News & Campaigns

All the latest from HER-itage and our affiliates

1 February 2021 18:00 ~ Women Leaving Islam and From Hijab To Freedom on World Hijab Day – Online

Join us on #WorldHijabDay to watch #WomenLeavingIslam.

Women Leaving Islam, a new film by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, premieres on 1 February at 6pm UK time as a challenge to #WorldHijabDay and religious modesty rules. You can watch the film here.

In this powerful film, six ex-Muslim women activists share their moving stories of growing up in Muslim families and Muslim-majority countries and the violence, loss and shunning they faced because of their apostasy.

The women talk about everything from tearing their hijab on door handles as a child, wearing a burkini on a beach in Italy, wanting to scream their atheism in Mecca during Hajj, losing custody of a child after a husband’s accusations of blasphemy, reporting a violent fundamentalist father, forging a male guardian’s signature in order to flee their country and being shunned for defending gay rights…

Despite the risks, the women: Fauzia Ilyas, Fay Rahman, Halima Salat, Mimzy Vidz, Rana Ahmad and Zara Kay, speak of hope, happiness and freedom from Islam and the hijab.

Join us to watch #WomenLeavingIslam.

Also, draw a dove with a hijab in its beak as a symbol of women’s freedom from hijab. You can draw it anywhere – on a wall with chalk, on a piece of paper, your body or hand… CEMB’s resident artist, Victoria Gugenheim, explains how to draw a simple dove with a hijab in its beak.

Use the hashtags #WomenLeavingIslam #FromHijabToFreedom #NoForcedHijab #NoHijabDay #FreeFromHijab to challenge religious misogyny.

Women Leaving Islam’s Producer: Gita Sahgal, Executive Producer: Maryam Namazie, and Producer, Director and Filmmaker: Reason4Freedom

For more information, see Rahila Gupta’s review on the film.

https://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/2021/01/challenging-world-hijab-day-1-february/

January 28, 2021

Research Report on Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland – Commissioned by the Northern Ireland Executive

“ … There existed in Northern Ireland a culture of stigma, shame and secrecy attached to unmarried mothers. This was particularly true during the early and middle decades of the twentieth century, but such sentiment was still significant in the 1970s and 1980s. However, those two decades did see some liberalisation of public opinion. For example, the Belfast Telegraph published a series of articles that was sympathetic to unmarried mothers in August 1971. These articles explained the difficult realities that had been faced by women in these circumstances, who had no support networks and were unable to provide for themselves during and following a pregnancy.

While women were referred to mother and baby homes from a variety of sources, the overwhelming factor in admissions to them, evident across all the homes, was familial pressure. The case histories discovered in the various institutional archives and the oral testimony collected by the researchers reveal countless stories of familial anger, upset and disappointment at the discovery or revelation of a pregnancy. To avoid what was believed to be the shame and a loss of respectability brought upon a family by an ‘illegitimate’ pregnancy, women and girls were placed in mother and baby homes before their pregnancy became obvious. In other situations, the fear of family anger or rejection led women to enter mother and baby homes without telling their families, or, sometimes, after sharing their secret with only one parent or a sibling.

Women often entered a mother and baby home when they were not in a position to marry, or continue a relationship with, the father of their child. Marriage was often regarded as a way of resolving the issue of a premarital pregnancy and legitimising a birth. Case records reveal situations where marriage was not a possibility. Sometimes the father was already married; in other cases his identity was not known (or the birth mother did not want to reveal it); in religiously segregated Northern Ireland, religious differences were a common cause of opposition to a marriage. In other cases, the young age of a pregnant girl meant that marriage was not an option.

This last point indicates that a number of females entered mother and baby homes as the result of a sexual crime, including: incest, rape or unlawful carnal knowledge. The available records do not indicate whether the appropriate authorities were always informed about the criminal circumstances of these pregnancies. In at least one case, it appears that the authorities were not informed about a case of incest. In other instances it is clear that victims of sexual abuse were moved on to a Good Shepherd St Mary’s home, to work in its laundry, after they gave birth in a mother and baby home. More generally, the oral testimonies indicate that staff in all the mother and baby homes were not trained to attend to the psychological trauma arising from sexual abuse and incest. … “

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January 28, 2021

Concern as high income child benefit charge hits basic rate taxpayers – LITRG

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is calling for the high income child benefit charge (HICBC) threshold to rise to avoid it hitting basic-rate taxpayers for the first time in April.1 LITRG says this is contrary to the original policy intent, and it is likely to cause the Government additional difficulties in raising awareness about the charge among those who do not consider themselves on a high income.

HICBC is both controversial and complicated. For example, taxpayers liable to the charge must file a Self Assessment tax return, even though HMRC may already know complete information about a taxpayer’s income through the PAYE system. An individual can be liable to the charge even though it was their partner who claimed child benefit, which is contrary to the principle of independent taxation. The charge is also perceived as unfair because it can affect a couple earning the same amount in total as another couple not liable to the charge whose earnings are split more evenly between them.

