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| Sara Paz (l) and Artemis Konstantinidi |
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Monday, 7 March 2011
Women's Day 2011: Tomorrow's People
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Violence Against Women: "A Civil War Is Going On In Our Backyards"
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Ahmet Davutoğlu: Thousands of Women Suffer Violence Everyday In Europe
The 24 November statement by Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey and Chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
ECHR Case Law On Violence Against Women
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Anti-Violence Treaty Nears Completion
Image via WikipediaFriday, 8 October 2010
Parliamentary Assembly Upholds Doctors' Right To Conscientious Objection
Image via WikipediaSuch were the differences on both sides that the text presented by the Committee on Social Affairs had to be amended substantially.
The adopted resolution states that "no person and no hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion."
More information
ECHR Case
Monday, 4 October 2010
Council of Europe Tackles Domestic Violence With First International Treaty
Image via WikipediaThe next time you take a trip to Europe , look around the airport at the women travelling with you. It doesn’t matter what they look like, what nationality, what culture. Each of them is a potential victim.
Statistics coming out of Europe show that one out of every six women is a victim of domestic violence. Add other kinds of violence and the figures rise higher. Of course, statistics vary from country to country: and every “expert” knows that with a theme so personal, so taboo, they can only every represent a small slice of a potentially much wider problem. But one clear fact emerges: no matter what the country or the social strata, violence is a fact of life for women.
This is why the Council of Europe – best known for its role as the human rights guardian of Europe and as the seat of the Court of Human Rights – is taking action. Separate from the European Union, it is a forum which brings together governments to advance human rights protection in all its forms. For the Council to turn its focus to domestic violence means one thing: violence against women is a fundamental abuse of their human rights.
In 2011 the Council will launch a legally binding convention that will pledge the governments which ratify it to create laws to protect women. Its aim is to provide tools to combat violence through a combination of prevention, protection and prosecution. The Convention sprang from the 2006 – 2008 Campaign against Domestic Violence, but is spreading its net much wider, with honour killings, genital mutilation, harassment in the workplace and stalking amongst the issues it tackles.
Why act now? One major reason is the widening gap between what is on the statute books and what happens in the real world. The Council of Europe has driven moves to equality since the 1970s, shadowing the pioneering work of the women’s movement and mobilising Europe’s governments to bring equality laws before their parliaments. But although the laws are now there in black and white, and social service systems have adapted, many women still experience inequality and violence day to day. The Council of Europe’s hope is that an international treaty that provides a legal framework will create a stronger impetus for Europe’s government to bridge the gap.
More prosaically, European governments have woken up to the fact that violence against women is expensive. Medical treatment, prosecutions and police resources leave the taxpayer with a hefty bill. Prevention comes at a lesser cost – both in terms of money and in terms of lives saved.
The Council has 47 member countries, covering just about the entire European continent apart from Belarus and Kosovo, so it is well placed to make changes. Already, the earlier campaign led to a fundamental changes on the ground in Europe, with many governments criminalising domestic violence for the first time, whilst at the same time taking a new look at what they were providing for abused women. New havens opened – including the first ever purpose built hostel in Serbia – and governments started to take a long hard look at some assumptions: such as the fact that women should leave their homes to their abuses partners, effectively locking the door to their own home base and that of their children.
The launch of the convention marks the first European Human Rights treaty aimed especially at protecting women. It is a natural step in building up the arsenal of legal measures, with the Council of Europe its natural promoter. After all, the European Human Rights Convention, created after World War Two to avoid repeating the tragedies of history, has not only changed the human rights landscape but created a belief amongst most Europeans that attacks on human dignity should never be tolerated. Let’s hope the new convention recreates that success, and that injury, death and trauma to women can become a thing of the past.
More information
Campaign
Podcast (1) & (2)
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Hurrah For Switzerland But When Will Europe Reach 40% Gender Balance In Politics?
Image via WikipediaThe country joins Finland, Norway and Spain among CoE nations with a female-dominated government. Switzerland is second only to Finland, which boasts 12 women (63%) out of 19 ministers.
In 2009, the Council of Europe reported on the success of governments in achieving balanced participation between women and men in political and public decision-making.
