Women's Newsletter - March 2005
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, PO BOX 52611, London N7 6XX or email minda.burgos-lukes@nus.org.uk
Contents of this newsletter:
1. Pro-choice and Proud of it! - a campaign update
2. NUS Women's Conference - a review
3. International Women's Day - a review
4. CapitalWoman 2005
5. LGB students lobby at Parliament
6. Gender Survey of Students' Unions
7. News from External Organisations:
(a) Fawcett launches a new report on Black and Minority Ethnic women in the UK
(b) WOMANKIND Worldwide launches a new TV and cinema advertisement called ‘Be There’
(c) SmartJustice for Women
1. Pro-choice and Proud of it! - a campaign update
There has been a slight delay on distributing pro-choice materials, but they will be sent out to all unions soon. There will be a campaign toolkit, posters, postcards, information sheets and stickers.
Pro-choice issues have been in the media a lot recently, here are some online articles you might be interested in:
• Abortion Rights press release - US style election furore on abortion unpopular and ban news for women
www.abortionrights.org.uk
Monday 21st March
• Archbishop highlights 'distaste' for abortion
www.guardian.co.uk
Friday 18 March
• Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Anne Quesney answering 'Should abortion time limit be cut from 24 weeks to 20?'
http://politics.guardian.co.uk
Tuesday 15 March
• Cardinal tells Catholics to reject Labour over abortion Times p.1
www.timesonline.co.uk
The Archbishop of Westminster has backed Michael Howard’s stance on abortion and withdrawn the Catholic Church’s traditional support for Labour. Howard made a commitment in Cosmopolitan magazine to find parliamentary time for a debate on cutting the legal time limit for abortion.
• Let women decide for themselves Guardian G2 p.5
www.guardian.co.uk
Former NUS President and Guardian columnist David Aaronovitch comments on Michael Howard’s proposal to change the law for abortions.
• Support Tories over abortion, cardinal tells Catholics Guardian p.1
www.guardian.co.uk
• Sisters, make some noise Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk
2. NUS Women's Conference 2005 - a review
NUS Women's Conference took place on 14th - 16th March in the Britannia Hotel in Coventry. Jo Salmon was re-elected as NUS National Women's Officer and the NUS Women's Committee members elected for 2005/06 were:
Caucus reps on Women's Committee
• FE rep - Margo MacMillan (Kilmarnock College)
Black Women's rep - Rachel Earlington (Bradford)
• Lesbian rep - Georgia Rooney (Women's Committee and Durham) and Clare Bielby (Sussex)
• Bisexual rep - Sharon Stacey (Barnsley College) and Sophie Conway Allen (Sussex)
• Women with Disabilities rep - Jodie Tumelty (Leeds Met)
• Women with Caring Responsibilities rep - Sandra Watt (Glasgow Caledonian)
Open Place reps on Women's Committee (in order of election)
• Amy Thomson (Oxford Brookes)
• Jessica Kosmin (BUGS)
• Jo Fried (Women's Committee and ULU) and Elizabeth Sellers (Goldsmiths)
• Debbie Hollingsworth (Ruskin College, Oxford)
• Hatty Slovak (Women's Committee and Bradford)
• Coral Harding (Women's Committee and UEL) and Louise Gold (Women's Committee and Sheffield)
National Council rep
• Laura Woods (Edinburgh)
(Representatives for the Special Regions - NUS Scotland, NUS Wales and NUS-USI - are elected at separate conferences.)
Women's Steering Committee (in order of election)
• Antonia Bance
• Kathy Wylde
• Faz Velmi
(note - Lisa Timerick and Carli Harper-Penman are also members of Steering Committee)
Motions on defending women's officers, feminism in the student movement, defending a woman's right to choose and equal pay were debated. The key note speaker was Anne Quesney, Director of Abortion Rights, and workshops were delivered by Abortion Rights, the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science Engineering and Technology, Unite Against Facism, Fawcett Society, the Equal Opportunities Commission, Sian Davies (NUS National SWD Officer) and NUS Women's Unit.
3. International Women's Day - a review
To see how individual students' unions celebrated International Women's Day this year, go to the 'your local area' heading at www.nusonline.co.uk/women
4. CapitalWoman 2005
Representatives from NUS Women's Unit attended the CapitalWoman Conference in London on March 6th. During the conference, the work of NUS Women's Campaign was noted and commended by Mary Turner (President of the GMB) in a panel discussion on women in education.
To read more about the conference, including the transcript of the keynote speech by Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister of the Federal Government of Nigeria, go to:
www.london.gov.uk/capitalwoman
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5. Gender Survey of Students' Unions 2005
NUS Women’s Unit is carrying out research around the number of women in sabbatical (full-time) and non-sabbatical (part-time) elected positions in students’ unions and whether there are any particular officer positions that tend to be held by women. This research will help us evaluate our current materials for SUs in their usefulness to encourage more women to get involved and to encourage a better gender spread. It will also inform NUS Women’s Campaign work for the future and the work of unions (through dissemination of our findings in June 2005).
A survey has been sent to your union president and is on www.officeronline.co.uk/women All returned completed forms will be entered in a prize draw to win £100 to help develop or establish a Liberation Campaign in your students’ union! (Only one entry per students’ union can be entered in the draw.) So please encourage your union president to fill in the form and return it to us by Thursday 31st March 2005.
6. LGB students lobby at Parliament
Most people don’t know that is still legal for shops, bars, hotels and other service providers to refuse to serve someone on the grounds of their sexuality. Such discrimination against other minority groups was rightly outlawed years ago but legal protection does not extend to cover sexual orientation.
Students met with MPs in the House of Commons on Thursday 17 March and then presented a petition at 10 Downing Street. Eighty politicians have pledged their support to the NUS campaign.
For more information, please go to www.nusonline.co.uk/lgb
7. News from External Organisations
Please note that whilst NUS Women's Campaign has been careful to check the suitability of these organisations as contact points for student officers, it cannot be held responsible for the work or advice of any external organisation.
(a) Fawcett launches a new report on Black and Minority Ethnic women in the UK
Fawcett's new report draws together research to paint a picture of the lives of Black and Minority Ethnic women in the UK today. The report was launched on 16th February at Coutts & Co on the Strand and was hosted by Samira Ahmed from Channel 4 News, with guest speakers including Pinky Lilani, Chairwoman and founder of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards; and comedian Angie Le Mar.
* Copies are available for £5, with a special discount for members at £4.*
An order form can be downloaded from:
www.fawcettsociety.org.uk
(b) WOMANKIND Worldwide launches a new TV and cinema advertisement called ‘Be There’
On 8th March 2005, International Women’s Day, WOMANKIND Worldwide launched a new TV and cinema advertisement called ‘Be There’ which calls for the British public to support them in preventing violence against women. The film will remind people that as well as an act of ‘domestic’ atrocity, violence against women comes in the form of rape in war zones and genital mutilation of young girls all over the world.
You can view the film at: www.womankind.org.uk
(c) SmartJustice for Women
The women’s prison population has more than doubled in the last ten years even though women’s crimes have not on the whole been getting worse. Most women in prison have been abused, are addicted to drugs or alcohol and have mental health problems. Nearly 18,000 children are separated from their mothers through imprisonment each year. SmartJustice for Women is campaigning for more alternatives to custody and community projects that stop women offending in the first place.
SmartJustice for Women is part of the SmartJustice Campaign, based at the Prison Reform Trust.
For more information, go to:
http://smartjustice.org/women/index.htm
Return to this campaign's homepage or view all articles in this campaign.