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.

RISING FEMALE CRIME

Crime is indefensible. Committing crime is wrong and offenders must be brought to book in whatever way is appropriate for the crime they committed, the way we view that crime and the various rules and regulations about sentencing convicted offenders. I would never agree to any criminal being given an easy rise. Having spent some time in the Probation Service before becoming an MEP, I have seen the effects of crime first hand.

It is not possible to gloss over the increase in crime, particularly violent crime, amongst young women. Crime by young women and girls has risen by 25 percent. According to a report from the Youth Justice Board the number of crimes committed by girls aged ten to 17 climbed from 47,000 to 59,000 between 2003-4 and 2006-7. The figure for boys over the same period went down slightly from 240,000 to 236,000.

The proportional rise in female crime while that for young men has decreased is worrying. Predictably the Daily Mail's resident siren anti-woman, anti-Labour voice, Melanie Phillips, has waded in, ranting on 12 May, "As a result of the feminist revolution, women have commandeered the freedoms and entitlements of the masculine world - while men themselves have now been largely reduced to sperm banks, walking wallets and occasional au pairs."

Notwithstanding the arrant nonsense of Ms Phillips's last couple of lines, her main contention - that feminism has made women more like men - needs addressing. There is no doubt that there has been a convergence between male and female behaviour. Young women now outperform young men at school. Women enter the labour market in much the same way as men. Equal pay legislation and improved childcare have allowed women to develop their careers, although more still needs to be done.

All this has helped our economy as well as providing fulfilment for women. Both men and women who are from generations younger than Ms Phillips's baby boomers, take women's participation in the world of work as a given. I doubt they would want women to stay at home tied to the kitchen sink as Ms Phillips hints at another point in her article, even if they could afford it. Interestingly Melanie Phillips herself earns a decent crust, presumably unencumbered by outdated notions of a woman's place.

Now that women go to work and may take part in our society more or less on a par with men, we are finding that there is a downside - female crime is going up. This is obviously not desirable and we must all work to reduce crime. The Daily Mail blaming modern feminism does nothing to help.