The 'Parity Democracy – a far cry from reality,' study revealed the results of the first and second rounds of monitoring of Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making.
The recommendation defined balanced participation as a minimum representation of 40% of both sexes in all decision-making bodies in political or public life in the 47 member states.
More information
Podcast : Are Men Now The Victims?
Video: 21st Century Women- New Century, Old Problems
Thursday, 19 August 2010
August 2010 Podcast: Is Feminism Now A Man's Best Friend?
The founder of Women’s Views On News,an online daily women's news service providing news about women, for women and by women, gives her views on the reality of women's professional progress over the past 40 years.
She also questions why men are "so defensive" in the face of women’s demand for equality, claiming that “feminism is a man’s best friend.”
More on Alison Clarke
Works as a freelance journalist specialising in employment law and discrimination issues. Alison worked previously as a solicitor for a small firm of family lawyers and as a legal rights officer for a major UK trade union.
She has written four books: ‘Community Nurses and the Law’, published in 1999; ‘Women’s Rights At Work’ published in 2001; the author and self-publisher of ‘Maternity Pay and leave – a guide for employers’ which came out in November 2004; and the co-author of ‘A Guide to Equality Law’ published by the TUC in January 2005.
Like this Podcast? Then listen to Alison Clarke discussing domestic violence as Women's Aid launches the 'Real Man' campaign.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Isabel Stilwell: The Fight Against Male Privilege
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| Isabel Stilwell |
The 49 year old Portuguese mother of three will did just that when joining an international panel taking part in ‘Viewpoint,’ a Council of Europe-produced television talk show, dubbed Europe’s first human rights broadcast.
The programme’s title ‘Women – New Century, Old Problems’ is a theme that Isabel understands well.
“The fight now is not against men but against obstacles that are still in the way of women, especially when they are poor and especially when they don’t have the money or access to education that opens doors,” she says.
Social justice is a theme to which Isabel returns often, even as she recognises the privileges conferred by her professional status and family background.
Isabel convinces as the driven power-broker whose success has been achieved without the sacrifice of personal happiness.
She has spent her entire working life climbing the career ladder of Lisbon’s media village. During that time, Isabel has juggled the demands of raising a family with anchoring a daily radio programme and a weekly television talk show, as well as authoring 10 books and editing Destak, a national, free daily newspaper.
So, does she see herself as a ‘superwoman’ or perhaps, a feminist icon, standing on the shoulders of giants?
Isabel is happier to see herself as a “fulfilled woman” but willingly pays homage to older ‘sisters’ of the struggle.
“The real icons of feminism belong to the generation just before me and to whom I am really grateful,” she says. “They had the courage which made my fulfillment possible.
“Gender was an obstacle but not one that I couldn’t get over. When I started working, journalism was 90% men. It was a world designed for men. Time–wise, it was for men and not for women with children.”
Isabel laments that women are often “their own worst enemies” in relationships with men. She fears that despite the advance of political correctness into the Portuguese mainstream, women still raise their daughters to respect traditional roles.
“Roles haven’t changed that much,” she admits. “Mothers continue to raise their boys and girls in a different way. I was educated to be a good mother, a good wife and a good employee.”
As a mother of two daughters, Isabel is concerned by the portrayal of women as uniquely sexual objects. She is also alive to the contradiction that she works in an industry which plays a key role in the coarsening of popular culture.
Her interest in furthering “behavioural change” has led Isabel to embrace the feminism that sees men as partners and not as adversaries. As an “optimist” she believes that men can enrich their own lives by sharing in the progress women have made in Portugal since the Carnation Revolution of April 1974.
“We need to educate boys to be different men,” she says. “The first reaction of a man may be to reject this change because he remembers how his father’s life was fantastic and he feels as if he is losing things that his father had.
“But in reality, when men start to take care of children they find that they love what they do. Men will find it rewarding and liberating to meet women half way.”
Isabel Stilwell is a television presenter, the editor in chief of the Portuguese daily newspaper Destak and an author of 10 books
Watch Viewpoint
Friday, 30 July 2010
The End Of Men?
