Lesley's World

Valentine world peace quote - William Gladstone

2012-02-14T10:19:00.000Z

My Valentine day message.

"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."
British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1809-1898)

The Arab Spring turns to bleak winter for Tunisian women in 23 October elections. Political Leaders ensure Democracy is for ‘men-only’.

2011-10-22T12:00:00.001+01:00

A democratic future for Tunisia looks asthough it has fallen at the first hurdle. Tunisia's elections should have been agreat day for Arab women, but Tunisia's Party Leaders have broken one of the first election rules they agreed uponin the new liberated Tunisia – namely that there would be a gender balance of50% women and 50% men as candidates in the election. An opinion poll carried out by Global Management Services showed that a 50 percent women quota on the ballot papers had more supporters than opponents among the Tunisian population – (45.2% for and 41.1% against). Even Tunisia’s largest Islamist movement, Nahda, which was forbidden during the old regime and is now standing in the upcoming elections, gave their supports to quotas.

In a Zipper system similarto the system successfully used in the Nordic countries Tunisian political parties are required to havealternate women and men’s names on theirparty lists of candidates for the constitutional assembly elections but there is little expectation that more than 10 %of the 217 seats will go to women in tomorrow's election. Onlycandidates on top of the lists are likely to win a seat, and women only headabout 5 % of the lists.

This betrayal of half Tunisia’s populationin such a shameful way means the new assembly elected to rewrite theconstitution will be dominated by menwith possibly disastrous downstream consequences for women’s lives in Tunisia, which prides itselfas the most feminist country in the region. In 1956, after independence fromthe French, women's rights were enshrined in law, banning multiple marriagesand forced unilateral divorce. There is a minimum marriage age of 18 and rightsfor divorced women which are unprecedented in the Arab world. Women in headscarvesrub shoulders with others in tight jeans and loose hair. More than 80% of adultfemales are literate, the contraception rate is high and women make up half thestudent population, a third of magistrates and a quarter of the diplomaticcorps.

It does not bodewell for a democratic accountable transparent future when political leaders soblatantly flout their own rules at the firstelections.

Time to include Kosovo in the 2012 Olympics.

2011-09-24T18:59:00.000+01:00

Can someone explain to me why the International Olympic Committee refuses to recognise Kosovo?

I had lunch in London the other day with Vlora Citaku, Minister of European Integration for Kosovo. I asked why she was wearing a lapel badge with 2012 London Olympic Games symbol. She said she is lobbying for Kosovo to be allowed to participate in the Olympics. What obscure quirk of is preventing Kosovo from being allowed to participate in the London Olympics? Over 89 nations have recognised Kosovo as an independent nation.

Judo gold medallist Majlinda Kelmendi's dream of winning gold at London 2012 depends on the IOC formally recognising Kosovo as an independent nation. 19-year-old Kosovar sports star Majlinda Kelmendi (pictured right ) won the Gold medal at the World Junior European Judo Championships and is currently ranked fifth in the world in the Olympic rankings.

Afghan women must participate at Taliban talks.

2011-07-11T16:17:00.002+01:00

Did any of you watch BBC journalist Lyse Doucet’s brilliant film on Afghanistan on BBC last night? It made me want to rush off and ski in Bamyan the valley where the famous Buddhas were blown up by Taliban. I felt quite nostalgic about Bamyan when I saw the programme. I was there for a week back in April 2005. The valley was blooming with apple blossom and in that beautiful clear light it felt like Shangri-la.

Lyse Doucet’s documentary was a wonderful contrast to the wham, bam wallop documentaries on Helmand and military. I cheered at her clever (and brave) questioning of the Governor of Kandahar – pity we couldn’t hear his answer when she tackled him about his reputation for drugs and corruption.

In addition to going after Osama bin Laden and getting rid of Taliban one of the main justifications for the UK and US and the rest of the international community going in to Afghanistan was clearly spelt out by world Leaders. The rights of Afghan women loomed large. I know from my own boots-on-the-ground time in Afghanistan how much this had cheered and encouraged Afghan women.

Are they about to be betrayed? In talks with Taliban how are the international community and Afghan Government making sure women fully participate at all the peace talk tables in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325?
Write to your MP, the Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague and demand that in all peace talks with Taliban Afghan women must also participate. There are plenty of Afghan women’s NGO leaders who could participate. No talks without the women’s full and equal participation.

When people talk of reconciliation with the Taliban, should we not ask who they intend to include? Women need seats at the table when negotiations take place. Otherwise it's hard for women to believe that Taliban re-integration is sincere and not a charade for foreign observers which will dissolve the minute troops withdraw. Women’s participation is fully in line with UK government policy to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 which calls for participation of women at all levels of peace talks and with the similar European Parliament Resolution - Gender Aspects of Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding A5-0308/2000.

New polling shows women dump the Lib Dems

2011-07-06T09:13:00.000+01:00

Polling shows women have dumped the Lib Dems. Latest statistics from IPSOS/MORI on how women and men say they would vote if the election were held now shows Lib Dems have dropped from an 8 point lead with women voters compared to men to a 2 point deficit with women voters.

Back in April 2010 (i.e. just ahead of the general election) 32% of the public said they would vote LibDem, this divided into 28% men compared to 36% women, a remarkable 8% gender gap between the sexes.

Current polling shows the Lib Dem vote has haemorrhaged to 11% of voters who say they would vote Liberal Democrat. This 11% is composed of 12% men and a mere 10% women.

It has been clear for decades the way women vote determines the outcome of elections. For example, a recent article mentioned that if women had never got the vote, there would have been no Labour governments at all since 1945.

To become a credible political party, the Liberal Democrat Party must address this dangerous loss of women’s support. A conclusion in the recent Young Fabian analysis suggests there may well be no women in the Parliamentary Party whatsoever after the next election.

What to do? More exhortation dumped on the backs of women to put themselves forward, try harder, dig deeper into their shallow pockets, run around like scalded hens seeking a constituency in the face of the Party’s long history of disdain for women at authoritative levels (not one woman at the Party’s negotiating tables when the Coalition was being hammered out) is a failed ‘policy’. Until the Party faces up to the seriousness of its situation re. women, it cannot continue to claim it reflects reality nor that it is a suitable instrument in Parliament to represent the philosophy of liberalism itself.

Good news from Moroccan women

2011-05-26T09:40:00.004+01:00

The new 18-member Moroccan Consultative Commission for the Constitutional Reform includes five women - better than Egypt, but not as advanced as Morocco.There are no women on Egypt's constitutional committee that created its recent reforms.The transitional government in Tunisia has agreed on Gender parity for the National Assembly that will draft the country’s new constitution.

The Feminist Spring for Equality and Democracy coalition - comprising women’s rights groups in Morocco - presented demands to the new Morocco Consultative Commission. Three key demands are:

•The primacy of international conventions such as CEDAW over national laws
•Equality in civil rights between men and women
•Institutionalization of affirmative mechanisms for women’s substantive equality

The Feminist Spring for Equality and Democracy coalition have called upon women’s supporters worldwide to sign a letter of endorsement. In addition the Moroccan Minister of Women’s Affairs, Nouzha Skalli, has announced the Moroccan government will ratify the CEDAW Optional Protocol. The optional protocol includes an inquiry procedure, as well as a complaints procedure. An inquiry procedure enables the CEDAW Committee to conduct inquiries into serious and systematic abuses of women's human rights in countries that become States parties to the Optional Protocol. It is modelled on an existing human rights inquiry procedure, article 20 of the International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

David Laws MP: candidates should be judged by the content of their character

2011-05-12T15:25:00.000+01:00

David Laws has been found guilty by the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee for breaking "around six" rules. I wonder what character standards David Law had in mind when he wrote he opposed all-women short-lists to increase the number of women parliamentary candidates "because people should be judged by the content of their character."

In 2004 David Laws MP, wrote in the Orange Book, setting out his vision for the Liberal Democrat Party:
"The Liberal Democrat Party’s persistent refusal to adopt politically correct ‘women-only’ shortlists for Parliamentary selection processes shows that the bright light of personal liberalism – judging people by the content of their character, not by the category they appear to fit into – burns brightly. Long may it do so."

On May 12 2011 The Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee stated: "Mr Laws was guilty of a series of serious breaches of the rules, over a considerable time. We recommend that Mr Laws should be suspended from the service of the House for a period of 7 sitting days.... Mr Laws should also apologize to the House by way of a personal statement."

Lesley Abdela's vision of the year 2050

2011-05-11T13:47:00.000+01:00

It is 2050. Over half of the world’s leading Decision-makers are now women, many of them with backgrounds in human rights advocacy, environmental sciences and peace-building. As historians tell it, the big shift to pluralist democracy came about once the International Community recognised that men on their own are no good at achieving peace after deadly conflicts. Throughout the last years of the 20th Century into the first decade of this century most wars broke out again within 10 years. The big shift came in 2020 with an international agreement that henceforth no international treaty or peace agreement was valid unless at least half the mediators, negotiators and signatories were women, and no election results for presidents, prime ministers or parliaments would be recognised unless at least 50% of candidates were women. This led to many imaginative forms of inclusiveness for other groups and to root-and-branch new ways of doing things.

Women insisted peace-building should no longer be left to power-group elites but through meaningful participation at village and community level upwards. Governments replaced Defence Ministries with Ministries for Peace and Human Security focused on freedom from fear and freedom from want. There have been border skirmishes but no major deadly conflict in the past decade.

Once all countries followed Norway’s lead that women must be at least 40% of all Boards, economic and financial policies shifted too. Communism and capitalism alike gradually gave way under the press of feminist economics. Women-led business corporations have become more human-friendly.

Women have led the new grass-roots approaches to use of the world’s resources – especially water and land, the root cause of many of the world’s most intractable conflicts. Another major shift came about with financially favourable terms for arms manufacturers to switch to energy conservation and other peaceful and productive technologies. Empowerment of women also resulted in the much-needed drop in numbers in the world population with their slogan – ‘every baby a wanted baby’. Following the rash of early 21st Century ‘Face-book’ revolutions, old-fashioned male-led hierarchical international organisations such as the EU, UN, World Bank etc. became obsolete, replaced by new channels and social communities for international interaction and communication. China’s women led their country to a uniquely Chinese version of pluralist democracy. America’s Latino, Black, White, Jewish, Muslim women and women from across other groups transformed national politics from plutocracy to a participatory pluralist democracy.

