Women's Newsletter - April and May 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! - NUS materials sent to all unions and online
2. Gender survey prize draw - and the winner is...
3. Women MPs - the post election picture
4. A woman's place... News about gender segregation in the workplace and in education
(a) The EOC's 'Free to Choose' report
(b) Campaign to get qualified women to return to careers in SET (science, engineering and technology)
5. Pro-choice and Proud of it! Pro-choice issues in the news
(a) THT Report on sexual health clinics
(b) Nine-year maternity rights case
6. New public duty to promote gender equality in Queen's Speech
7. Andrea Dworkin, feminist author, has died
8. News from external organisations
(a) National Tampon Alert Week - 6 to 12 June 2005 - Alice Kilvert Tampon Alert
(b) Hideout - new website resource
(c) Take Back The Streets - the F-Word website's feature on street harassment
1. Pro-choice and Proud of it! - NUS materials sent to all unions and online
Pro-choice materials have been sent out to all unions in a pro-choice pack. The pack contains a campaign toolkit, posters, postcards, stickers, information sheets on our pro-choice and proud of it! campaign, on sexual health, on abortion law and on childcare, and an Abortion Rights publication called 'Abortion: the Facts'. The posters contain a space for you to write the local details of your women's campaign. This pack has been sent to union presidents to pass on to the relevant officer. Remember to ask your president for your copy!
You can order more posters, postcards and stickers using the order form at www.officeronline.co.uk/women (you will need to log onto this web site with your username and password). There are PDF files of the materials there also for you to download, including the pro-choice toolkit and the information sheets (including Welsh language versions of the information sheets).
2. Gender survey prize draw - and the winner is...
...Calderdale College in Halifax. Well done, Calderdale College, £100 will be on its way to you to spend on a liberation campaign in your union. Many thanks to all who returned the survey to us. The results will be disseminated in June.
3. Women MPs - the post election picture
A record 128 women MPs were elected in this month's election, making up 19.8% of the House of Commons. 115 women were elected in the 2001 general elections and the number rose in the between election years, standing at 119 at the dissolution of parliament in April. In the 1997 general elections, the number of female MPs rose from 63 to 120.
Members of Parliament by gender:
www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/gender.cfm
Relevant articles:
www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
4. A woman's place... News about gender segregation in the workplace and in education
(a) The EOC's 'Free to Choose' report
A report published by the EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) on vocational education and training has revealed that young people - particularly girls from lower socio-economic groups - are not being given the access to careers advice, work-experience placements and training opportunities that are unbiased from gender stereotypes. Instead, too many are being channelled into jobs traditional to their sex.
For more information:
www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/news/
(b) Campaign to get qualified women to return to careers in SET (science, engineering and technology)
The UK Resource Centre for women in SET (who led a workshop at the last NUS Women's Conference) have launched a national campaign urging qualified women to return to careers in science, engineering and technology. Official research shows that 50,000 women are not currently working in the UK's science, engineering and technology SET industries, despite having the relevant specialist skills and training.
For more information:
http://www.setwomenresource.org.uk/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4534177.stm
5. Pro-choice and Proud of it! Pro-choice issues in the news
(a) THT Report on sexual health clinics
A report published by THT (Terence Higgins Trust) last month revealed that GUM (Genito-Urinary Medicine) clinics in England and Wales are 'undergoing huge strain'. Of the clinicians surveyed, 64 per cent said they had turned away patients in the past year, One in five patients is waiting a month for a sexually transmitted infection test, while more than a third wait two weeks or more for an HIV test. More than half of the clinics said their ability to provide services had deteriorated over the last year.
For more information:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/
www.tht.org.uk
(b) Nine-year maternity rights case
On 3 May, Michelle Alabaster won her nine-year court battle for higher maternity pay in a case that went through an employment tribunal, an appeal tribunal, the European court of justice and an appeal court in London. Her maternity pay had not taken into account the pay rise she had received shortly before going on leave. Instead her employer, the Woolwich Building Society, had calculated her maternity pay based on her wages over a two-month period earlier in her pregnancy, before the pay rise. She will now receive £204.53 plus £65.86 in interest in maternity backpay from her former employer. This case has set a powerful precedent for women's maternity rights.
The Alabaster case in the news:
www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/
www.eoc.org.uk
6. New public duty to promote gender equality in Queen's Speech
The Queen's Speech on 17 May set out the Government's policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session. It included an Equalities Bill that contains proposals for a public sector duty to promote equality of opportunity between women and men, and to prohibit sex discrimination in the exercise of public functions. If this bill becomes legislation it will require service providers and public sector employers (including universities and colleges) to design employment and services with the different needs of women and men in mind.
For more information:
www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/cehr/gender_duty.htm
www.eoc.org.uk/publicservices
7. Andrea Dworkin, feminist author, has died
Andrea Dworkin died on April 9 at the age of 58. She was famous as a radical feminist writer and co-drafter with Catharine MacKinnon of a civil rights law that defines harm done through pornography as a legal injury of sex discrimination warranting civil redress. Her published works include 'Pornography: Men Possessing Women' and 'In Harm's Way: Pornography Civil Rights Hearing' (co-authored with Catharine MacKinnon).
News articles on Andrea Dworkin:
www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/
8. 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) National Tampon Alert Week - 6 to 12 June 2005 - Alice Kilvert Tampon Alert
National Tampon Alert Week is on 6 to 12 June 2005. The theme is 'Alerting another generation of teenage girls and young mothers to the dangers of tampons and Toxic Shock Syndrome'.
If any women's groups want free leaflets, please email on tamponalert@ntlworld.com or visit the website for further information - www.tamponalert.org.uk
(b) Hideout - new website resource
Women's Aid has recently launched a new website, The Hideout www.thehideout.org.uk, to help children and young people affected by domestic violence. The website has been designed to inform children and young people about domestic violence, help them to identify whether it is happening in their home and signpost them to additional support and information.
(c) Take Back The Streets - the F-Word website's feature on street harassment
The F Word, the web site for contemporary UK feminism, has a special feature on street harassment:
'Ever tensed up when forced to walk past stationary traffic? Cringed when a stranger, out of nowhere, instructs you to smile? Choked down your anger as a passer-by whispers obscenities? Changed your route to work to avoid harassment hot-spots? As these stories show, you're not alone.'
See www.thefword.org.uk/features/2005/
*Please note the new NUS switchboard number and postal address below*
NUS Women's Unit
NEC Contact: Jo Salmon (National Women's Officer)
Staff Contact: Lizzie McCarthy (Women's Research and Information Co-ordinator)
email: women@nus.org.uk
switchboard: 0871 221 8 221
fax: 020 72635713
minicom text: 020 75616577
website for students: www.nusonline.co.uk/women
website for student officers: www.officeronline.co.uk/women
address: NUS Women's Unit, PO BOX 52611, London N7 6XX
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