Image via WikipediaFor years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences. (Read More)
So begins a very interesting read in the latest edition of the superb Atlantic Monthly.
We'd like to test some of the theories mentioned in this article to see whether the European reality matches the American experience.
To that end, we want to hear from women of all ages and backgrounds, to find out whether they believe they are now living in a 'feminised' world.
Do you see your workplace and home as havens of equality?
Did you live through the feminist waves of the last three decades? Is the European society of today what you expected?
Tell us how feminism has changed your life? Is it still relevant to the lives of younger women and to those who are not counted among middle class professionals?
Why does feminism seem to be making a comeback in the UK if the world now belongs to women?
What are the battles still to be won to ensure true equality?
We'll use your replies for a September feature article.
Thanks in advance for taking part.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Gender Expert: 40% Of Politicians Should Be Women
Image via WikipediaWomen form the majority of the British electorate but make up roughly 20% of the country’s elected representatives. This should be a call to action for all those who care about the health and durability of the democratic process.
Research from the Council of Europe shows female representation in the United Kingdom lagging behind that of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Switzerland.
Elected female representatives are also more numerous in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Portugal, Spain and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Where balanced representation is concerned, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands are the established leaders among the Council of Europe’s 47 member states. Each country records impressive numbers of women contributing to the national decision-making process.
A 2008 Council of Europe study concluded that "obstacles to participation can be related to electoral systems, but also to the functioning of political life and to its rites and rhythms, that still follow a dominant male pattern of social organisation. The report added that "they can also be related to the unwritten, traditional rules of political parties which, still too often, tend to function as ’old boys networks.’
"Deeper rooted obstacles are linked to educational, social and cultural factors that still tend to privilege the public/political domain as being a mainly male domain."
Fair representation is not simply “a numbers game,” nor is it the outcome of a gender supremacist view that the greater involvement of women would improve politics and decision-making.
It is the honourable and urgent demand of those women and men who want a political process that reflects society and is open to all. Balanced representation is fundamental to our democratic system. That is why the Council of Europe is asking its member states to respect a 2003 pledge to ensure that the representation of either women or men in any decision-making body in political or public life would not fall below a 40% threshold.
The practical steps needed for achieving this goal remain to be worked out in each country but fairer representation in Britain and elsewhere in Europe could boost involvement and encourage a higher turn-out. It would definitely strengthen and enrich democracy.
For the time being, the global picture is still one of inequality as regards the participation and representation of women. Allowing this critical democratic deficit to continue should invite the outrage of us all.
The author, Johanna Nelles, is working on delivering Europe's first international convention combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Human Rights Boss: Bar Maid Visas May Boost Trafficking In Cyprus
However, he is concerned that other types of work permits, such as the one for bar maids, might be used to circumvent the law. “The authorities should remain vigilant against organised crime and ensure that no type of visa or working permit can be abused for such unlawful purposes as trafficking in human beings.”
Read More
Friday, 23 July 2010
Profile: Naema Tahir - Dutch Human Rights Lawyer And Novelist
Her fifth book which is published next October, discusses the issues surrounding Muslim women who choose their marriage partners.
The subject material hints at autobiography. More than a decade ago, Naema stood firm against parents determined that she would accept an arranged marriage.
“If I chose myself to marry someone my parents arranged, that would be ok,” says Naema, as she prepares to take part in a Council of Europe human rights television programme on the right to free expression.
“But I didn’t choose it. It was forcibly put on me and I had to say no. It has been the most painful part of my life.”
Although Naema now 40 and her parents have reconciled, the experience may have strengthened a willingness to challenge orthodoxy.
Certainly the process of “critical rethinking” that it demanded continues to mark her work both as a writer and as a public intellectual. It is a process Naema encourages.
Naema’s first book ‘A Muslim Woman Unveils,’ published in 2005, tackles issues of inter-generational conflict, identity and migration.
The follow-up Dutch best-seller ‘Prized Possession’ (2006), deals with the reproductive and sexual rights of three Muslim women.
It helped to catapult the former Council of Europe human rights lawyer into the Dutch media spotlight. She has remained there ever since, staking out positions on religion and migration which strike at the heart of the Dutch debate on multi-culturalism.
