A Message from the Chair of the Women's National Commission

Message from the Chair of the Women's National Commission

Dear Friend,

We often hear about the United Nations - usually as the peace keeper in a war-zone, but many women probably don't realise that the United Nations also works for women, regularly carries out research on areas important to women’s lives and has held a number of world conferences to get Governments to commit to equality.

The last conference was held in Beijing in China, and the attending Governments, including ours, agreed to a Platform for Action (PfA for short), setting out what needs to be done to improve women's lives. Altogether, 189 countries have 'signed up'.Our Government made this commitment to women in the UK in 1995. Now, in 2010, the UN is holding a conference in New York, to look at how things have improved.

So we have been talking to women's groupswho are our partners, fromall over the UK (there is a list of the groups we worked in partnership with, at the back of this booklet).We asked them what has improved for women in the 15 years since the PfA was written, and what still needs to be done. This booklet tells their story, and we hope it will tell the UK Government more about women’s experiences of its policies, what women want and what more could be done to achieve greater equality between women and men.

This booklet is not intended to be an exhaustive list of achievements and observations but provides an opportunity to reflect on progress and have a discussion about where we need to go next. We held a consultation exercise to gather partners’ views for this booklet and were overwhelmed by the response. Additional information, not reflected here, will be distributed at forthcoming events to support further discussion on these important issues.

So we will continue talking to our partners, throughout the year, at our All Partners Conference in November, at a series of events in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to discuss the Beijing Platform for Action and through our 40th Anniversary programme of activities. Our aim will be to have a comprehensive picture of what women think across the UK, to share at the conference at the United Nations in 2010. You can also catch up with progress on our website.

Since the Platform for Action was signed, we have new governments in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, and they are also bound by the commitments in the Platform for Action. You'll find details in here of some of the work they, as well as the Government at Westminster, have been doing over the last 15 years. In line with the platform for action commitments, we would like to see this work extended to benefit women all over the UK, not just in the individual countries.

International agreements at the United Nations seem very far away from the lives of real women in the United Kingdom. But the Platform for Action can make a difference to us all. Please read this booklet, and decide what you think.

There is a page at the end for you to let us have your comments. We need your help as we work with the Government and women's organisations to use the Platform for Action as it was meant to be used by the women who helped write it - to help us achieve equality.

Baroness Joyce Gould

Chair, Women's National Commission

1

Contents

Introduction

...... Poverty

...... Education

...... Health

...... Violence

...... Women and armed conflict

...... The economy

...... Women in power

...... Ways to make equality happen

...... Human rights

...... Media

...... Environment

...... Girls

Introduction.....

What is the Platform for Action?

The Platform for Action, or PfA for short, is a set of promises made by governments all over the world, including ours, to the women in their countries. Altogether, the PfA is 178 pages long, and it describes the things which governments and women's groups should do to achieve equality for women. These actions are divided up into twelve chapters, each of which looks at a critical area - that is, an area where important action must be taken.

Who wrote the Platform for Action?

The Platform for Action (PfA) was written in Beijing in 1995. Thousands of women from all over the world, including many from the UK and the Women's National Commission, took part. The women at Beijing worked with government officials to make sure that the PfA covered all the issues which are important to women.

What is this booklet about?

The United Nations has asked women's groups across the world to comment on every chapter of the PfA - on all the critical areas for women - and to say what progress they think has been made, 15 years on.

This booklet tells you what the PfA says we should be doing on each of them. We also tell you some of what the Government of the UK and governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are doing on each one, and what women have told us they would like done now.Some women have responded through formal meetings with their members and provided comprehensive reports with referenced statistics. Other women have told us how it is affecting their lives and that of their families and communities.

The setting up of new governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland through devolution means that progress for women is very different in different parts of the UK. As each of the four nations has differing responsibilities, governments have the ability to take national decisions where policies are devolved. Reports to the UN often refer to policy developments in England as if they apply everywhere. We have tried to make it clear where initiatives only apply to one or two countries within the UK.

This booklet only tells you about the main points in the PfA. You can find a full copy of the PfA on the UN website. (

What is the Women's National Commission?