A big block to overcome were intolerant attitudes and the fanaticism of a generation of young men who grew up in the late 20th and early part of the 21st Century indoctrinated by religious leaders – the use of physical and psychological intimidation was hard to combat. This changed once women in large numbers became leaders of the world’s religions and once religions were excluded from political power (Pope Joan has decided to live in a modest cottage in Tuscany where she manages an organic farm part-time).

PS. Even the British Liberal Democrat party at last achieved a gender balance of women ministers and MPs, mainly as a result of a merger with the Green Party, following a year as partner in the Green-led Coalition Government - voted into power as a result of the truly proportional representation/single transferable vote system.

This article by Lesley Abdela was first published in OpenDemocracy.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/postcard/lesley-abdela

'YES' to AV. 1066 and all that!

2011-04-30T10:35:00.001+01:00

Royal Weddings apart, there is still a lot to be said for this country. May 5 is the date of the referendum on electoral reform in UK. At national level the debate on the Alternative Vote system (AV) has been grubby with personal mud-slinging. In many countries, where I work, debates on constitutional reform trigger personal threats to the safety of the protagonists and even murders. However last week’s AV debate in the Baptist Hall in Battle restored my faith that true civilised democratic debate is still alive and well.
In 1066 the Battle of Hastings was the decisive victory in the Norman Conquest of England. The actual battle took place 6 miles north of Hastings where the small East Sussex town of Battle stands today. In my role as Vice President of the Electoral Reform Society I saw a more civilised battle take place there last week. Speakers on both sides were informative, gave insights into history with wit, humour and courtesy.
Opening Speaker Richard Moore stalwart of Liberal International and Clive Bishop led for the ‘YES’ vote campaign. Clive Bishop, a management consultant, was born and brought up in Battle. The AV campaign has turned him into a citizen activist He said “When I went to join my local ‘YES’ group I found there wasn’t one. I set up the 1066 ‘Yes to Fairer Votes’ campaign in the Hastings, Bexhill, Battle ad Rye area”. Opposing Speakers to AV were Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle Greg Barker and John Barnes, a local County Councillor, but also a member of the Government Department at the London School of Economics from 1964 – 2004. Barnes was such a convincing speaker against AV that my Partner Tim would have changed his vote if he hadn’t already sent off his postal ballot!
Hugh Arbuthnott CMG a former British Ambassador to Portugal, Romania and Denmark chaired the debate. There was plenty of passionate audience participation. A man with a white beard seated behind me, a decorated war veteran from World War 2 was a fiery rebel against the status quo. An 18 year old school boy said they learned nothing about political issues at school these days then asked a really hot question (can’t remember what it was). The turnout for a small town on a Summer evening was a surprise – over 70 people – more than the hall could easily accommodate some had to be sent to the overflow gallery upstairs. In a straw poll at the end of the evening around two thirds of the audience voted ‘YES’ to AV.
I voted ‘YES’ to AV because I view the strategy for UK becoming a democratic state with a Proportional voting system as similar to the campaign for women’s suffrage. The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave only women of property over the age of 30 the right to vote – not all women, but it was a major start. Ten years later The Representation of the People’s Act gave women the vote on equal terms as men (over the age of 21). ). I am voting ‘Yes’ to AV because I view it as a step toward Proportional Representation. I look forward to the next Representation of the People’s Act giving British voters an authentic form of Proportional Representation.

Why no women on the UK delegation to the IPU in Panama?

2011-04-15T12:49:00.004+01:00

I would like to be proud that my own country UK would lead by example, but instead
I feel angry and ashamed. A Swedish colleague just e-mailed me to say the UK has sent an all-male delegation of 8 MPs to this week’s Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Panama. It is embarassing. I spend most of my life promoting women’s participation in politics across the world. I am outraged.113 other countries sent delegations that include women, why not my own country the UK?

The Geneva based IPU is a global voice and forum for Parliamentarians from 154 national Parliaments. I know first-hand the IPU has been in the forefront of promoting women’s participation in parliaments worldwide. IPU view Gender equality as part of their great work helping to build better and more democratic parliaments. A unique aspect of their activities is that all IPU Member countries should send a Gender balanced team of parliamentarians to participate in their bi-annual Assemblies (a role model for EU, UN et al).

It was bad enough that a year ago David Cameron and Nick Clegg et al forgot (or decided not) to include women in negotiations that resulted in Coalition Government.

In our recent assessment of the IPU Gender Programmes we wrote,”We found the IPU to be much appreciated and trusted by Parliamentarians worldwide as an organisation with a shared wealth of knowledge and experience of the realities of the role of Parliamentarians. This trust and respect the Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Secretariat officials hold for the IPU is a major asset in its work with Parliaments on Gender and Women’s Rights because it confers credibility on the work of the Gender Programme. Advocacy on Gender equality and Women’s Rights is not universally popular. The fact it is the IPU promoting these issues carries real weight with Parliamentarians and the officials in Parliamentary Secretariats.”

The Joint Gender Review of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was commissioned by the Swedish International Development Authority (Sida) together with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Irish Aid. The Review took place between 1 April 2010 and 7 July 2010. The IPU Review was carried out by specialist Gender team Lesley Abdela and Ann Boman for Swedish consultancy InDevelop between 1 April 2010 and 7 July 2010.www.indevelop.se/publications/review-of-inter-parliametnary-unions-gender-program-gender-equality-in-politics

EU political parties must raise the issue of women’s rights in North Africa.

2011-04-12T09:27:00.001+01:00

"EU political parties must raise the issue of women’s rights with counterpart parties in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria."

At the EuroMed Human Rights Network meeting in Madrid (7/8/9April) women activists from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Palestine made this request to their colleagues from EU countries: “Ask your political Leaders and political parties to raise the issue of women’s rights whenever they meet their counterparts from Arab countries.” Their message to EU politicians is,“We want women’s human rights and equality in law, political rights, employment rights, property rights and family and social rights enshrined in our Constitutions.”
I was Facilitator for the day for the EMHRN Gender Network Seminar on ’Women’s meaningful participation in Transition.’ The urgency and excitement at the event was palpable. The women from Southern Mediterranean countries realise the Jasmine Revolutions have opened a brief unexpectd window of opportunity for women and men to gain rights and freedoms for too long denied them. Our Tunisian colleague at the meeting, a lawyer on the Tunisia Transition Governing Council was continually texting back to her colleagues. They were lobbying for a 50/50 gender balance in politics.

Saudi Women Demand Equality

2011-03-29T09:29:00.000+01:00

Saudi Women Inspired by Fall of Mubarak Step Up Equality Demand
By Donna Abu-Nasr - Mar 28, 2011 11:00 PM GMT Mon Mar 28 22:00:01 GMT 2011
Activists among Saudi Arabia’s women, who can’t drive or vote and need male approval to work and travel, are turning to the type of online organizing that helped topple Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to force change in a system they say treats them like children.

The “Baladi” or “My Country” campaign is focused on this year’s municipal elections, only the second nationwide ballot that the absolute monarchy has allowed. The election board yesterday said women will be excluded from the Sept. 22 vote. Another group, the Saudi Women’s Revolution, citing inspiration from the Arab activism that grew into revolts against Mubarak and Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is pressing for equal treatment and urging international support.
The wave of anti-regime protests that spread from Tunisia and Egypt into some of Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf neighbors, such as Bahrain and Oman, hasn’t translated into mass street demonstrations in the kingdom that holds the world’s biggest oil reserves. Saudi rulers have taken steps to ensure it won’t, pledging almost $100 billion of spending on homes, jobs and benefits. They also deployed thousands of police in Riyadh on March 11, when a protest was planned by Internet organizers -- a group that increasingly includes Saudi women.
“Women are raised to fear men and to fear speaking out,” said Mona al-Ahmed, a 25-year-old in the coastal city of Jeddah. She said she joined the Women’s Revolution campaign after her brother refused to let her take her dream job, as a biochemist, because it would involve working in a mixed-gender environment. “I opened my eyes one day and said, ‘This is not the life I want’,” al-Ahmed said in a phone interview.
Least Democratic State
Like other opposition and protest groups in Saudi Arabia, the women’s movement faces a tough task. The kingdom ranked as the least democratic state in the Middle East, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 Democracy Index.
“Women will not participate in this session,” Abdul- Rahman al-Dahmash, director of the kingdom’s electoral commission, said at a press conference yesterday, referring to the municipal balloting. “There is a plan, though not with a definite time, to put in place a framework so that women can participate in upcoming elections.”
Baladi said on its Facebook page that Saudi women “are like other women in the world who have hopes and ambitions” and must be allowed to vote.
While Saudi Arabia was placed in the top one-third of nations in the United Nations 2010 Human Development Report -- higher than European Union member Bulgaria -- its score for gender equality was much lower. On that UN measure, which includes assessments of reproductive health and participation in politics and the labor market, the country ranked 128th of 138 nations, below Iran and Pakistan.
‘You Are Divorced’
Saudi Arabia enforces the Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam and its clerics say that requires strict segregation of the sexes, including in government offices, workplaces and public spaces such as restaurants. Other areas of discontent highlighted by women writers and activists include family law. A Saudi man can end his marriage by telling his wife, “You are divorced,” while women must go to a court or an authorized cleric to get a dissolution. Custody of children above a certain age is usually granted to the father.
Saudi Arabia is also one of the few countries that has a high rate of executions for women, Amnesty International said in a 2008 report. Adultery is among the capital offenses.
“Authorities continue to systematically suppress or fail to protect the rights of nine million Saudi women and girls,” Human Rights Watch said in a January report on the country. In an open letter to Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal two months earlier, the group urged his government to meet pledges it had made to “end the system of male guardianship over women, to give full legal identity to Saudi women, and to prohibit gender discrimination.”
‘Treated Like Minors’
Those are among the goals of the Women’s Revolution group, which began as an exchange of Twitter messages among likeminded women, and now has more than 2,000 Facebook supporters. “Women are treated like minors, except if they commit a crime,” the group said in a statement on Facebook. “Then they are equal.”
Alia al-Faqih, 19, said this year’s Arab revolts inspired her to join the group and demand change in her country.
“The protesters in Egypt and Tunisia did something that was almost impossible,” she said in a telephone interview from Jeddah. “If they could bring down two tough presidents, why can’t we demand our rights?”
Improve Access
Saudi Arabia’s ruler, King Abdullah, who turns 87 this year, has pledged to improve the status of women. He opened the kingdom’s first co-educational university in 2009, appointed its first female deputy minister, Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, the same year, and has promised steps to improve access to jobs for women, who make up about 15 percent of the workforce. That would help improve productivity in the kingdom’s oil-dominated economy, say analysts including John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi.
A change of policy in 2008 allowed women to stay in hotels without male guardians, and an amendment to the Labor Law allowed women to work in all fields “suitable to their nature.” Women can now study law at university, without being allowed to practice as lawyers in courts.
At some companies, such as billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co. (KINGDOM), women are permitted to work alongside men. That isn’t typical, though. Most companies that hire women must provide a women-only section that is off- limits to the male staff.
Human Rights Watch concluded in January that “reforms to date have involved largely symbolic steps to improve the visibility of women.”
Lingerie Dispute
Some measures have been opposed by religious traditionalists. Others that are on the statute books haven’t been implemented, including a 2006 law that says only female staff can be employed in women’s clothing stores.
That issue has prompted petitions and even boycotts of lingerie stores in recent years by women activists angry that, while required to cover themselves in black cloaks in public, they are also obliged to discuss intimate details about their underwear with men, who monopolize most sales jobs under current practice. Reem Asaad, who has spearheaded the campaign, said more actions are planned in the coming months.
The Baladi campaigners, who are focusing on the elections, say that gaining the vote would help change the outside world’s perception of Saudi women, as well as improving their lives.
“The stereotype of women in Saudi Arabia is that they are unaccounted for, incapable of reacting to their surroundings and vulnerable to cruelty,” the group said on its Facebook page, which has more than 2,000 followers. “It is vital to contribute to change such perceptions.”
‘Claims of Reform’
The last municipal election in 2005 was the first full nationwide ballot the country has held, even though only half of the council members were elected and the rest appointed. It was held at a time when the kingdom was under international pressure to reform after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., in which most participants were Saudi citizens. Some regime critics have blamed the lack of democracy for the prevalence of an Islamist ideology that offers justification for militant acts.
The breadth of the franchise in this year’s vote is a test of sincerity for Saudi rulers, said Hatoon al-Fassi, one of the Baladi campaigners. Expanding it to include women “would show that Saudi Arabia is serious about its claims of reform,” she said in an interview yesterday -- hours before the government announced that women won’t be allowed to vote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Dubai at gcarey8@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.