A Council of Europe report published last February on the Netherlands, underlined how fraught the issue has become in a country noted for its tolerant and relaxed attitudes to social questions.
“The overall tone of the public discourse in the Netherlands and the new integration policy, with its particular focus on the preservation of the Dutch identity, have had negative consequences on the preservation of a climate of mutual understanding between the majority population and the ethnic minorities," the report revealed.
Undaunted, Naema enters the fray with advice for the country’s immigrants.
“If they are not integrating well, we should hold them accountable for their lack of willingness to become part of this society,” she says.
Naema also focuses her attention on the Netherlands’ Muslim community.
“There should be a discussion on Islam,” she declares. “There should be a discussion on the norms, the rules and the practice. It’s in all our interests.
“There is not always equality in those rules for men and women. There is not equality for a believer and non-believer. It‘s a religion which is monopolised by men. It’s a religion where critical thought was apparent until 11th century and then it stopped.”
As an introspective writer, Naema is not a natural fit for the slaying of sacred cows. She is determined not to be seen as a politician and is wary of the public gaining an understanding of her work solely through the media lens.
“I wish to inspire and not injure,” Naema says. “Being a member of the new immigrant communities, I felt it was my duty to communicate to the larger European group because there’s so much misunderstanding and fear.”
A self-described “Pakistani-British girl who lives in Holland “ and one who has also called Nigeria and France home, Tahir rejects any comparison between her views and those offered by the assassinated Dutch critics of Islam Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh.
“If you write about a hot potato issue like Islam, there is always a fear. But my biggest fear is being misunderstood. It’s really easy to take elements of what I say and put them in isolation as a headline. It does sound provocative.
“My task is to write in as nuanced and as detailed a way as possible, so that people cannot politicize the work.
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“If that would be my fear that rightists would hijack my work, I would never be able to write critically. Critical thought is the only way to open up. I don’t do it to criticize the community I come from. We have so much opportunity in the West but you have to be more ambitious that just wanting to integrate.”
Ambition, encouragement and positive-thinking are key to understanding Naema’s approach to multi-culturalism, which requires all groups in the Netherlands to face up to hard truths.
“We should criticise both sides,” she declares. “Migrants are worried about the closed attitude of Dutch people. We Dutch tend to say that we are open to diversity but I sometimes doubt if that is the case.
“There is this abstract on the one side Islam and the abstract of the West on the other side. We have to smash into pieces these abstracts and bring them to smaller elements.
“When we do that, we’ll see there is no clash. There are many levels on which people encounter. There is actually more communication and connections than a clash.”
The stakes may be high but Naema, who is also a visiting professor at the University of Leiden, remains optimistic about the future.
“I don’t really believe that it’s going to go badly,” she says. “People who have this attitude of critical reflection and introspection welcome new views, fresh ideas and even criticism.
“In the next 10 years we are going to see positive things coming out of the Muslim community. Muslim women will be more aware of their rights and be able to communicate about their rights. I want to write about that.”
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Birgitta Ohlsson: Europe wastes the world's “most educated housewives”
In an interview with the Council of Europe's Viewpoint television programme, Sweden’s EU minister Birgitta Ohlsson said that the number of working women should be increased as part of the 2020 Strategy for Growth.
“To get more growth, more people need to work and especially more women who need to get onto the labour market, “Ms Ohlsson told Viewpoint, Europe’s first human rights talk show.
“We have a lack of representation in the labour market supply when it comes to women. Women need to get out and work. Europe cannot afford to have the most well-educated housewives in the world. Women need to get out and show their competence.”
The talk show ’s theme – ‘Women: New Century, Old Problems’ – brought together Portuguese author and journalist Isabel Stilwell, German business consultant Anke Trischler and British gender expert Paul Wolf-Light.
The programme reviewed women’s professional progress, the impact of feminism and the fight against male gender privilege.
The panelists also examined gender roles in the economic crisis, debated the value of positive discrimination and analysed the benefits to men in accepting women’s demand for fairness at home and at work.
Watch Viewpoint
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