TORIES VOTE ANTI-WOMEN AGAIN

The Tories are at it again, abstaining on votes in the European Parliament which will have a profoundly beneficial impact on women's lives.

A report went through today on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union 2004 - 2007. Written by Italian Communist, Giusto Catania, the report looked at all aspects of the European Declaration of Fundamental Rights.

Yet this was not good enough for the British Tories, some of whom abstained on two crucial votes on women.

Beazley, Bushill-Matthews, Deva, Kirkhope, McMillan-Scott, Stevenson, Sturdy and Tannock would only accept the paragraph below if all references to sexual and reproductive health (the italicised section) were deleted:

"Stresses the need to raise public awareness of the right to reproductive and sexual health, and calls on the Member States to ensure that women can fully enjoy these rights, to put in place appropriate sex education, information and confidential advisory services,
and to facilitate access to contraception in order to prevent all unwanted pregnancies and illegal and high-risk abortions, and to combat the practice of female genital mutilation"

The other Tories abstained, with only Atkins, Karim and Purvis accepting the complete paragraph.

The other significant paragraph was:

"Stresses that ethnic minority women should be ensured access to public funds, irrespective of their legal status, to enable them to access safe, equal, culturally sensitive health services and rights, in particular sexual and reproductive health and rights; a European legal framework to ensure the physical integrity of young girls from Female Genital Mutilation should be adopted "

Only Purvis accepted this complete paragraph. All other Tories either abstained or voted against the complete text, objecting to the section highlighted above.

Interesting that this week it was only men who were representing the Conservative Party in Europe.

THE FUTURE FOR SOCIAL EUROPE

Following my blog yesterday on Europe's achievements on rights for parents and pregnant women, I have found this excellent article on workers' rights in a Social Europe.

http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/documents/CTP42CorbettSocialEurope.pdf

It is written by my colleague Richard Corbett, Labour MEP for Yorkshire and Humber, and shows the vital importance of voting Labour in the coming European elections.

On a different note, it is great to see my fellow blogger Jon Worth out supporting the excellent atheist bus campaign:

http://www.jonworth.eu/lifes-ambition-achieved-on-tv-in-a-foreign-language/#more-1899

RIGHTS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN AND NEW MOTHERS

In October the European Commission announced a work-life legislative package that will review existing EC legislation on the rights of parents, pregnant women and new mothers at work. Reports are now being drafted by the European Parliament Women's Committee. This legislation will have a very positive impact on the lives of women across Europe and I am very pleased to have the opportunity of being involved in this important work.

You may be interested to read a summary of the current legislation regarding the rights of pregnant women and new mothers in Europe. I am proud that the EU has always led the way on this equality legislation.

Pregnant workers’ directive (1992/85/EEC)

This legislation gives women:

• Right to minimum 14 weeks maternity leave
• Right to guaranteed income during at least 14 week maternity leave
• Rights to specialised health and safety laws in the workplace whilst pregnant and breastfeeding
• Protection meaning they cannot be dismissed whilst on maternity leave
• Rights to employment contract ensured whilst on maternity leave

The Commission's new proposals for this legislation include:

• Increase in the minimum maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks (as suggested by the ILO)
• Increase flexibility regarding when leave is taken (i.e. before or after the birth)
• Improved employment protection on return to work. Woman will have right to return to same / equivalent job and right to benefit from any improvement in working conditions to which she would have been entitled in her absence.

The Parliament is also revisiting the Self-employed workers' directive (1986/613/EEC) to ensure that self-employed parents are entitled to the same parental leave rights as other workers.

Equal treatment (employment) directive (2002/73/EC)

This fairly recent legislation is not currently being updated by the Commission. But it already:

• Prohibits discrimination against pregnant women and women on maternity leave
• Ensures the right to return to same / equivalent post after maternity leave. Denying this right is defined as discrimination.
• Allows women to take their cases to employment tribunal because this unfair practice is defined as discrimination.

The Women's Committee has just written a review of the implementation of this directive which we will be voting on next week in Strasbourg. I will blog on how this goes.