Lesley Abdela - Email, Address, Phone numbers, everything! 123people.co.uk

2011-03-27T12:25:00.000+01:00

Lesley Abdela - Email, Address, Phone numbers, everything! 123people.co.uk

Queen Elizabeth speaks about women's rights!

2011-03-14T16:50:00.001Z

This is the first time I have ever seen HRH Queen Elizabeth speak about women's rights! Visit

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8JTJFQvtso

Telegraph obituary of a remarkable woman

2011-03-09T15:17:00.001Z

The vast majority of British newspaper obituaries celebrate the lives of men. This link is to an obituary in the Telegraph celebrating the life of a remarkable woman.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8369390/Christine-Parker.html

Women in Parliaments globally here is the latest news

2011-03-07T11:53:00.001Z

The survey, released By the IPU on the eve of International Women’s Day has the following key findings:

• 19.1% of parliamentarians worldwide are women. A small but significant gain: previous stats were: 13.1% in 2000 and 16.3% in 2005.
• In 2010 ten parliamentary chambers reached 30%, bringing to a total of 43 the number to have met the UN target.
• Three of the renewed chambers passed the 40% mark, bringing the number with more than 40% of women members to 11.

• Media coverage for women candidates and politicians was still weaker than the coverage given to men.

In the different regions
• In 2010, there were renewals for 67 chambers in 48 countries. Half of them brought more women into parliament.
• Despite some progress, mainly due to quotas, the average for the Arab States remained low.
• Northern European countries kept a relatively high percentage of women in their lower houses: Belgium with 39.3%, the Netherlands with 40.7% and Sweden with 45.0%.
• Progress was nil in the Pacific Island States: no women candidates won seats in Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu or Tonga.
Arab States: Although they are at the bottom of the world table for women in parliament, the Arab States continue to progress: 4.3% in 1995, 9.5% in 2009 and 11.7% in 2010. The large variation in the region is a function of quotas. In Bahrain, only one woman, who was unopposed, was elected. Meanwhile 22.5% of women were appointed to Bahrain’s upper house. In Jordan, with a strengthened quota system, there are now 13 women parliamentarians, including Jordan’s first Bedouin woman. In Sudan, despite a fatwa banning women from running for President, for the first time a woman competed for the presidency. In Iraq, the number of women parliamentarians in the lower house increased, although most parties failed to meet their 25% women-candidate quota. Qatar was the only Arab country to appoint no women parliamentarians in 2010.
In the Americas,. Three more women heads of State were elected. Costa Rica maintained its high level of participation of women in parliament with 38.6%. The US mid-term elections saw a record number of women running for the both houses of Congress, but this did not lead to major gains.
Nordic Countries: The Nordic countries maintained their position at the top of the regional chart with a 41.6% average. Sweden’s chamber was the only one to be renewed in the region in 2010, and despite a drop of 2.3 percentage points it maintained an impressive 45% of women in parliament.
The European average is stable at 20%. Most of the 14 chambers up for renewal saw little change. The exception was the Czech Republic, which saw 6.5 and 3.7 point increases in its lower and upper houses, respectively. Nevertheless, not a single woman cabinet minister was appointed in Prague. Neighbouring Slovakia elected its first woman prime minister. The average in the Netherlands increased to 40.7%. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 16.7% of members of parliament are women despite an election law that requires one in every three candidates to be a woman, but it is still an improvement on 2006. In London, the House of Commons chalked up a 2.2 percentage point gain (up to 22%). Kyrgyzstan still has one of the highest rates of women parliamentarians in the region and elected its first women president in 2010. With a rise of 4.5 percentage points bringing women’s representation up to 22%, Uzbekistan is on track to reach the 30% target in its lower house.
Sub-Saharan Africa saw no big changes. Ethiopia, Madagascar and Tanzania recorded improvements. Burundi consolidated its representation of women in the lower house with an increase of 2.5 percentage points to 32.1%, as well as a significant rise in the upper house (to 46.3%), largely due to its quota system. Women’s representation in Sao Tome and Principe increased from 7.3% in 2006 to 18.2% in 2010 without any quota.
Asia saw a drop in the number of women parliamentarians. In a year of high-profile elections in the region, its average fell to 18%. Afghanistan’s polls saw an increase of just 0.4 points. In the Philippines, where there have been two women presidents in the past 25 years and the proportion of women in government has increased every year, the figure for women in the lower house rose by 1.7 percentage points to 22% while the upper house figure fell by 4.3 percentage points to 13%. In the Pacific States, the percentage of women parliamentarians dropped from 15.3% in 2009 to 11.7% in 2010. Australia’s relatively high proportion of women members inflates the figure for other States that have few or none. Of the five countries with renewals in 2010—Australia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu—only Australia elected any women parliamentarians, as well as saw its first woman prime minister sworn in.
Quotas: Update on Progress
Quotas remain the single most effective way of increasing the number of women in politics. Many countries that have no legislated quotas in the national parliament have voluntary party quotas. In addition, there can be local-level quotas when there are none in the national parliament, such as in Namibia and the Philippines. The result is a greater number of leadership roles for women politicians at different levels in the hierarchy. Egypt’s 2010 election result gives pause for thought. Quotas gave a 10.9 percentage point increase in the number of women members, but not a single woman was elected from outside the quota system. Previously, nine women had been elected to parliament through the normal electoral process. Given that Egypt’s quota system is a temporary measure designed to ‘jumpstart’ a new era of female participation in politics, it will be interesting to see the results of the election that follows the present dissolution of parliament to gauge whether the reserved seat system is the best option.
Media Coverage
A significant issue for women candidates in the 2010 elections was the shortage of both media coverage of them and public appearances by women candidates. A survey of daily election stories in Tanzania revealed that men politicians dominated in election stories, and in Sudan, there were reports that women were getting less media coverage. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were complaints that women candidates’ views were seldom aired. The election of Australia’s first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, met with a media focus on her flame-coloured hair and choice of attire. Attitudes were probably not greatly advanced by the production of the Czech Public Affairs Party’s racy calendar of women politicians. In the US, women’s groups set up an organization to take action on gender-biased reporting.
Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organization, currently brings together 155 affiliated national parliaments and nine regional assemblies as associate Members. The world organization of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer to the United Nations.

Contacts: Mr. James Jennings, Director of Communications. Tel. +41 22 919 41 32; jj@mail.ipu.org
Ms. Luisa Ballin, Information Officer. Tel. +41 22 919 41 16 / 27; lb@mail.ipu.org
Ms. Kareen Jabre, Manager, Gender Partnership Programme. Tel. +41 22 919 41 25, kj@mail.ipu.org - www.ipu.org and http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm

What are you doing 8th March International Women's Day? Stand up and speak out!

2011-03-04T17:07:00.000Z

I'd love to hear what you are all doing on Tuesday 8th March to celebrate the Centenary of International Women's Day. I'll be ‘in discussion’ on March 8 noon with OpenDemocracy editor Rosemary Bechler at the British Council’s London HQ 10 Spring Street, London SW1A (just off Trafalgar Square) from 12 noon, ending after a light lunch circa 2pm. If you would like to come, please RSVP Stella.Markoulaki@britishcouncil.org

What ever you are doing stand up and speak out for women's rights!!!
Lesley Abdela

Human Rights Watch Film Festival 24 March - 1 April London

2011-03-02T16:57:00.000Z

Women’s rights

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to London from 24 March – 1 April with a programme of documentaries and dramas. Eight feature films that engage with the broad spectrum of women’s rights plus two short documentaries by young filmmakers that use personal stories to explore the generational differences in norms of femininity.

For more information go to http://www.hrw.org/iff/londonlinks to film images: http://www.hrwgraphics.com/filmfestival/London2011/Familia/FAMILIA_CROP_LIGGANDE_SMALL2.jpg
http://www.hrwgraphics.com/filmfestival/London2011/LifeAboveAll/press_01.jpg

link to HRWFF logo: http://www.hrwgraphics.com/filmfestival/London2011/Logos/HRWFLogo_2011color_SMALL.tif

Women's Parliamentary Radio interview with Lesley Abdela The UN Godmothers Campaign

2011-02-25T15:59:00.000Z

Visit www.wpradio.co.uk and listen to:

Boni Sones of Women's Parliamentary Radio talks to Lesley Abdela in Central Lobby of the British House Commons at the launch of the UN Godmothers Campaign about for funds of the new UN Agency for women.
PLAY

or

DOWNLOAD

Duration 21 minutes
Download 20 MB

Peaceful transition in Egypt? Women and the South African template!

