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As more and more Afghan women speak out, we have a duty to amplify their voices – IKWRO

In March, 2015 a young Afghan woman called Farkhunda, was lynched by a mob in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, having been falsely accused of burning the Quran. A few days after the vicious incident, women’s rights activists, who identified that the brutal attack was an act of patriarchy, occupied the streets of Kabul to demand justice. Both women and men came together and there was a powerful surge of opposition to patriarchy and the culture of violence against women and girls that has ruled the country for years. In a powerful break with tradition and demonstration of solidarity, women carried Farkhunda’s coffin. It was believed to be a turning point for women’s rights in Afghanistan. An environment of hope was created, that such heinous crimes wouldn’t be repeated.

However, it was not the last case of public violence against a woman, last month 19 year old Rokhshana was stoned in the Western zone of the country having resisting forced marriage. Rokhshana was accused of adultery and inhumanly stoned to death for reclaiming the right to choose her partner.

These are two of the very few cases that have received media coverage and global attention, but violence against women and girls is pandemic in Afghanistan. According to a recent UN Women report, 87.2% of women are experiencing some sort of physical, psychological, sexual, economic or social violence.

An increase of recorded attacks is in part a welcome trend; it seems that the more women learn about their rights, the more they are coming forward to report attacks. However, many are pessimistic about how long these small gains can last, as war in Afghanistan enters its fortieth year.

Along with women’s rights activists within Afghanistan, we fear that lack of security and an absence of effective rule of law are fuelling an attitude of impunity, contributing to an intensification of attacks against women and girls. Meanwhile a dearth of trusted support and services for women and girls at risk, prevents many from seeking and receiving help and lack of education leads to deeply malign cultural practices, such as “honour” killing, stoning and forced marriages. Education for all, not only for girls, will give society the ability to break free from practices that not only violate women’s rights but human rights too.

As more and more women within Afghanistan are bravely raising their voices by reporting and campaigning for change, we, members of the international women’s rights community, also have a crucial role to play. By celebrating and amplifying the voices of inspiring women within Afghanistan, we contribute to the movement pushing for the rule of law, trusted support services and education, which are fundamental for lasting progress for women’s rights.

Written by Elaha Walizadeh IKWRO’s Pashto Speaking Advisor Advocate
Edited by Sara Browne IKWRO’s Campaign Officer & Zahra Rasouli Dari Speaking Advisor Advocate

http://ikwro.org.uk/2015/11/afghan-amplify-voices/

November 26, 2015

HMP Holloway Closure – Women in Prison

WIP’s response to the announcement in Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Review on 25 November 2015 regarding the closure of HMP Holloway:

“Women in Prison cautiously welcomes the news of the closure of HMP Holloway, providing that the now very real opportunity is seized upon for a bold new approach for women affected by the criminal justice system.

“The closure of Holloway must mark the start of a significant reduction in the number of women in prison alongside the establishment of effective – and cheaper – community alternatives to custody.

“The majority of women in prison are on short sentences for non-violent offences and are the most excluded women in our society. Most women in prison have experienced domestic and sexual violence, face mental health and substance misuse issues. Even just a few weeks inside can cause significant harm as a woman loses her children, her home, and her job and become trapped in an endless cycle within the criminal justice system. This costly system cannot go on and this announcement must be the start of real change.

“The welfare of women currently in HMP Holloway is a priority and we urge the Chancellor to set out a clear timeline for when the prison will close; if resources from the sale of the prison will be used for community provision and when alternatives to custody will be provided. This information is vital for women who fear that the gap between closure and the provision of new community facilities will mean they are instead placed in prisons many miles away from their families.”

Press Release at http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/news-and-campaigns.php?s=2015-11-25-hmp-holloway-closure

November 26, 2015

Autumn Spending Review – EVAW Response

Government urged to meet women’s agencies and develop plan for their survival – Funding facts listed below

Responding to the Spending Review today, 25 November, which is also the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Professor Liz Kelly, Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said:

“We recognise that there is attention to the needs of abused women and girls in today’s Spending Review, especially in the new investment of £2m into a domestic violence project which will pilot intervention where women are at risk at an earlier stage.

“We also note the announcement that Holloway women’s prison is to be closed, and we hope that as this is administered the authorities will consult experts like our member, Women In Prison, on the needs and experiences of imprisoned women who are disproportionately survivors of abuse.

“However, we also note the alarming 29% cut to the Communities Department budget and we are very concerned at what may lie ‘down the line’ from this as local councils pass on reduced budgets. Specialist violence against women support services  – refuges, rape crisis centres, advocacy and outreach projects – are often funded by their local councils, and have already suffered enormous cuts since 2011. These services may be invisible to many but are truly life-saving. Today’s announcement fails to offer them a life raft.”

