Women's Newsletter - December 2004
To join our e-network and receive women's campaign email updates, please fill in the form at the start of the Women's Officer Handbook 2004/2005 and post it to Minda Burgos-Lukes, NUS, 461 Holloway Rd, London, n7 6LZ or email minda.burgos-lukes@nus.org.uk
Contents of this newsletter
1) A Woman's Place... campaign toolkit to be sent to all unions
2) World AIDS Day - 1st December 2004
3) How to submit motions for NUS Women's Conference - deadline 10th December 2004, 5pm
4) NUS National Demo, 2nd December 2004, Cardiff
5) Dear Kim - email the Higher Education Minister with your views in a live web chat on 2nd December 2004
1) A Woman's Place... campaign toolkit to be sent to all unions
In schools, teacher assessments and test results show that girls outperform boys (but not significantly) in all subject areas at the three key stages of their compulsory education with the exception of Mathematics in which the results are relatively equal. Yet despite this, the gender divide in post-compulsory education is still deep, with men dominating subject areas such as Business and Management, Financial Management, Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering and Technology. This gender segregation is also striking in employment. Although women are 49% of the UK’s working population, less than 10% of employees in engineering professions and less than 1% of employees in construction occupations are female.
As part of the NUS Women's Campaign priority campaign 'A Woman's Place...', NUS has produced a campaign toolkit that will be sent out to all union presidents this Friday. Remember to ask your president to pass it on to you. This toolkit is entitled 'A Woman’s Place…the campaign against gender segregation in education and employment' and it includes facts about gender segregation in education and employment, campaign ideas to help you challenge gender stereotyping in your institution, and useful contact details.
The toolkit will also be available online at www.officeronline.co.uk/women
2) How to submit motions for NUS Women's Conference - deadline Friday 10th December, 5pm
The deadline for submitting motions for NUS Women's Conference is 5pm on December 10th. All the instructions about submitting motions have been sent to your union and are also online. Make sure you check that the motions you are submitting fulfill all the criteria listed in this document: www.officeronline.co.uk/campaignconferences/269807.aspx
Also, attached below are some pointers on how to submit a motion for Conference and an example motion.
How to submit motions
Proforma
Example motion - Women's Rights Worldwide
3) World AIDS Day - 1st December 2004
Today is World AIDS Day - the international day of action on HIV and AIDS which takes place every year on 1st December. For more information on how NUS is supporting unions marking this day and for a PowerPoint presentation you can use in your unions, go to: www.officeronline.co.uk/campaignsupport/welfare/269996.aspx
Nearly half of 37.2 million adults living with HIV are women. You may find the following webpages about women and HIV/AIDS of interest:
www.positivelywomen.org.uk
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4032699.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033419.stm
4) NUS National Demo, 2nd December 2004, Cardiff
NUS National Demonstration 2004 is tomorrow, Thursday 2nd December, in Cardiff. NUS is calling for all unions to join in solidarity with NUS Wales and the Welsh students' unions in the fight against fees in Wales.
The campaign against top-up fees has a particular resonance for the Women's Campaign. Student debt would rise considerably if the proposal to introduce top-up fees in higher education in Wales goes through, and the burden of this student debt would be harder on women who enter a work market where a substantial gender pay gap still exists.
Follow the Demo links on the front pages of www.nusonline.co.uk and www.officeronline.co.uk for more information about the march.
5) Dear Kim - email the Higher Education Minister with your views in a live web chat on 2nd December
If you are unable to go to the Demo tomorrow (2nd December), you can offer crucial support online as Dr Kim Howells MP answers YOUR questions in a live web chat from 2.30pm at: educationtalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@@.7747867b
You can post your questions anytime before 2pm on Thursday. If you have trouble registering on the Guardian talkboards, just email your question (marked as being for the attention of Kim Howells) to education.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk Let your Minister know what you think! Perhaps you haven’t been able to afford to make the trip to Cardiff or perhaps you will be at your part-time job working long hours to pay off your mounting student debt. You might be protesting at your own university about course closures and job losses or contacting your University to get hold of a hardship loan.
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