2011-02-11T12:27:00.001Z

If Egypt and Tunisia want to convince the rest of the world the national tide flows fast towards democracy, what better signal than to make sure a Transitional or Interim government, or any Constitutional Committee, comprises at least 40% women and at least 40% men?

Mubarak has gone! It looks like the Military Council may act as midwives en route to democracy. How will they make sure women are included from the start in any transition Government? Watching BBC TV, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera it is hard not to be struck by the prominence of women in the squares calling for democracy alongside the men. When the going got tough, right there in Liberation (Tahrir) Square women doctors tended the wounded.’

A balance between men and women in Governance of Egypt would not be mere tokenism. Across the political spectrum the region flows with women leaders. Egypt’s cornucopia of women leaders include Nehad Abul Komsan, Chair of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, lawyer Bushra Asfour of the Ghad Party, Dr Hoda Badran, Chair of the Alliance for Arab Women, Dr Laila Takla, President of Egyptian Federation of Women Lawyers, Member of Parliament Syada Greiss and many, many others. Feminist and human rights activist Nawal El Saadawi, a former political prisoner, exiled from Egypt for years, has returned to Cairo. She says, "Women and girls are beside the men and boys in the streets. We call for justice, freedom and equality, and real democracy. We want a new Constitution. There must be no discrimination between men and women, no discrimination between Muslims and Christians.”
A glimpse behind the curtain at previous Egyptian elections helps explain why so many people do not trust the siren calls of ‘Democracy and Equality… (but not yet)’ from Mubarak’s regime. No-one believes the regime can be trusted to run free and fair elections. Between 1995 and 2000 as follow-up to the UN 4th United Nations Conference in Beijing I helped run a series of workshops in Cairo for Egyptian women in politics in partnership with the Arab Women’s League and with the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights. The workshops were sponsored by the British Council.and a German Foundation. Participants complained of massive financial corruption and ballot rigging. At the time I wrote in my notes, ‘one participant said, "1995 was the worst election we have had in Egypt since parliament began. This new element of violence in political life is unprecedented.” She said, “Violence came from the public and the police, armed terrorism and armed counter-terrorism. Those who killed so many people haven't even been tried in the courts."’

‘Throughout the workshop I was asked repeatedly, “How do you deal with violence and financial corruption in elections?” and “As a candidate how do you protect yourself from physical harm?”’

Two former female MPs claimed they had been re-elected by voters but their opponents were announced the winner. One of them said “We won by democracy. We lost by violence. We witnessed fraud. There's no Party that could truly get 79% of seats.”’

‘Egypt could learn a lot from South Africa about peaceful transition, using inclusive wide-reaching consultative processes. South Africa's Constitution, built on an acute awareness of the injustices of the country's past, is still widely regarded as one of the most progressive in the world. Notably, there were approximately an equal number of women and men on the Committee deciding on the Constitution. Women had also played a critical role in the dismantling of Apartheid. During the difficult and protracted end-of-Apartheid negotiations, each time the men wanted to quit the talks, the women insisted they come back and keep talking.’

‘What now if Egypt’s people do overthrow the Mubarak regime? The consultative and inclusive processes used in South Africa in the dismantling of Apartheid would be a good template. In common with many post-conflict regions I have worked in – Kosovo, Aceh, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal - to transition from oppression into a modern, fully- functional state, Egypt’s people will urgently need security system reform of the police, prisons, the judiciary, as well as human security – freedom from fear as well as freedom from want by individuals and communities. South Africa held widespread public consultations, specifically including the women. The active involvement of women in South Africa changed the focus of security system reform from a predominantly male technical debate (on issues of size, budget and types of weapons) to the larger issue of human security, the militarised state, and its political and social costs. Discussions resulted in a shift from traditional notions of security to a political framework that placed human security in the form of economic development, alleviation of poverty, access to food and water, education and public safety at the epicentre of the national security framework.’

The young Egyptian women’s rights activist Fatma Emam has called on women all over the world to show solidarity with Egyptian women: “Something that impressed me in this revolution,I saw a feminist movement united, powerful, and engaging in the political situation. We are united for one cause, regardless of ideology, generation or political affiliation. Women showed a great example in this revolution; they were in the front lines: coordinating, strategizing and implementing.”

‘We have just passed the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. A similar Resolution was passed in 2000 by the European Parliament in support of 1325. A recommendation accompanying the EP resolution calls for at least 40% women’s representation in all levels of decision-making in peace–building. Elements of Resolution 1325 could be extremely opportune in bringing about a positive outcome to the street revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

Your signature can help women in conflict countries. Sign our No Women. No Peace. petition (GAPS campaign)

2011-01-10T11:25:00.003Z

Your signature can help women in conflict countries. Sign our petition (see below) and forward to others. Tell the UK Government to make 1325 its New Year’s Resolution and put women in conflict at the top of its foreign policy agenda!

For the past 10 years I have been a member of GAPS-UK (Gender Action for Peace and Security) - an expert working group of peace and development NGOs, consultants, academics and grassroots peace builders. Building on UNSCR 1325, GAPS promotes inclusion of gender perspectives in all aspects of UK policy and practice on peace and security.
Download the GAPS petition sheet (see below) or contact GAPS on nowomennopeace@gaps-uk.org for hard copies and help us collect signatures. We will present the signatures to the UK Government’s new Minister for tackling International Violence Against Women in late January.

Dear Lynne Featherstone,

Make 1325 Your New Year’s Resolution

Welcome to your new post as Minster for tackling International Violence Against Women!
10 years ago the groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was passed; yet millions of women are still wa iting to feel its impact.

Women are a prime target in conflict; sexual violence is used as a weapon. However, when it comes to negotiating and building peace, women are excluded. Women’s participation is key to reducing violence and inequality, building stable societies and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

We believe with the necessary resources and authority your appointment presents a major opportunity to make real progress for women affected by conflict. UNSCR 1325 is an important tool for involving women in shaping peace; now to have impact it must be properly implemented.

We ask you to put women, peace and security at the centre of your work and make 1325 your New Year’s resolution.
Name Postcode Email (please write clearly)
X Tick the final column if you don’t want to receive information from No women, no peace. and X

Please return this completed petition to No women no peace. by 17 January. C/o Women for Women International, 32 - 36 Loman St, SE1 0EH

New UN Agency for Women needs cash,clout and activists

2011-01-01T18:45:00.004Z

On New Year's Eve I was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 'Women’s Hour' by presenter Jenni Murray. My fellow-guest was UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP. The topic for our broadcast discussion was the new United Nations Agency for Women which launches today 1 January 2011.

Former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet, a known fighter for women’s rights, has been chosen to Head the new Agency. The UN Agency must be set up to succeed. It will need : Cash, clout and activists setting the agenda alongside officials and politicians. First budget target is 500million US dollars so far Michelle Bachelet has 175 million dollars for the entire world’s female population. In the competitive UN family it’s a case of no cash, no clout. Without sufficient budget the UN Agency for Women will not get taken seriously by the other international Agencies. UNICEF – the agency for children has a budget of 2 or 3 billion dollars.

To earn credibility the UN Agency for Women needs to be seen to deliver visible results. I want Michelle Bachelet to insist that at least 40% to 50% of people at all top Peace Talk tables from now on are women. This is in line with the UN Security Council’s own Resolution 1325.
I would also like the UN Agency to make it a priority to improve lavatory facilities in schools and girls access to adequate sanitary protection for their monthly menstruation. Not a romantic-sounding issue, but I know from my experiences in Nepal, Serra Leone, and many other countries two key reasons why girls drop out of school are smelly badly located lavatories and lack of adequate sanitary protection for monthly periods.
Girls who get an education increase their choices and chances in life. Increased earning capacity gives a woman the choice to leave a violent husband, more chance of making her voice heard in governance of her community and her country and better earning opportunities to care for her family and access to better health care.

The new body replaces four UN agencies and offices: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW). There is optimism about the choice of former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet to Head the new Agency. A Canadian friend says “Ms Bachelet looks good on paper and has a nice practical as well as political bent to her experience. Can she tame the dogs of war? Can she unite and give clear and visionary direction to the previously fractious four agencies? (UNIFEM, UNDAW, OSAGI and UN-INSTRAW.) ”
Here is the link if anyone would like to listen to the programme - you have to get past the trailer for the items on killer high heels and women Bishops first!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/wrbrl/

Join the UN Godmothers: the Godmothers is a group of men and women who think women everywhere deserve a chance. Together they will watch over UN Women, help keep it on track and protect it from people who’d like to see it fail - everything a good godmother would do. By making sure UN Women gets the powers and funding it needs.UK based Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) have set up a web-site for women and men who want to act as Godmothers. Sign up to be a UN Godmother at www.thegodmothers.org.uk

Home Sweet Home - Or is it? Media workshop on Domestic Violence at the British Council Freetown Sierra Leone

2010-12-03T06:28:00.004Z

This week I'm in Freetown Sierra Leone delivering a British Council workshop for Editors and Journalists on Media coverage of Gender Based Violence. One form of Gender based violence is violence in the home - also known as domestic violence. Domestic violence happens everywhere. Throughout Europe, free Media helps human rights and justice make progress on issues which have historically been hidden, ignored or considered too hot to handle. Journalists and editors with privileged access to the public greater even than politicians share a moral and public duty – virtually a Hippocratic oath – to name and shame the perpetrators of this vicious, deeply cowardly crime.

The words of the song ‘Home Sweet Home’ has a hollow ring for the 1 in 4 women across Europe who will experience domestic violence over their lifetime. Domestic Violence, is a gross violation of human rights, global in reach, cutting across every cultural, political, socio-economic, ethnic, religious and educational boundary. Domestic violence is the physical or mental abuse of one partner by another within an intimate or family relationship. This within-the-home violence happens in all kinds of relationships: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and transgender. It is the repeated, random and habitual use of intimidation to control a partner. The abuse can be physical, emotional, psychological, financial or sexual.

Domestic violence, particularly from men on women, is rarely a one-off attack. Incidents generally become more frequent and severe over time. Domestic violence is caused by the abuser's desire for power and control, at whatever cost to the victim. Every day in communities across Europe, whether Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist or secular, umpteen thousands, perhaps millions of women are being steadily and repeatedly beaten, raped and trapped in their own homes by those closest to them - their husbands, partners or other family members. It can happen to any woman regardless of age, marital status, class or cultural background. Within the European Union, the unspeakably cowardly so-called honour killings within families are also considered to be domestic violence and covered under the general provisions of penal codes even when not explicitly mentioned. In a few countries the laws have been amended and harmonised to remove obstacles in tackling the honour killings issue.