Marai Larasi, Director of Imkaan, the national network of BME (black and ethnic minority) women’s support organisations and Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition added:

“Specialist services are based in our local communities, they support women and girls experiencing and escaping from all forms of violence and abuse, including those who need long-term advocacy and counselling.  We know from the women who use them that they are unequivocally the best at understanding and responding to their needs. But these services are not secured through statutory funding, which means they have very little protection from cuts, and in addition, local level commissioners commonly do not understand the unique and specialist services they provide. Many are losing their funding to bigger, more generic agencies which under-cut them but which cannot offer specialist support tailored to women’s needs.

“We implore George Osborne, David Cameron, Theresa May and Greg Clark to look urgently in their respective roles at the evidence of the need for these services – which is growing year on year, not least as more survivors of abuse come forward seeking support after the high profile cases of recent years – and to convene a meeting with the women who run them. We need to find a funding solution that ensures they survive. We believe this may need to involve nationally ring-fenced funding, as the Rape Support Fund has been to date. The case for national level funding for organisations supporting BME women for example is overwhelming.

“And, in case there is any doubt, ring-fencing the ‘tampontax’ cannot possibly achieve this.

“We also implore local government leaders, whatever your political party, to make contact with and find out about the need for these services in your community and then do everything you can to protect them. If we lose these life-saving services they will be very difficult to rebuild, and women and their families will suffer.”

Facts on funding of women’s support services:

Imkaan, the national network of BME women’s support organisations, published a report this month revealing the extremely serious funding crisis now facing BME women’s support services. These include refuges, helplines, outreach services and advice centres. Women in these organisations fear this sector could vanish if a different funding regime is not developed. In the last financial year, in London alone, 733 BME women sought refuge spaces in BME services and only 154 were successful. Nationally, in one year alone, 17 BME violence against women and girls organisations supported a total of 21,713 women.

An alarming 42% of Rape Crisis centres are unfunded after March 2016. Read more here.

Research by Professor Sylvia Walby in 2012 showed how funding cuts at local level had already begun to have a drastic impact on violence against women and girls services.

Women’s Aid’s annual survey in 2014 revealed that a third of women seeking refuge were turned away, two thirds of services were using their reserves, and children’s services had been hit very hard by cuts.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition published a briefing on abuse support services in September based on the rights enshrined in the EU Victims Directive (which is now law in the UK) and the Istanbul Convention (which the UK has signed but not yet ratified) and is calling on the Government to:

  • make provision of specialist services statutory;
  • to adopt high standards for abuse services commissioning;
  • to issue guidance on when local government does and does not need to re-tender a service.

It is very disappointing that when asked by Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs today the Prime Minister was still unable to confirm when the UK would ratify the Istanbul Convention.

A 2013 YouGov poll for the EVAW Coalition found that more than two thirds of the adult population believe their local council should fund services for women who have experienced sexual or domestic violence, and that these services should be run by women with specialist expertise and knowledge of the needs of abuse victims.

Press Release at http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/news/220/spending-review-evaw-response

November 26, 2015

Autumn Spending Review – Immediate Response – Women’s Budget Group

The 2015 Spending Review: Chancellor still failing to invest in women’s security

The Chancellor has today announced further cuts to government spending, with women once again disproportionately adversely impacted. While the partial u-turn on tax credits cuts is welcome, the overall picture for women remains bleak.

Commenting on the tax credit and other social security changes, WBG Chair Diane Elson said:

“We are pleased that the Chancellor has listened to the many voices, including the Women’s Budget Group, and modified his plans to make further cuts in tax credits for those on low incomes, particularly women. However, we regret that he has neither completely rescinded changes that present disincentives for increased earnings, nor clarified the implications for new claimants with more than two children.

“We are also concerned that the cuts announced to housing benefit and increased conditionality around JSA will impact disproportionately on women. Yet again the Chancellor further undermines any notion of a system of social security that people have a right to rely on in times of need and that treats them with dignity.

Commenting on the social care levy, Professor Hilary Land said:

“The chancellor’s recognition of the funding gap in social care is welcome, but insufficient. We are concerned that his plan to pay for this through a 2 percent increase in Council Tax is highly regressive and will entrench existing geographical inequalities. It is also inadequate to meet the current funding gap. In addressing care, the Chancellor again did nothing to recognise and support the main source of care – families and communities – without which the country would grind to a halt. This impacts particularly on women as they are more likely to be both the providers and recipients of care.