LEYLA ZANA

Today I co-signed a letter in support of my fellow female activist Leyla Zana. Leyla was the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish Parliament but in 1994 she was imprisoned by the Turkish authorities for speaking Kurdish in the Parliament. The European Parliament recognised that Leyla was a prisoner of conscience and awarded her the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1995. She collected this prize after her release in 2004.

Given that Turkey is striving to make changes, to promote human rights and to ensure freedom of expression as it attempts to join the EU, it is with regret that I have found out that Leyla Zana has once again been imprisoned. Below is the text of the letter that European MPs have written to the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

On 4th of December a Turkish court sentenced the politician and Sakharov Prize Laureate Leyla Zana to ten years in prison for "violating" the Turkish penal code and the Turkish anti-terror law in nine different speeches. We as Members of the European Parliament strongly condemn this court decision which is a major set back for the democracy process in Turkey. We believe that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right which has to be ensured in a democracy. But unfortunately we witnessed in the past that freedom of expression and also freedom of the press are still not fully protected in Turkey. It is not acceptable that people in Turkey are prosecuted for expressing non-violent opinions. We fear that this court decision, which also revoked Ms Zana's right to vote and run for political office was a political decision as regional elections will be held in Turkey on 29th of March 2009.

Therefore we urge you to make sure that the judgement against Leyla Zana will be annuled and ensure that freedom of expression in Turkey is fully in line with the International Human Rights Standards.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The day was established by the UN in 1999 and was chosen to be on 25th November as it was on this day in 1960 that three Dominican sisters were murdered for campaigning against the dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Women's rights have progressed in the Dominican Republic and countless other countries since 1960. This is thanks to the leadership of the UN and other international organisations, not to mention the thousands of women - and men - on the ground who selflessly devote their lives to standing up for the rights of their sisters. But there is still a long way to go.

Just last week I co-signed a letter to the Nicaraguan ambassador to Brussels, written by my colleague on the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee, urging him to respect the human rights of women's rights activists in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, a country where abortion is illegal in every instance, including when the life of the mother is at risk, women's rights defenders have faced physical harassment and intimidation by the government.

This is just one example of women still facing violence and harassment purely because they are women. It is clear that, on this day especially, we must ensure that we all continue to work to eliminate the horror of gender-based violence.

TOO MANY WOMEN JAILED

I recently wrote this letter to the Independent in response to their article "Action of Scandle of Women in Jail"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/action-on-scandal-of-women-in-jail-888281.html

Dear Editor,
The Justice minister Maria Eagle's promise to make a "significant" cut to the number of women in jail and reinvest the savings in community-based rehabilitation (report, 8 August) has been long awaited by women and prisoners' rights campaigners.

The women's prison population has increased by more than 170 per cent over the past 10 years, even though the nature and seriousness of women's offending has not changed. By comparison, the men's prison population has risen by just 50 per cent over the same period.

In the vast majority of cases, prison is an inappropriate and damaging place for female offenders, who pose a much lower level of risk to the public than their male counterparts. Female offenders are also much more likely to be solely responsible for the care of children and running a home. When a mother is imprisoned, it is not just a sentence for her but also for her children, who face years of fostering or local authority care.

Thirteen years on from the Learmont inquiry, which concluded that women should be held in small self-contained units in urban areas, I hope that these reforms to the imprisonment of women will be made now.

Mary Honeyball MEP
Labour Spokesperson in the European Parliament, Women's Rights Committee

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-widespread-illiteracy-891442.html

ADVERTS AND STEREOTYPES

Recently the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality committee voted on a report on how marketing and advertising effect equality between men and women. We are surrounded by advertising in our day-to-day lives in newspapers, magazines, poster advertising, on the web and of course, on television. Advertisers are very talented at creating and reflecting trends in society in order to sell their products. To communicate with us their messages need to be very clear and pared down. Sometimes though, the necessity to be clear can lead advertisers to oversimplify a situation or to stereotype people. This can become a serious problem if the same message about a certain group of people is enforced over and over again. Children are particularly susceptible to the messages of advertising and we need to be careful that we are not giving them a skewed view of the world. For example, a recent British Medical Council Report highlights the fact that while advertising featuring extremely thin women does not directly cause eating disorders in young women, they do contribute to the problem by reinforcing the message that ‘thin’ equals good, successful and in control.