The first modern women’s shelter was established in Chiswick, England, in 1971 by Erin Pizzey, author of the Pelican paperback ‘Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear’. The Chiswick Refuge developed out of an Advice Centre for women and their children as a safe place for women fleeing from violence in the home. Since then, the movement for shelters has grown but it is now more than twenty years ago, in 1986, that the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities recommended one shelter should be available for every 10,000 people in the population.
In countries like Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain and France alone, this would mean a national average of more than six thousand shelters.

In 1995 at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, all the then fifteen Member States of the European Union made commitments to address the issue of violence against women. They also agreed that together as the European Union, they shared responsibility for this issue and correspondingly would develop European strategies to combat violence against women.
At the global level, the UN 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action state:

‘Violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of women's full advancement. Violence against women throughout the life cycle derives essentially from cultural patterns, in particular the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices and all acts of extremism linked to race, sex, language or religion that perpetrate the lower status accorded to women in the family, the workplace, the community and society. Violence against women is exacerbated by social pressures, notably the shame of denouncing certain acts that have been perpetrated against women; women's lack of access to legal information, aid or protection; the lack of laws that effectively prohibit violence against women; failure to reform existing laws; inadequate efforts on the part of public authorities to promote awareness of and enforce existing laws; and the absence of educational and other means to address the causes and consequences of violence.’

A lack of responsible media coverage reinforces in the public and political worlds a ‘traditional’ response that Domestic Violence is a fact of life rather than a crime.
When journalists and editors become inured or even bored with these betrayals of human dignity and human rights, their silence sends a message: violence in the household
is still accepted and acceptable – a ‘normal part of family life’.
©copyright December 2010 Lesley Abdela

-------------------------------------------

Below are further Links and Further sources of information

There are plenty of sources of information for Media wanting to cover Domestic Violence, starting with
Wikipedia.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/90599.php

http://www.coe.int/t/pace/campaign/stopviolence/ActionsbyCountry_en.asp
List of Contact Parliamentarians appointed by national parliaments involved in the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe campaign to combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence (2006–2008)

http://www.coe.int/t/pace/campaign/stopviolence/source/vienna_declaration_en.pdf Vienna, 30 April 2008 - MEPs and leaders of non-governmental organizations came together as part of the Council of Europe‘s ‘Stop Domestic Violence Against Women initiative’
The event was organised jointly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Austrian Parliament. They produced ‘The Vienna Declaration from Final Conference of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence’:

1. We reaffirm the commitment of the national parliaments of the Council of Europe Member States and the parliaments enjoying observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly to combating violence against women, including domestic violence and to taking all the necessary measures to ensure that victims are protected, perpetrators are punished and this human rights violation is prevented.

2. Accordingly, we invite the parliaments of the Member States to continue the work of adopting and/or supervising the application of laws to combat domestic violence against women or, at least, to adopt and/or supervise the application of the seven key measures set out by the Parliamentary Assembly in Resolution 1582 (2007).

3. We invite the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and national

parliaments to continue networking with parliamentarians from the 47 member states involved in action to combat violence against women and to further involve men in this action. We commit ourselves to continue monitoring measures taken at national level, report back to PACE, and, as appropriate, give impetus to further steps needed.

4. We invite the Council of Europe to draw up a European Framework Convention to combat violence against women, including domestic violence and to involve parliamentarians and NGOs in the drafting process. This instrument should take account of the specific aspects linked to equality between women and men and be designed to protect victims, punish perpetrators and prevent this human rights violation.

Combating Violence Against Women, Prof. Dr. Carol Hagemann-White, Judith Katenbrink, and Heike Rabe, Equality Division of the Directorate General of Human Rights of the Council of Europe (2006). (PDF, 68 pages).

This report examines the measures and actions taken by the Council of Europe Member States to combat violence against women, including an examination of their monitoring processes and recommendations. It also includes linking domestic violence with immigration law, as well as linking punishment for domestic violence perpetrators to child contact regulation.

http://www.wave-network.org/start.asp?ID=22650

The violence against women directory of WAVE gives contacts of over 4000 women's help organizations in 46 countries of Europe, as well as information on research, international documents and the legal situation in each country. You can contact the WAVE- Network & European Information Center Against Violence directly or one of WAVE-focal points in 46 countries.

http://www.stopvaw.org

The Stop Violence Against Women website (STOPVAW) - a forum for information, advocacy and change. The Advocates for Human Rights developed this website as a tool for the promotion of women's human rights in countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU). STOPVAW was developed with support from and in consultation with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Open Society Institute's Network Women's Program. STOPVAW provides women's rights advocates with information and advocacy tools focused on ending the most endemic forms of violence against women in the region.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2872/is_1_27/ai_71563361?tag=rel.res1 Europeans And Their Views On Domestic Violence Against Women - European Commission survey results

http://www.womenlobby.org/site/module_cate.asp?DocID=3&v1ID=&RevID=&namePage=&pageParent=&DocID_sousmenu=

The European Women’s Lobby Policy Action Centre on Violence Against Women acts as a central co-coordinating point for information, studies, research, and exchange of models of good practice across the Members States, and above all lobbies for political action to address issues of male violence against women at European level.

The European Women’s Lobby and its member organisations mobilise for the 16 days of activism against Violence against Women - starting on the International Day against Violence against Women, every 25 November, ending on International Human Rights Day, 10th December.

www.womenlobby.org or contact centre-violence@womenlobby.org

United
Nations Population Fund

UNIFEM http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/

Academy-Award winning actress and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman presented an internet
petition with over 5 million signatures from men and women
to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a ceremony at UN Headquarters on 25 November 2008. The petition is part of The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Say NO to Violence against Women global awareness-raising campaign calling on governments to make ending violence against women a top priority.

Global Statistics from AMNESTY http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10309

At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to a study based on 50 surveys from around the world

In the USA, women accounted for 85% of the victims of domestic violence in 1999 (671,110 compared to 120,100 men), according to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women.

The Russian Government estimates 14,000 women were killed by their partners or relatives in 1999, yet the country still has no law specifically addressing domestic violence.

The World Health Organisation has reported that up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners.

In 1996 Professor Elizabeth Stanko estimated the cost of providing services to women and children facing domestic violence in one London borough to be about £90 per year per household and the total cost for Greater London to be £276 million per year.

Relevant human rights law

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) promotes gender equality, equal visibility, empowerment and participation of both sexes in all spheres of public and private life.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) released the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages for ratification in 1962.

The 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) ensures that signatory governments have a responsibility to take all available measures.

Ukraine Women protest topless.

2010-11-27T13:05:00.003Z

I got back to UK from Kyiv last night. Just before I left for Ukraine my son Nik took me for a birthday treat to the John Gielgud Theatre, to see an up to date version of the TV political satire series ’Yes Prime Minister’. Protest methods of Ukraine’s women’s rights defenders would provide excellent material for a ’Yes Prime Minister’script!

Femen a group of young Ukrainian women activists have staged topless protests to promote women's rights and fight for democracy. Femen Leader Anna Hutsul, says ,"If sexuality is used to sell cars and cookies, why not use it for social and political projects.” Just 8 % of the Ukraine Parliament are women, a disgraceful state of affairs (or should it be affair of state?). Femen campaign at the lack of women in Government and Parliament, against violence and discrimination against women. Plus they speak out on hot political topics such as the new tax code and freedom of speech. Anna Hutsul hopes to launch a political party and stand for election to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukraine Parliament).

Ukrainian women say 'No Prime Minister’.
My friend, women’s rights campaigner Olena Suslova and a colleague of hers are taking legal proceedings against Prime Minister Mykola Azorov on grounds of sex discrimination. There's not a single woman to be found among the government's Cabinet Ministers. When asked about the lack of women in his cabinet the Ukrainian Prime Minister replied ” With all respect to women, conducting reforms is not women's business."

This election has women as invisible as if they are all wearing the nicab.

2010-04-28T20:04:00.002+01:00

So far in this election women have been made as invisible as if we we were all wearing the nicab. The election has set back equality in this country.

We are demanding that during the last week of the election the Party Leaders spell out in detail their commitment to the women of this country and globally. We want to hear from them how they will implement policies against all forms of discrimination, including how the cuts will impact on the many diverse lives of women, not only Mums-net; many women over 50 will need to keep earning into their 70s but even Government Headhunters seem to be practising age discrimination; we want to know from Party Leaders about their policies for women pensioners - three quarters of pensioners living in poverty in UK are women; how will Party Leaders address the challenges faced by immigrant and ethnic minority women; we want to know what steps they will take to protect and assist the young girls and their mothers who are raped across our cities as part of gang reprisals; and other violence against women; we want to know in detail from David, Nick and Gordon how they will make sure women are included women in peace talks and treaty discussions in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Nortehrn Ireland and elsewhere in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325; how will they provide access to affordable child-care; we want to know how the impending cuts will impact on many groups of women.

Three weeks election campaigning have passed and politicians, commentators and the News media have engaged in discussions about issues,
strategy and tactics that have been almost entirely male. The TV debates have featured all male politicians moderated by Media Men. Issues such as how the impending cuts will impact on women’s lives have not been discussed. In last week’s foreign affairs debate not once did we hear anything about the 12 million women in Afghanistan or the million of Iraqi women who were promised netter freer, happier lives after the Coalition forces overthrew the existing regimes.

I have never seen so many angry British women leaders as I saw yesterday. The fury cut across party lines, ages, religion sexual orientation and ethnicity.

Yesterday morning I compered the 21st anniversary celebration of the National Alliance of Women. NAWO an umbrella organisation of hundreds of women’s organisations: single issue to specialist organisations, faith groups, health centres, arts-based organisations and others offering services and campaigning across a range of women's concerns.
Despite the birthday cake and champagne, the feeling of betrayal and anger with politicians, their advisors and the Media Men could be felt seeping through the room like poison gas.

At an Election Special Meeting in the evening of female senior professionals and business leaders the audience and my fellow Panel Speakers Dr Katherine Rake Chief Executive The Family and Parenting Institute and Dr Rosie Campbell Senior Lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College , University of London were equally enraged at the way women in theix ountry have been sidelined from the election. The meeting was organised by Kate Grussing of FORUM. in the smart modern office HQ of global corporation Ernst and Young. From the window we had a clear view of the Thames to the target of quivering rage, Parliament.

I read that some 400 women alos unleashed a similar degree of fury yesterday evening at a meeting across the Thames organised by the Fawcett Society at the LSE.