We are the UK Government's, national, official, independent, advisory body on women. We work with women and women's organisations, to ensure that women's views are heard in all parts of Government, and particularly in those government departments which work for women's equality, like the Government Equalities Office (GEO). We write reports, like this one, and give them to Government, to promote constructive dialogue between governments and the women’s sector. This one will also go to the United Nations. We will be working to make sure that progress towards equality for women continues. Women want to see faster change, and greater equality.

What about my views?

This booklet tells you what many women think needs to be done. But women don't all agree about the way things should change. You may have different views to the ones you'll find in this booklet, if so, tell us! There is a page at the end for you to write down your ideas and send them to us. Or you can contact us by email or on our website: details are also at the end.

And if you want to help, there are many women's groups who want to make the PfA work for women. If you want to contact them, look at the list on the back page. They will be delighted to hear from you!

The Women's National Commission

October 2009

POVERTY

What the PfA says

Governments must:

•Reduce women's unemployment and raise their income

•Help women migrants find jobs, and recognise their qualifications

•Help women living in poverty get affordable housing

•Make sure our social security systems put men and women on an equal footing at every stage in their lives

•Give poorer women free or low cost legal aid

•Help poorer women to get credit and loans

•Make sure that policies to make the economy more stable also help women

What our governments have done:

across the UK

•Introduced a national minimum wage, which has helped reduce the pay gap between women and men[i], and for the first time, set a target to close the gender pay gap[ii]

•Part time workers (mainly women) are now entitled to equal pay[iii]

•Undertaken a range of activities to address the impact of the current economic downturn on women, including through undertaking research and providing advice to women[iv]

•Changes in the Pensions Act 2007 will narrow the gender pensions gap by reducing the number of years needed to build up a full basic State Pension and providing for credited contributions for caring to be recognised equally with contributions for work

in England

•The childcare strategy has doubled the number of childcare places to more than 1.3 million[v]

in England and Wales

•Local authorities must make sure there is enough childcare to enable parents to work or train[vi]

in Wales

• The European Social Funded programme Genesis 2, which is delivered across Wales and whose main target group are female lone parents, will increase labour market participation specifically concentrating on those who are ‘hardest to reach’ and move them closer to the labour market

•supported the trade unions and the equality and human rights commission to train unions in the workplace on unequal pay and to encourage equal pay reviews by employers

in Northern Ireland

• The Department for Social Developmentand the Department for Employment and Learning play a key role in reducing poverty, through supporting individuals into employment and lone parents back to work
• The ongoing Pensions Reform Programme is delivering fairer outcomes for women and carers and the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland 2008), will introduce measures in 2010 that will help redress the pension effects of labour market differences and pension impact of childcare responsibilities

What Women are saying to us:

• Older women are affected by poverty because they have not built up assets and savings. Only 30% of women get the full basic state retirement pension, compared to 85% of men[vii]. In Northern Ireland, it is 25% of women

•Help the poorest women - pensioners and mothers bringing up children alone[viii] Over 50% of children in one-parent families in Northern Ireland are poor, and 23% of children living with a working lone parent are poor due to low wages[ix].

•The Government has spent too much on shoring up the banks, and not enough on supporting women through the recession

•Provide more childcare: before women have children, their average pay is 91% of men’s, but drops to 67% after[x] . Northern Ireland has one of the lowest rates of childcare provision in western Europe[xi]

•Northern Ireland needs an integrated childcare strategy with a lead government department

•Lift the ban on asylum seekers working[xii]

•The Migrant Workers Convention should be ratified, which will help with the issue of no recourse to public funds for those coming from EU Accession countries

•Changes to the legal aid system mean that poor women can't afford to go to court - non-molestation orders can cost up to £800. The Legal Aid rules must be changed to give an automatic right to all victims of domestic violence to free legal protection and justice

•Part time work still means poverty for women[xiii]

•The minimum wage in Scotland needs to be raised – a move towards a living wage – which will significantly benefit women

• The impact of cuts in public transport has had adverse effects on the quality of life and opportunities of poor people in general and women and children in particular, especially in rural areas

•Change the social security system to let women earn a decent pension, maternity pay and other National Insurance benefits, even if their pay is very low or they take time out to bring up their family

•The Government should recognise women’s unpaid work

• Accessible, affordable, good quality childcare is needed in Wales, which would enable more mothers to return to work and thus improve the chances of lifting the family out of poverty

EDUCATION

What the PfA says

Governments must:

• Promote equality and mutual respect between girls and boys from preschool onwards, teaching boys to share household responsibilities

• Provide training for women entering the labour market, and for women returners, to meet changing skills needs

• Remove the barriers to sex education

• Provide childcare facilities so that teenage mothers can stay in school

• Give disabled and refugee women access to education to help them get work

What our Governments have done:

across the UK

•Working to raise standards in schools: girls are doing better at GCSEs, Highers, and A levels, and more women now go into further and higher education

•Announced its intention to make PHSE education statutory – which includes sex and relationship education – in 2011

•Providing financial support to meet childcare costs for teenage parents who want to return to education

in Wales

•this year, all University Vice Chairsare women, and 16% of Heads of Further Education colleges andSecondary Schools as well as 74% of all teachers

in Scotland

•In 2005, 49% of secondary school teachers were women, and 21% of secondary school headteachers

in Northern Ireland

• 75% of teaching posts are held by women, and 30% of head teachers are women[xiv]
• The Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment for Northern Ireland has issued guidance to teachers on gender issues. Advice includes ensuring girls have leadership roles, and are routinely part of ‘male‘activities. Schools are advised to monitor that girls get an equal share of resources

What Women are saying to us:

•Some subjects at A level, Highers and degree level are dominated by men: men are twice as likely to do a science related first degree[xv] - we should encourage more girls to do science

•Our girls need to see women in positions of leadership

•Inequality for women starts when children learn gender stereotypes: nonviolent, equal relationships between girls and boys must be taught in schools

•Schooling for Traveller women is inadequate: 9% cannot read[xvi]

•Boys are not taught at school to share responsibility for household chores and childcare, so women still do 70% of the housework when they grow up

•Comprehensive sex education must be taught in all schools as part of the curriculum.

•Schools should provide awareness programmes on preventing violence, sexual harassment and homophobic bullying of teachers and pupils. They must be accountable for promoting gender equality

•Disabled and refugee women should not be discriminated against and access to education for adult women with learning disabilities is sporadic; there are not enough places available in further education for women to attend vocational and educational courses with the support available that they require

•Even though the Gender Equality Duty came into force in 2007 there is concern amongst that many schools and colleges have yet to produce the equality schemes they are required to do so by the Duty

•Need a teenage pregnancy strategy in NI

•Need appropriate action to attract girls into science, especially physics at school

•Childcare/caring, being a barrier for women seeking to go into employment, also proves to be a barrier for women seeking to engage in education

• Comprehensive sex education must be taught in all schools as part of the curriculum. Northern Ireland has higher teenage pregnancies and rates of STIs and the Department of Education must provide guidelines that make it compulsory for schools to provide sex education
• The under representation of women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) is based on an entrenched gender stereotyping in education and skills, and is critically affected by strategies, policies and practices on training, education and skills

HEALTH

What the PfA says

Governments must:

•Ensure access to safe, effective contraception, and give women who have unwanted pregnancies ready access to reliable information and compassionate counselling

•Ensure that disabled girls and women of all ages have supportive services

•Train primary health workers to recognise and care for girls and women who have experienced violence

•Support and involve women, and women's organisations, to design better health services

•Make sure that sports are open to women, as they are open to men

What our Governments have done:

across the UK

•Providing free contraception and sexual health services

•Asking all women using maternity services routinely about domestic violence

•Currently undertaking a major review of health support services for victims of violence[xvii]

•Providing screening services for breast and cervical cancer

in England

•providing prescription drugs free to everyone on low incomes in England which has an impact on women

in Wales

•providing prescription drugs free for everyone[xviii]

in Scotland

• Ask all women when accessing mental health, A&E and addictions services about domestic violence

In Northern Ireland

• The regional Hidden Harm Action Plan and supporting local Hidden Harm Action Plans, emphasise the importance of appropriate advice and support for women who are known to have alcohol and/or drug problems

What Women are saying to us:

• Women should be more involved in the design of health care services which meet the particular needs of women

• Drinking in teenage girls is high especially in comparison to other European countries
• Women with learning disabilities are still frequently having their babies removed from their care as the level of support required is not available
• Support disabled young mothers

•Women in Northern Ireland should have access to free NHS abortions in Britain immediately, and the UK Government should extend UK abortion law to cover Northern Ireland so that women do not have to travel to other parts of the UK[xix]