This is not to say that all advertising is bad, in fact, in the UK are lucky as Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority have very clear guidelines about stereotyping in advertising, and advertisers themselves have been good at avoiding direct stereotyping. It is no longer good enough in the UK to put a woman in a bikini beside a car or piece of furniture in order to sell it. British consumers demand more from advertising and as a result the bulk of our advertising is clever, sharp and often very witty.

Unfortunately this is not the case across the EU. In some countries women are still objectified like a product in order to sell a product. This is plainly wrong as it reinforces the message that women can literally be bought and sold. One of the positive things about the EU is that member states can learn from each others successes.

In Parliament's report, I tabled amendments that were examples of best practice from the UK that were calling for a European-wide set of standards that advertisers could use to self-regulate, much like we already do here in the UK. The report is going to be voted on by the entire parliament in September and I am hopeful that these measures will go through. I believe it’s a really important step in the battle for equality between women and men.

IN SUPPORT OF 24 WEEKS

Today two horrific stories have been playing on my mind:

The first of a 14 year old girl in Poland who was raped by a school friend. She and her mother decided that she should have an abortion. Even though abortion is illegal in Poland under 'normal' circumstances it is legal if the pregnancy is the result of a crime. Nevertheless, when the young girl and her mother went to her doctor the doctor not only refused to perform the abortion but called in Fr Krzystof Podstaka, an anti-abortion campaigner, to 'talk' to the girl. When the girl and her mother went to a different clinic is Warsaw Fr Podstaka was there this time with a group of campaigners and managed to prevent the abortion taking place. Fr Podstaka also filed charges against the girl's mother accusing her of 'coercing' her daughter into having the abortion. Although the court should have dismissed the case immediately as her mother was acting as the child's legal guardian, the court started hearing witnesses that the girl should be put into foster care.

Thankfully, at the last minute Poland's minister for health Ewa Kopacz intervened and found a clinic willing to perform the abortion. Kopacz now finds herself the focus of anti-abortionist's campaigns; the girl's mother still faces criminal charges. The first doctor who called Fr Podstaka faces no legal recrimination over breach of confidentiality as this is only an ethical guideline in Poland and not a legal requirement.

In Romania, an 11 year old girl, the victim of a horrendous rape by her uncle and is now 20 weeks pregnant is going through similar political wrangling. In Romania abortion is legal to up to just 14 weeks of pregnancy. The girl's family did not suspect that their 11 year old was pregnant until her 17th week. The girl's option is now to go to Britain to have this abortion performed as, thankfully, we have kept our 24 week limit. But things are not that easy for her. Two separate local government committees have passed two separate and contradictory rulings on her case. One has stated she should be allowed go to Britain, the other stating that as the mother and foetus are physically healthy the pregnancy should continue.

One wonders why these people do not take into account the mental health of this girl who has obviously suffered severe trauma after a rape and now pregnancy. Why do they insist she should be further tortured by carrying the pregnancy to term?

A government committee will rule tomorrow as to whether this girl's ordeal will be put to an end and allow her to travel to the UK.

Luckily in the UK very few abortions take place so late in the term of a pregnancy but we are equally lucky that the option still remains. I think these two cases serve as a stark reminder as why the 24 week limit is so very important for women in the UK.

BONKERS BORIS SACKS WOMEN

No-one expected Bonkers Boris to stand up for women's rights. The Tories' record is appalling. Their MEPs have consistently opposed measures to improve women's lives including, amazingly, failing to support a resolution calling for the banning of female genital mutilation across the EU.

I have just come from a meeting of the European Parliament Culture and Education Committee where one of the Conservative MEPs voted against a report calling for women to be encouraged to study science and technology and take up management positions.

So it's no surprise that Boris Johnson has purged women from City Hall and scrapped the post of women's adviser held by Anni Marjoram. Anni did a good job for Ken Livingstone on behalf of women. Ken maintained one of the few dedicated women's rights officers in the public sector anywhere in Europe. London led the way, but sadly does so no more.

The Tories want to take us back to a time before equality of opportunity, a time when women were denied the chances they now have. For all our sakes, we cannot let that happen.