The message is very clear and ominous. If you are a woman, forget a position in the inner circles of any of the main political parties in Britain. Even if you are a senior female politician you will be pushed aside in favour of US style political wives.

We see no reason why a political class which excludes women from the election debates should assume that we believe they will give any more priority to women once the election is over.
All the main political parties have made it very clear they regard women as second class citizens. This election has been a disgrace. It demonstrates clearly why the United Kingdom rates a poor 73rd in the world league table of women in Parliament well below New Zealand, Australia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Nordic and most other EU Member States . UK is likely to slip even further down the league on 6th May.
We hope this will never happen again.

Volcanoe refugee Part 2. Chatelard School, Noel Coward. Richard Burton and Hemingway

2010-04-24T18:45:00.003+01:00

The cost of hotel rooms in Geneva erupted like an Icelandic volcanoe. My colleague Ann and I were concerned about costs so our main worry was to find a place to stay. British friends Mark and Aji living in Geneva came to our rescue like knights in shining armour. Instead of a game of Musical Chairs it was a case of ‘Musical Appartments’. Mark had loaned Aji his ski apartment in Val D’Isere for a long-weekend and we moved into Aji’s Geneva apartment. The architectural style was comfortable 1930s. I could imagine PG Woodhouse’s Bertie Wooster or Agatha Christie’s Detective Poirot entering the quaint little old fashioned lift with its black marble floor and hand operated clanging gates. Ann and I spent much of Friday and Saturday trying to find the best way for Ann to get home to her island in the South of Sweden and me to get home to the East Sussex countryside.

We were originally booked home on Easy-Jet on Friday morning 16th April. As airports across Europe hunkered down other options for finding conventional means of transport narrowed. Eurostar and Rental cars were booked up. Rumours circulated that airports might be shut down for weeks. I began to dream up adventurous ways to get home. Would it be possible to find my way by boat up the canals and rivers across Switzerland and France to one of the French Channel ports? What if I took the train to Italy and hitched a passage on a cargo ship from an Italian port across the Mediterranean into the Atlantic and across the Bay of Biscay?

My final choice of route was more mundane. Early Sunday morning I booked the earliest available seat (the following Tuesday) on the fast speed train to Paris and hence by Eurostar to UK. Ann booked a seat for the Monday train via Basle to Hanover. Her husband would drive 10 hours from Sweden to collect her from Germany. Once we had a roof over our heads and had booked our trains we could relax and explore.

The weather was chilly but sunny. I suggested we make a day excursion to the village of Les Avants where I went to school. To reach the hamlet of Les Avants Ann and I took the train from Geneva through Lausanne to Montreux. The journey to Montreux took less than a couple of hours alongside Lac Leman past vineyards, villas, spring blossom trees and flowers and the Nestlé Chocolate factory at Vevey. At the start and finish of the school-term my train journeys along this line had been at night. At Montreux we boarded the ‘Little Blue Train’ for a 20 minute ride up the mountainside to the tiny sleepy hamlet of Les Avants.

When I was a pupil at the school the words ‘Saloon Bar’ were still engraved in frosted glass on our classroom window, a legacy from the time when the school building had been the fashionable Grand Hotel, in the ski resort of Les Avants. In an early form of climate change the snow-line had moved up the mountains. After Les Avants stopped being a ski resort Chatelard School moved into the building. In Spring the slopes are white with carpets of narcisses. In my memory I could still smell that overpowering perfume even the milk from the grazing cows tasted of it. I had posted boxes of flowers home to my Father and Step-mother in London.
I had hoped to see the slopes of narcisses on this visit, but we were told the blooms won’t flower until May.

We wandered through the school grounds. Chatelard school is now a Roman Catholic centre for girls from Mexico. Virgin Mary statues are dotted around the gardens.

When I was at Chatelard School playwright, composer, actor and singer , Noel Coward, had a villa a little further up the village from our school. I remember our school matron walking and cycling up the road to change the great man’s bandage when he hurt his ankle. When Actor Richard Burton stayed as a guest with Noel Coward we sex-starved teen-age school-girls hung from our balconies by our toe-nails to catch a glimpse of the ‘handsome hulk’ catching the little mountain railway from Les Avants to travel up the line to the fashionable ski-resort of Gstaad where film star Liz Taylor was staying. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were carrying on a clandestine love-affair at that time. I later came across another romantic connection with Les Avants when I was reading an Ernest Hemingway novel. A lovers’ tryst takes place in the village I don’t remember whether it is in ‘Farewell to Arms’ or ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’.

My memories of my time at Chatelard School were happy. Lots of laughter, friendships, lively chatter, and beautiful views. At the end of the Summer Term when the train pulled out of the tiny station by the full moon the village brass band played us out with the song “So long it’s been good to know you.” There was not a dry eye on the train - my class mates came from South America, USA , Ghana, Hong Kong and across Europe. Most of us would never see each other again.

In those days there were 12-13 Swiss francs to the pound, now it’s around 1.5 Swiss Francs to the pound. Our weekly visits to the chalet style Helioda Restaurant were our school-girl treats . We spent most of our our pocket money there on Coupe Danemark and Jus de Pommes (fresh apple juice).

The Rosa Kleb who now runs the Helioda crossed her arms, glared at us and said in French “We stop serving lunch at 1.30”. The only other restaurant in the village was closed for holidays. I said it was 1.28 and asked if she could manage at least a cheese salad or a cheese sandwich. I explained I used to go to school across the road and possibly she could manage an ice-cream for old times sake. Without a trace of warmth she repeated the kitchen is closed and stomped off.

The Station bar was more welcoming. As I sat on the terrace in the sunshine drinking a beer and nibbling nuts I reflected – possibly it is better not to go back to places .The views are still there, but my new memories of Les Avants are gloom and deadness.

My Volcano Diary as a refugee in Switzerland

2010-04-16T23:08:00.003+01:00

It’s strange to find oneself a first world refugee in one of the wealthiest countries In Europe. When I set off on Monday for Switzerland by Easy-Jet I thought the travel would be a doddle. A simple straight forward easy commute and I’d be home in East Sussex for lunch on Friday.

My work has often been in destinations where I expect complications - Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Switzerland is nowhere near that list. I came to Geneva to conduct an evaluation of the work done on Women in Politics and on Gender by the InterParliamentary Union. IPU has a membership of over 100 Parliaments. Its work to strengthen democracy around the world goes mostly under-trumpeted.

Early evening yesterday the husband of my colleague Ann phoned from Sweden to tell her a volcano had exploded in Iceland and some of the European airports were closed. By 11am today airports were closing everywhere. We were kicked out of the hotel where we were staying. The receptionist said they were fully booked except for one room we could have at over double the price we had been paying and way out of our price bracket...
As a refugee in Geneva the main challenge is a shortage of cash not a shortage of drinking water. The financial cost of survival is a constant worry in a city where the simplest lunch of spaghetti and green salad in a back-street café cost us £15 today. After lunch I was so tired I had a 45 minute sleep in the afternoon sunshine on the grass in a park near the old City.....

As I watched Channel 4 TV beauty parade of the Chancellors, Vince Cable, Alistair Darling and George Osborne...

2010-03-30T13:07:00.003+01:00

As I watched Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats score victory over Labour’s Alistair Darling, and Conservative’s George Osborne in Monday's Channel 4 TV beauty parade of Chancellors,profound words of wisdom from an American elder Statesman came back to me.

It was 1983. My first visit to the United States. I was on a 3 week US Government International Visitor’s Programme visit learning about American politics. A wily, wise, seasoned American observer of US elections had invited me to lunch in a up-market New York club with oak panelled walls. We were discussing elections and how much emphasis is put on the appearance of the candidate. He leaned across the table and said,

“Lesley, I’ll know when the United States is back on course. It will be the next time we elect a short, balding President. Voters will have chosen the candidate for their ability not for how handsome or attractive they look.”

In the Financial Times, Philip Stephens wrote "Politicians are not trusted; Mr Cable stands out from the crowd for common sense and authenticity."

How do we transform the need for Constitutional Reform from haute couture to prêt a porter?

2010-03-23T12:00:00.002Z

Richard Gordon’s new book REPAIRING BRITISH POLITICS – A BLUEPRINT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE published by Hart Publishing formed the focal point last night for a forum discussion at the British Academy on whether the UK should have a written Constitution and, if so, what its content might be. The nub of last night’s discussion was ‘Our political system is broken. It needs fixing. How do we fix it?’

I felt like I was attending a fashion show by Britain’s top Constitutional Reform Designers. The summary of the debates was, ‘How do we transform the need for Constitutional Reform from haute couture to prêt a porter or even better prêt a manger? How do we make Constitutional Reform as fashionable as Climate Change?‘

Richard Gordon writes, “I have already accepted that the simple replacement of one constitutional norm (parliamentary sovereignty) by another (constitutional sovereignty) will not, at a stroke, change the nature of the institutions by which we are governed. However, what I argue it will do, by engendering a proper separation of powers and much greater citizen participation in politics, is to promote greater trust in the democratic process and to create a number of policing mechanisms which will make each of the organs of government (including the citizenry itself) more responsible and more accountable.”

As I am Vice President of the Electoral Reform Society and a long-time campaigner for more women in Parliament I was very pleased when Colloquium Chair Lord Steyn gave me the opportunity to welcome Richard Gordon’s proposal for electoral reform to Proportional Representation and a Parliament with an equal number of women and men. I pointed out that a PR electoral system would make it easier than with First-Past-the-Post to ensure Gender Equality. With a PR voting voting system you can introduce a gender balance by zipping alternate women and men’s names on the candidate lists. This system is used in modern democracies such as the Nordic countries.

Professor Antony King said, ”The question should be how can we improve the quality of British Government rather than how can we make Government more democratic?” King favours
a Proportional Voting system for elections to the House of Commons, “because I think it would lead to good government.” But opposes moving towards a codified constitution or an elected House of Lords, on the grounds the UK is already governed by 943 elected politicians in legislatures in Europe Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland and Westminster.

Founder of openDemocracy.net Anthony Barnett said, “Our current Constitution is broken beyond repair. Patriotic acquiescence of the people was broken with the expenses scandal. The basis of an un-codified system was trust. There is now a sense of a grasping political class who have lost the trust of the people.”

