist movement survey (UKFeminista)

Tell us about your passions, priorities and needs in our online survey

What feminist activities are you most inspired by? What do you want to campaign on? And what kind of support do you need to organise for a world without sexism?

We want to hear from feminists across the UK about the exciting things you’re doing and how we can help you do them. We’ve developed a short online survey and would love you to take part.

And if you complete it by Friday 7 June you’ll be entered into a draw to win a UK Feminista t-shirt and bag!

Here’s the link to the survey: ukfeminista.

NEWS: Kat Banyard discusses cosmetic surgery on Newsnight

On email from UK Feminista:

“Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign to end cosmetic surgery advertising. Hundreds of you wrote to your MP about clamping down on the cowboy cosmetic surgery industry and its reckless advertising practices. Your actions made a real difference.

Last week Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, made recommendations to the Government to institute new measures to clamp down on this unaccountable and unregulated industry.

UK Feminista’s Kat Banyard was invited on to Newsnight to debate the recommendations on the back of our campaign. Watch it here today (from 30 minutes in, available to view until midnight today).

ACTION: Call for evidence – the impact of austerity measures upon women in the North East of England

This call came through on email from the North East Women’s Network.

“IF YOU CAN PROVIDE ANY EVIDENCE,  PLEASE REGISTER AN INITIAL RESPONSE BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY 10TH APRIL HERE.

In October 2012 NEWomen’s Network published “Findings and Recommendations from Interim Case Study: The impact of austerity measures upon women in the North East of England”. NEWN is now in the process of updating the case study to inform  the  shadow report being submitted by Women’s Resource Centre to the to the   Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) examination in Geneva in July 2013.

If you have any stories data, information, case studies, research or any other forms of evidence (including stories  and testimonies of women themselves) about the impact of the welfare reforms and austerity measures upon:

  • The lives of women in the North East and their children, families and the community
  • Cuts to women’s community and voluntary organisation
  • Cuts to women’s only services

If you have any evidence at all please register your details  (it will only take a minute or so)  and one of the researchers will contact you to arrange to follow up it up.

NEWomen’s Network intends to deal with the issues that are at the heart of the current economic crisis and tackle the underlining causes of women’s inequality and CEDAW provides us with a framework with which to do this. CEDAW was established in 1979 and is often referred to as the Women’s International Billof Rights.   Unlike domestic UK and European legislation on gender discrimination and equal treatment, the Convention is solely concerned with the position of women rather than discrimination faced by both sexes (which would include discrimination against men). CEDAW places obligations on the countries that have agreed to the Convention, to eliminate discrimination against women in all its forms.

Continue Reading…

PETITION: Iain Duncan Smith: Iain Duncan Smith to live on £53 a week.

£53 a week?

This petition calls for Iain Duncan Smith, the current Work and Pensions Secretary, to prove his claim of being able to live on £7.57 a day, or £53 a week.

On this morning’s Today Programme David Bennett, a market trader, said that after his housing benefit had been cut, he lives on £53 per week. The next interviewee was Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was defending the changes. The interviewer then asked him if he could live on this amount. He replied: “If I had to, I would.”

This petition calls on Iain Duncan Smith to live on this budget for at least one year. This would help realise the conservative party`s current mantra that “We are all in this together”.

This would mean a 97% reduction in his current income, which is £1,581.02 a week or £225 a day after tax*.

Please join me.

Link: change.org.

NEWS: What Can Men Do to Stop Rape Culture?

Video on link.

At a panel presented by V-Day and The Nation, Eve Ensler challenged men to up their role in combating violence against women. As Nation sports editor Dave Zirin put it, rape culture is “what happens to our culture when we let it sit and don’t actively challenge violence against women.” It’s “not the two boys in Steubenville who committed the crime, it was the fifty people who saw it happen and did nothing.” To change that culture, the panel asks, what will it take to redefine masculinity? And what role do women have in that conversation?

—James Cersonsky

On thenation.