Women’s movement in the UK still divided March 9, 2008

 

An incident of violent dissidence erupted yesterday at the Million Woman Rise (MWR) rally in Trafalgar Square at 4 in the afternoon, as one woman was injured and taken to the ambulance. The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) manifested their disapproval at being “silenced” by the MWR coalition from speaking on the issue of legalising prostitution. Some of their members unplugged the amplifiers so that the main speaker’s voice could not be heard. The episode quickly escalated as two women – belonging to the two opposing groups- physically attacked each other.

One witness said: “I don’t know their names. All I saw is someone from our coalition being grabbed by the throat”.

Teresa McKay, from the Ipswich Trade Council, explained that she was invited to speak on the issue in quality of her position as Regional Organiser of Women, Race and Equality in Unite the Union, “the biggest union in the country”. She said: “I was invited to speak on the issue of the five prostitutes killed in Ipswich. They said they got my speech too late, but then they let the cat out of the bag and said the coalition didn’t have a position [on prostitution], so they couldn’t let me speak”.

Teresa added: “I was going to get my union to make a donation to this campaign, but there’s no way I’m going to do that now, because they are just censoring us”.

Gemma Novis, one of the organisers of the rally, claimed Teresa McKay wasn’t censored. “There was a lot of confusion. As a coalition we put up a general call out for speakers, it was about providing a space for them. Lots of women got in touch with us, and then we had a discussion to see if the two sides of the debate were represented. Our coalition doesn’t have a position on the issue [of prostitution], we’re just united in ending violence against women”.

Three women who witnessed the event explained that it was a political issue. One of them, a member of the coalition and of Unite, said: “The English collective of prostitutes are quite a hard-core group. We need to have balanced views on the stage. Teresa MacKay was using her position in the Ipswich Trade Council to pursue her agenda”.

The members of the ECP, sporting a banner with “Sex workers rights are women’s rights” written on it, left the rally after the unsuccessful boycott attempt. Their group campaigns for the decriminalisation of their profession in the name of better welfare and safety, a health plan, a pension plan and a chance to pay the taxes in accordance with their professional effort.

100 years after the 15,000 female garment workers went on strike in New York City to fight for better working conditions, and 40 years after the heyday of the feminist campaign, the women’s movement seems to be far from united.

This comes as legislation on abortion and domestic violence are under scrutiny in the British Parliament. 

Happy Women’s day! March 8, 2008

This post is dedicated to the distinguished Professor Lawrence Summers, a truly dashing personality.  A noted economist, former Secretary of the Treasury and president of Harvard University.  I’ll remember him particularly for his statements regarding the genetic  differences in mathematical ability between men and women.

He basically seems to think women and numbers don’t click. Taking his wise words into account I have to express my admiration for him, especially because it so happens that this man and I share a love for numbers. So much so that I once wrote a poem about numbers.

It goes like this:

“The current world population counts about 6.6 billion people.

Amongst them, 51.3% are men, and 48.3% are women.

There are around 3.19 billion women in the world.

Women produce up to 80% of food in developing countries, but are more likely to be hungry than men.

70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children.

700,000,000 women are without adequate food, water, sanitation, health care or education (compared with 400,000,000 men)

750,000,000 women live on less than a dollar a day.

1% of the world’s titled land in the world is owned by women.

67% of all illiterate adults are women.

85m girls worldwide are unable to attend school, compared with 45m boys. In Chad, just 4% of girls go to school.

Up to 90% of workers in global supply chains are women.

62% of unpaid family workers are women.

21% of the world’s managers are women.

Fewer than one in six parliamentarians are women. While women’s representation in Rwanda is 49%, ten countries have no women in parliament.

In Africa, women now account for 75% of all young people living with HIV and AIDS.

In Ethiopia, seven out of ten women who have ever had a partner have suffered either physical or sexual violence at home.

99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with women continuing to die of pregnancy-related causes at the rate of one a minute.

Data on key aspects of women’s empowerment, including school attendance, violence against women and wages is only available in around a quarter of countries.”

Have a look at my sources.