The Spending Review in November 2020 confirmed that the Government will increase the higher-rate threshold in line with the September 2020 CPI figure. This means the higher-rate threshold for 2021/22 is set to be £50,270 – exceeding for the first time the £50,000 threshold at which the charge begins to apply. In a 2021 Budget representation, LITRG says basic-rate taxpayers will therefore be liable to the charge for the first time from 6 April 2021. This means the policy will no longer meet its original intent to only target higher-rate taxpayers. LITRG suggests the Government compensate for eight years of inflation and rising wages by raising the £50,000 income threshold to at least £60,000.

In its Budget representation, LITRG also calls for the point at which child benefit is fully clawed back to increase from £60,000 to £75,000. This is to address the fact that larger families can face higher effective marginal tax rates when they are liable to the charge. For example, where the charge applies to withdraw a child benefit claim for two children, the taxpayer must pay £60 in tax and National Insurance for an additional £100 earned between £50,000 and £60,000. For three children, the rate increases to £67 for an additional £100 earned.

LITRG argues that the structure of the charge encourages those otherwise liable not to claim child benefit. This can have consequences for the would-be claimant’s state pension record, as they potentially miss out on National Insurance credits. LITRG urges the Government to ensure that taxpayers do not miss out on these credits where child benefit is not claimed.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.litrg.org.uk/latest-news/news/210121-press-release-concern-high-income-child-benefit-charge-hits-basic-rate

January 28, 2021

Councils warned not to adopt allocations criteria that disadvantage domestic abuse victims

The ombudsman has reminded councils to consider the exceptional circumstances of people fleeing domestic abuse when assessing their housing needs.

The warning comes from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman following an investigation into the way Wandsworth LBC assessed a woman after she left another London borough to escape an abusive partner.

It found the council did not consider relaxing its local area connection criterion when the single mother asked for help, even though her former partner – who was in custody at the time – had pleaded guilty to aggravated bodily harm and criminal damage.

The ombudsman found the council should have offered the woman interim accommodation and accepted it had a duty to rehouse her.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Michael King, said: ‘Statutory guidance says councils should not adopt allocations criteria that disadvantage people fleeing an area because of domestic violence. This has also been extended to people who have recently arrived in an area because of domestic violence.

’In this case, the woman had suffered a brutal assault and the council’s failures meant she continued to live in an area where she was at risk of violence. The council did nothing to help her find safe, alternative accommodation, even when it knew her ex-partner would be released from prison, leaving her frightened and at ongoing risk.’

The ombudsman has called on the council to provide suitable temporary accommodation, put her in Band A of its allocations scheme backdated to October 2018, and provide information to housing officers about its duties towards people fleeing domestic violence.

Part of a longer news report at https://www.localgov.co.uk/Councils-warned-not-to-adopt-allocations-criteria-that-disadvantage-domestic-abuse-victims/51682

January 28, 2021

Free Periods In Schools Campaign

We were tired of waiting. We knew that under the Equality Act, the Government had an obligation to make sure that all young people are in school. If periods were a barrier to young people receiving that education, then it was clear that the Government had to put in place measures to eradicate that barrier.

Our solution to that was to ensure provision of free period products in all state-maintained English schools and colleges.

In January 2019, we joined forces with the Red Box Project and began to work with human rights lawyers (barristers Schona Jolly QC and Claire McCann and Hausfeld law firm) to build up a robust legal case. In April 2019, the Government agreed.

From January 2020, every state-maintained school and college in England has been able to order free period products for their students. Success!

But the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous for the elimination of period poverty. Schools closed. Jobs were lost. Incomes shrunk or dried up altogether. Young people have told us that they are struggling to manage their menstrual health. They are asking for help because having a period every month is a huge and unavoidable financial burden, one that’s felt most acutely by the most vulnerable and marginalised.

We have found out that, although the Government is offering free period products to all English schools and colleges, take up has been disappointedly low. Only 40% of eligible institutions having signed up for the scheme so far.

Why? There has been some confusion in schools on how best to access the scheme, and because the stigma silences any need for period products (with many young people feeling uncomfortable asking for products), schools may not realise how urgent and pressing the need for free provision really is.

At Free Periods, we don’t think this is acceptable. We are raising awareness of the scheme and encouraging schools and colleges to opt-in. Not only will this address young people’s menstrual needs, it will remedy any danger of revoking the scheme – a potential threat if schools don’t sign up.

You Can Help!

  • Use this template letter to get in touch with your local school or college, and let them know about the scheme.
  • Post our graphics on social media, to spread the word about the scheme.
  • Guidance on the scheme and how to place orders is available here.

https://www.freeperiods.org/free-periods-in-schools

 

January 28, 2021