Commenting on women’s security and the ‘tampon tax’, Polly Trenow said:

“We are also concerned that while the Chancellor talked extensively about security, he has implemented only token measures to ensure that women are secure in their day to day lives. The earmarking of the £15 million revenues from the so-called tampon tax for violence against women charities is a drop in the pan compared to the cuts these services have suffered since 2010.

On overall public spending, Professor Ruth Pearson added:

“Women’s security depends on the provision of good public services and adequate income, education and employment opportunities. By cutting public spending from 40% to 36.5% by the end of this term, the Chancellor is undermining the social infrastructure we all depend on for security.

NOTE: An in-depth analysis of the impact of the joint Autumn Statement and Comprehensive Spending Review will be published by the Women’s Budget Group on Monday 7th December 2015.

The Women’s Budget Group is a network of over 300 academics and activists. For more information, please visit www.wbg.org.uk or contact Eva Neitzert (admin@wbg.org.uk), WBG Head of Development and Coordination.

Press Release at http://wbg.org.uk/new-spending-review-immediate-response/

November 26, 2015

Autumn Spending Review – what will it mean for women? – Women’s Budget Group

mean for women?

It has been extensively documented that women have borne the brunt of austerity and are expected to continue to do so. After the emergency Budget in July 2015, House of Commons library research suggested that £24 billion – or 70 percent – of the additional £34 billion to be raised over the next five years by measures announced in the Budget would come from women’s pockets.

Tomorrow the Chancellor, George Osborne, will deliver the outcome of his Comprehensive Spending Review, in which he has sought a further £20 billion in savings until 2019/2020. It will give us the clearest indication yet of this government’s spending priorities and early signs are that women are again likely to be disproportionately hit by spending cuts.

The most eagerly awaited announcement will be his plans for tax credits. The cuts to tax credits were a central plank of the July budget and set to realise £4.5 billion in savings, with the majority coming from women as the Women’s Budget Group pointed out at the time. The rejection of the cuts by the House of Lords has meant that George Osborne must go back to drawing board.

Yet, his options are limited. The implementation of the Fiscal Charter, which commits the government to delivering an overall budget surplus, and the Welfare Cap, mean that the Chancellor has left himself very little wiggle room. Tax receipts are lower than forecast by the OBR and spending is up, so Osborne will not be rescued by an improved economic context.

As for the Welfare Cap, In July he lowered this in line with the expected savings from tax credits. Now that the House of Lords has rejected those cuts, Osborne either needs to find the savings elsewhere in the welfare budget or return to the House of Commons for a vote to lift the cap. He is unlikely to do the latter, which leaves benefits that are covered by the cap vulnerable. At this stage, it seems housing and disability benefits are the most likely to be raided. The thinktank IPPR has calculated that if housing benefit recipients were required to pay the first 10 percent of their rent, this would net £2.4 billion but leave 4.8 million households worse off by an average £570 per year. Women are again the majority of housing benefit recipients, with women living own their own, with or without children, bearing over 50 percent of the cuts (a further 25 percent of recipients are couple households and around 20 percent are men living on their own, with or without children).

In terms of cuts to other departments, the outlook is not exactly rosy for women either. Analysis by the Resolution Foundation of spending settlements that have already been announced suggest that average cuts of 30 percent will be required from the remaining ‘big 5’. These big 5 include spending on benefits and local government. Women are far more likely to use or be impacted by local government services, particularly those around care, which constitutes a large proportion of local authority spending, and are also far more likely to be employed in local government. So cuts in this area will again hit women harder than men.

Failing to invest in care is also a missed opportunity, both economically and socially. The Women’s Budget Group has repeatedly advocated an alternative economic plan – Plan F – that is centred on investment in the social infrastructure, which includes care services. Such investment to build a caring economy has the potential to not only benefit care recipients – woefully needed at a time when care providers are being forced to close their doors due to underfunding and supply is not able to keep up with demand – but also economic gains, particularly through employment growth. As women make up the vast majority of those in caring jobs, if investment saw these jobs become remunerated at the level of the living wage it would also go some way towards addressing continuing gender gaps in earnings and employment. Investment would need to be centrally funded, rather than through increases in council tax, to ensure that economic inequalities are not entrenched.

While this Spending Review has been characterised by a number of early leaks, the Chancellor is known for his surprise announcements, as with the rise to the national minimum wage in the July budget. The Women’s Budget Group will be meeting to analyse the gender implications of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement. We will issue a press release on the day, as well as a more in-depth response on Monday 7th December. To be the first to receive our response, sign up to the newsletter by joining the WBG and follow us on Twitter. All WBG members are welcome to attend the CSR viewing and you can find full details here.

Press release at http://wbg.org.uk/tomorrows-spending-review-what-will-it-mean-for-women/

November 25, 2015