Andreas Whittam-Smith founder of the Independent Newspaper said contrary to popular headlines “It is not Britain that is broken it is Government and politicians who are broken.” He is concerned about the impotence of Government to carry out what it says it will do. Whittam-Smith asked, ”How do we translate talk into action? The Politicians don’t get it.” His analysis is that as political parties go out of power for very long periods these days, from the moment they are elected they feel compelled to feed the 24 hour news cycle rather than to provide good government. He gave as an example “There has been a new criminal offence put on the statute book every day since Labour came to power.” He stressed the importance of working from the bottom up and referred to the discussion on his web-site http://brokengovernment.ning.com/

Professor Vernon Bogdanor, author of The New British Constitution’ said we need a written Bill of Rights with rights updated from those in the European Bill of Rights 60 years ago. What about rights to health care and environmental rights?” He said Constitutional Reform is a revolution that’s long overdue and asked,” How do you get a revolution if you don’t have revolutionaries?”

Former Lib Dem Leader Paddy Ashdown said “It is preposterous to have an elected system that is acceptable to politicians rather than to the people.” Lord Ashdown attacked the unelected House of Lords, “You get there by knowing someone in power or your Grandmother slept with the King.” Lest we be in doubt, Paddy assured the audience he got there by knowing someone in power. Lord Carlisle said, “We need less legislation, but better legislation, “I also got into the Upper Chamber by knowing someone in power – the person in power I knew was Paddy Ashdown!” Not to be outdone PM Tony Blair’s mentor Lord (Charlie) Faulkner said “I think you all know who my friend in power was!” “Faulkener would support a Human Rights Act but not a written Constitution.

Columnist Yasmin Alibi Brown said in some countries a written Bill of Rights or Constitution allows a nation to become arrogant about principles. She cited France and said people of colour have more freedoms in UK.

Professor Francesca Klug felt justice should be at the heart of a Constitution and incorporate international Human Rights frameworks. She said, “On its own a Constitution is architecture , it’s a house not a home.”

Professor Colin Kidd highlighted complications of the US Constitution.” He said 200 years ago people in the US were more concerned about standing armies than sexual privacy issues. now it’s the other way round. He compared the abortion debate in UK and US. In the US it takes just 5 Justices to overrule the people. “In the UK we reached the decision on abortion through parliamentary debate.”

Whitehall Mandarin Sir Christopher Foster Chair of the Good Government Initiative recommended The charity's study, Good Government: Reforming Parliament and the Executive.

I came away feeling a sense of renewal at being once more among people genuinely trying to build a better world. It was an antidote to my months of anger, disappointment, disgust at sleazy behaviour among British politicians. I felt an extra deep sense of betrayal and being let down after the many occasions in workshops in young democracies in the Balkans, Africa, South Asia and Central and Eastern Europe when I said I firmly believed that on the whole the British Parliament was clean not corrupt.

International Women’s Day message to David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown their spin-doctors and Party Chairs,'we want deeds not words' - reform British politics!

2010-03-08T10:21:00.002Z

My International Women’s Day message to David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown their spin-doctors and Party Chairs - in the words of the Suffragettes - we want deeds not words - reform British politics.

International Women’s Day is a good time to ask, why in March 2010 are there still only 126 women out of 646 Members of the British Parliament? The answer? We have had cowardly and insufficient ongoing committment from men in political power to make it a priority to radically update and reform British politics whether on women’s equality, electoral reform or MPs' expenses.

The shameful under-representation of women in the House of Commons will almost certainly continue in the results of the upcoming British election regardless of which Party wins.

One look around the world shows that in politics, no actions, let alone exhortation, will ever succeed without some form of quota as a perhaps temporary breakthrough measure. Countries with more than 30% women in parliament share two things in common: their electoral system uses some form of proportional representation and they use quotas.

By comparison to legislatures with over 40% women Members such as Sweden, Rwanda, South Africa, Netherlands, Finland and Norway, far too little advance has been made in the UK in women’s democracy over the past 30 years. The UK is not even in the list of 24 parliaments with over 30% women. We are far short of the gender equality goals of 50/50 women and men set by women and supportive men campaigners when we started the all party 300 GROUP campaign in 1980.

Moroccan Editors attend conference in London on incusive journalism

2010-03-04T18:46:00.001Z

Twenty two of Morocco’s leading media owners and editors gathered in London on 25-26 February 2010, to attend a conference and study tour exploring Inclusive Journalism.

The event, organised by the Media Diversity Institute, called “Inclusive Media for Inclusive Societies” is part of a two year programme to support a more responsible and inclusive media in Morocco, funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The opening session included a keynote speech by Lesley Abdela MBE, UK Woman Political Journalist of the year 2009, and a panel debate on how responsible and inclusive the British media is, particularly in relation to coverage of the Middle East & North Africa and the Muslim community in the UK. The panellists included Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi, Director of Arab Media Watch, Nick Carter from the Society of Editors, James Brandon, from the Quilliam Foundation, and Professor Robert Pinker from the Press Complaints Commission.

The two-day event also included visits to the BBC Diversity Department, BBC Arabic Service, Channel 4 Television, and the Guardian newspaper

New UN Agency for Women

2010-03-01T11:31:00.000Z

I was interviewed for BBC TV Newsnight about the new UN Agency for Women. If the new Un Agency is going to succeed it needs certain pre-requisites: top- table status in each country and in the UN hierarchy so it has clout; at least one billion US dollars start-up annual funding;staffing must include women activists setting the agenda; it should have an operational mandate in addition to advisory mandate.

Dateline Tirana

2009-10-31T11:35:00.000Z

I am in Tirana to speak at the 28 October National Conference on Empowering Women in Albania. Eighteen years activism by Albanian women’s groups with support by international programs has delivered results which should even impress British Minister for Women, Harriet Harman. The enactment by the Albanian Parliament of a new gender equality law, a far-reaching law on domestic violence, and the introduction a 30% gender based quota in the new electoral law, serve as a solid basis for efforts to advance gender equality in the country.

I have always enjoyed my visits to Albania. I just had breakfast in the sunshine on the second floor terrace of the excellent Tirana International Hotel looking across the main square to the Albanian Mountains. This is a city in transformation – first time I visited Tirana (around 2001) every shop had a noisy polluting generator outside. Pavements were cracked and dirty, there was rubbish and plastic bags everywhere. Mayor Eddie Rama (the Albanian Capital city's Socialist counterpart to London's Boris Johnson) has been cleaning up the City. Now most of the Albanian Capital has electricity 24 hours a day, pavements have been paved, rubbish cleared and last night and I had one of the best vegetarian meals I’ve eaten in a long time, anywhere in the world, in a little restaurant called Amoy.

This morning I woke aching with regret last night’s dinner conversation had not been filmed. It would have made a documentary on the Balkans different from all others. My dinner hosts and companions were four professional, intelligent, witty, Balkan women - Socialist MP Valentina Leskaj, an Albanian Judge, and two Leading women’s rights activists Delina Fico, Board President, Albanian Women’s Association “Refleksione” and Igo Rogova, Executive Director of Kosova Women's Network (KWN comprises 92 NGOs). They brought me quickly up to date with all the latest Balkan political intrigues!

Our topics of conversation? ...rigged June elections - (why does the international community perpetuate the calumny of declaring free and fair elections when they aren't?) insights into life as an MP in Albania, party politics, political campaigning, the future, grandchildren, women’s rights campaigns past and present,belly dancing on tables, domestic violence, sex trafficking, the back-story to the joint US/Albanian scandal of the military arms dump that exploded in March 2008 near Vore village (14 kilometres from Tirana)killing 27 people and injuring hundreds more - many were women and children.

The new Gender Equality legislation we discussed in detail is seen by the Albanians as a useful, even critical factor in Albania’s application to join the EU – the country is already the newest partner in NATO. In a recent opinion poll 90% of the population want to join the EU (why not!).

Update on new UN Super - agency for women - GEAR campaign

2009-10-03T14:23:00.001+01:00

Women from around the world have successfully campaigned for a stronger better resourced agency on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and can look forward to its creation early in 2010.

However if it is to succeed UN Member States will certainly have to show a degree of commitment to gender equality issues beyond that which they expressed in the opening session of the 64th Session of the General Assembly.

Of the 191 Member States and 2 Observer Missions that made statements in the General Debate, a mere 49 made any mention at all of women, girls, gender or related terms. And that of course says nothing of the low number who said anything of any substance in support of gender equality goals. There were countries like Estonia who rightly noted that: “no security, development or human-rights related goal can be achieved without the full participation of women.”

Unfortunately not many saw things that way. UN The Secretary-General had one rather irrelevant sentence on the matter and the President of the General Assembly and the representative of the African Union said nothing at all. Interestingly, most of those who addressed gender equality addressed women, peace and security issues. There were several mentions of sexual violence in conflict and of the then still anticipated new Security Council resolution on women, peace and security 1888 which was subsequently adopted on 30 September 2009.

There are many details to work out and much work to be done to ensure the new super-agency for women is effective in serving the world's women. One of the critical steps will be proper funding, another will be the appointment of the Under-Secretary General to head the entity –Also significant will be the commitment by Member States of the resources to ensure the entities success.
Source WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM
1325 PEACEWOMEN E-NEWS Issue 111 September 2009

BBC Autumn season on lives of famous women

2009-09-22T10:38:00.000+01:00

BBC TV Four, has announced an Autumn season of three dramas asking what drives women at the peak of their artistic powers. Helena Bonham Carter, Jane Horrocks and Anne-Marie Duff star as Enid Blyton, Gracie Fields and Margot Fonteyn The dramas look behind the women's public personas to explore the relationship between their art and their private lives.
The relationship between a woman's private and public life is also examined in another drama, starring Sophie Okonedo as Winnie Mandela.
Source : Sue Caro
BBC Senior Diversity Manager, Portrayal
020 8752 5951 Mobile: 07764 354877

Film makers competition. Videos to combat violence against women.

2009-09-14T09:20:00.000+01:00

The International Federation Of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies, Italian Chamber Of Deputies, And Youtube Join Forces To Combat Violence Against Women.

At the 2009 Venice International Film Festival, the Italian Chamber of Deputies and YouTube, in cooperation with the Council of Europe and the Cinecittà film studio, announced the debut of the Action for Women film competition. The contest encourages budding movie creators to shine a spotlight -- not just on physical and sexual assault -- but also on frequently hidden actions like emotional abuse, stalking, mobbing, discrimination, intimidation and economic deprivation. go to the Action for Women YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/actionforwomen) to take a short survey aimed at investigating the level of awareness YouTube users have of violence against women. From September 15 through December 1, emerging filmmakers from 11 European countries* will create original short films calling for the end of violence against women and upload them to Action for Women YouTube channel. Belgian filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael will chair a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the European movie industry who will narrow the field of entries down to ten finalists.(Italy, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden.)
The YouTube community will then vote on the finalists from December 18 to January 15, 2010 with the winners announced on January 20, 2010 along with the results of the survey. The winner will be awarded with a dedicated screening of their short movie at a major international film festival. The second place recipient will receive eight weeks internship at the Production Company of the Archivio di Cinecittà Luce in Rome, while the third place recipient will receive eight weeks internship at the Production Company of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC Production) in Rome.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will be contributing videos that educate viewers on violence against women and encourage people to pick up their cameras and participate in Action for Women.
Italy, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden
www.technology4media.com/uk/pressrelease.phpid=5973&mo=5&referencekey=b9e27af5be5a58ffd5d3f11189356351

Contact: laurascott@google.com 0207 031 3049/ 0207 031 3130

khede kasra campaign for women's rights in Lebanon

2009-09-08T09:50:00.000+01:00

This is a must-see on you-tube - really clever campaign.

Khede Kasra Complete Campaign
Source: www.youtube.com

The Khede Kasra campaign by Leo Burnett Beirut that won a gold Lion in Cannes, 5 gold and 2 silver awards at the International Dubai Lynx Festival and a grand prix at the Cristal de la Mena

Beatles in Russia

2009-09-08T09:28:00.000+01:00

I watched the BBC programme last night on the Beatles in Russia. It was totally brilliant. I hadn't realised the extent to which Beatlemania had undermined the Soviet Empire. The film was made by Leslie Whitehead and produced by Bella Barr.

Maybe there are lessons from this to learn about winning hearts and minds in other countries???!!!

2009-08-21T19:46:00.001+01:00

Went black-berry picking. The most amazing crop I’ve ever seen – definitely a vintage year – large, black, sweet and masses of them – food for free! In a role reversal of the annual Nouveau Beaujolais celebrations maybe we should start the Nouveau blackberry race to Paris with the first blackberries of the season. Perhaps the Blackberry phone company would sponsor it???!!! We could arrive in Paris to great acclaim and strains of the Marseillaise as we sweep in triumph down the Champs Elysees bearing a loft our tupper-wear plastic boxes and re-used Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer bags crammed with shiny "wine dark" blackberries.

2009-08-18T11:45:00.003+01:00

President Karzai has made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in return for the support of fundamentalists in this week's August 20 election. He has approved an article which critics have said could be used to justify marital rape, and which provoked an outcry from Afghanistan's human rights groups, and international community.
Karzai 'sells out Afghan women' over law
Source: www.canada.com
KABUL - A leading rights group accused President Hamid Karzai on Friday of selling out Afghan women by ratifying a Shiite law, which has drawn wide condemnation over its harsh provisions on women, before next week's election.

Come on President Obama, Sec of State Clinton, Prime Minister Brown and Foreign Secretary Milliband - what are you going to do about it? We want deeds not words. In current peace processes the peace is not for the people, it is for the male power groups. This is the wrong focus. Indeed, the art of peace-building is far more subtle than the practice of warfare (in which men in power have had centuries of experience). It requires almost opposite characteristics: among them patience, creative dialogue, imagination, empathy, attention to the critical minutiae, and avoidance of grandstanding. UN Resolution 1325 - passed unanimously on 31 October 2000 - calls on all United Nations member-states to ensure the full participation of women and the integration of a gender perspective in peace and security, policy-making, conflict management and peace-building. There is a vast credibillity gap between Resolution 1325's words and the reality of the deeds of our governments in the UN Member States.

2009-08-17T09:58:00.002+01:00

Support for the NHS isn't a Party issue - it's about the well-being of everyone - rich and poor. If Americans truly understood the benefits of living in a country where excellent medical servcies are free at the point of delivery and you don't have to worry whether you can afford to pay for medicines for you or your family they'd all vote for it. They have no idea what an amazing asset they are missing.

Rachel Wareham
I agree Lesley. Brits have for too long not appreciated what they have. If my father had been living in the USA the whole family would have been bankrupt to pay for his cancer treatment. I just had a cousin diagnosed with 3 types of cancer - and if he was in the USA we would all be homeless soon.

My latest painting July 2009

2009-07-27T18:58:00.002+01:00

2009-07-26T10:22:00.003+01:00

Lesley Abdela I'm reading 'Glamour in the Skies' - the Golden Age of the Air Stewardess' by Libbie Escolme -Schmidt. I find this history of air stewardesses an interesting and original piece of research on women's rights and social history. Right up to the introduction of the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act, British female cabin crew were forced to retire after 10 years service or reaching the age of 35 (whichever came first !)

What's the new 'ism after Capitalism?

2009-07-17T14:59:00.001+01:00

Neither Communism nor Capitalism has worked well for the majority of women in the world. What new ‘ism’ will come from a new Gender Balanced approach to world economics?

This was the theme of my talk on 14th July in the session titled ‘The cost of capitalism’ at Wilton Park British-German Forum 2009. The theme of the 5 day Forum hosted by Wilton Park at Wiston House, Steyning, West Sussex in co-operation with The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, The British Embassy and Berlin Deutsche Bank, was, ‘Can we shape capitalism to suit our future?’
The underlying rationale for the conference was that following recent little difficulties in the Capitalist world the proponents of Capitalism assert that ‘Capitalism is the worst of all economic systems except all the others that have been tried’
Camilla Fenning, Programme Director, Wilton Park ‘s briefing to me was :
“In this session we really want to challenge the participants in their thinking about capitalism, and to encourage them to see how certain sectors of society may not always benefit from unbridled capitalism as much as others.”
I decided to pick up on the first 3 words in the descriptive paragraph: “Capitalism reduces inequalities...” Well try telling that to the women of the world!
Back in 1995 I was seconded by the British Council to ‘The Beijing Express’, a 500-metre-long train sponsored by UNDP to travel the 8000 kilometres along the trans-Siberian Express Route from Warsaw to Beijing for the 4th United Nations Global Conference on Women.
Aboard the train were 200 women from 29 former Soviet Union and satellite Communist states. During the last part of our journey when we were chugging through Mongolia and China I was invited to chair the final meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to formulate the 11 points of what became known as the Beijing Express Declaration.
The first point was called - The New '-ism'. It said:
“Neither Communism nor Capitalism has worked well for the majority of women in the world. We believe the new ‘ism’ will come from a new approach to world economics.
Many economic policies have been disastrous for women. It is often women who bear the brunt of economic restructuring policies made by organisations who too often overlook the way their policies could impact on millions of women.
Under both Communism and Capitalism the quality of people’s lives is all too often sacrificed for the goal of wealth creation. Human development should not be sacrificed in the name of economic growth but rather economic growth should be used as a tool to help people achieve a healthy and creative life.”
Both Communism and Capitalism have ill served the world’s women. Capitalism as a model may be neutral, but the consequences of the ways in which Capitalism have been used and misused has been deadly.
A significant reason why billions of women have failed to benefit from capitalism since 1945 can be put down to one simple critical fact which is that much of the immense economic contribution women make to the world is not counted in statistics because the entire capitalist system of values and data collection was designed by men.
The Feminist Economist Marilyn Waring gives a brilliant example of a man sitting in a nuclear missile silo in the American Middle West waiting to press the nuclear button. He was paid a high salary and therefore was counted in official economic statistics, but the economic contribution of a woman in Africa walking 7 kilometres to a well and back to fetch water was paid zero and her economic contribution was therefore not included in global statistics.

Marilyn Waring has pointed out that these post-war rules imposed on all countries through the UN system of National Accounts (UNSNA) means that any country that doesn’t conform to these rules of economic measurement :
· cannot belong to the UN
· cannot borrow from the World Bank
· and cannot secure loans from the IMF.
The final point of my talk was that in the past year or so as we watched the world economy crashing the figures who time and again who bubble to the surface as the perpetrators, were pretty well all men. These men at the top were driven by short –term greed, ego and extraordinary overwhelming competitive drive.
By contrast the two people who blew the whistle on ENRON and corruption in the European Commission were both women.
Perhaps the point I am making is that if politicians are speaking of the need for a new, morally renewed, better regulated capitalist society it might best be achieved if the new Capitalist model is Gender Balanced.
I’d like to hear your ideas for coming up with this new model of Capitalism.

© copyright Lesley Abdela July 2009

Moroccan Advocacy and Media Workshop for women's NGOs

2009-07-17T14:16:00.000+01:00

While the world’s attention was focused on the fallout from Iran’s election, a significant step forward for women was taking place in another Muslim country’s elections. In the June 2009 local elections in Morocco more than 20,000 women registered as candidates in response to a new quota reserving 12 per cent of nearly 28,000 local council seats for women. Fatima Zahra Mansouri became the first female mayor of the city of Marrakesh, and 21-year-old Fatima Boujenah became Morocco’s youngest-ever female local council leader, in the southern Moroccan community of Tata. The number of women local councillors increased to 3,300 from 107 in the previous local election.
In the wake of the June local elections I flew to Morocco to lead a three-day workshop in Rabat on Advocacy And The Media for Moroccan women’s organizations on behalf of MDI. The workshop themes were Media-NGO Relations, Planning your media coverage, and how to give effective interviews on TV. The workshop took place at the HQ of the Moroccan journalists union, the Syndicate National de Presse Marocaine. My co-trainer was Mounia Bel-Afia, Vice General Secretary of the Syndicate.
As Moroccan cities have expanded, women have emerged from their homes to enter universities and the workplace in growing numbers. In 2004 with active support from, King Mohammed V1, Morocco amended its family law to grant women legal equality with men in key areas. The Rabat workshop participants (16 women and 1 man) from Rabat, Casa, Tangier, Marrakesh, Titouan, Safi, Rachidia and Agadir included a network of women’s NGOs calling for a 50% quota for women in parliament and local councils, plus individual women’s groups campaigning to prevent and address violence against women and children, for implementation of Family Law reforms and for prevention of sexual tourism and sex trafficking.
A question women campaigners put to the Media panel was, “How do we make sure women’s issues get better more consistent coverage?” Morocco has signed up for international conventions such as The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, but the Media don’t seem to give any attention to making sure the State is accountable by fulfilling their commitments under these conventions.
The workshop was the first of a series of activities in a 2-year pilot project 'to encourage greater social and cultural inclusion through responsible media reporting on Morocco’s diversity’. Funded by the UK Embassy in Rabat Morocco, the project is organised by the British-based Media Diversity Institute, an international organisation based in London headed by Milica Pesic.

2009-05-30T18:51:00.001+01:00

Been recently walking