Progressive Women are looking for 8 women to [...]]]> I’m afraid this workshop session is now full. If you want to register for the waiting list then do email Caroline at the address below or if you want to be updated about the mentoring scheme once it is up and running then please do get in touch.

Progressive Women are looking for 8 women to join us on Wednesday 2nd February for a free workshop with ANKLE (A New Kind of Leadership) Network. To be held at: RSA, John Adam St, London, WC2N 6EZ

The aim of the meeting is to

• Share what ANKLE have learned about the importance of creating a thinking environment which enables us to think well, based on the amazing work of Nancy Kline (www.timetothink.com)
• Learn some very practical techniques which can be directly applied at work and at home to help relationships and work processes be more effective;
• Look at a proposal for a co-mentoring system between our two networks which would enable us to set up a range of cross-generation mentoring partnerships in 2011, using Thinking Environment methods;
• Agree next steps.

If you want to participate in this workshop on 2nd February please email caroline@progressivewomen.org.uk by Wednesday 26th January.

Did you know that after you are raped it is very unlikely you will have a female Forensic Medical Examiner, the vast majority are men, in some areas of the country all are male? Did you also know that the British Medical Association [...]]]> Sarah Learmonth is Policy Officer at Coventry Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre.

Did you know that after you are raped it is very unlikely you will have a female Forensic Medical Examiner, the vast majority are men, in some areas of the country all are male? Did you also know that the British Medical Association have stated that rapists are escaping conviction because of a lack of adequately trained doctors to deal with victims and that this is a contributing factor to the low UK rape conviction rate, currently standing at around 6.5%?

No? Well it’s not surprising, rape is reported nationally only as individual cases, mostly those which are going to trial or have achieved conviction, not as an issue for society to acknowledge and understand.

I work for the Rape Crisis Centre in Coventry which supports around 3,000 victims of rape and abuse. Around a quarter of our clients are children and nearly half of the adult clients were sexually abused first as children. More women and girls are raped in the UK than suffer diabetes or coronary heart disease, but the level of support for victims is nowhere near the same.

An Amnesty International survey found that third of people in the UK believe that a woman is partially or totally responsible for being raped if she has behaved in a flirtatious manner, these people are doctors, police officers, A & E nurses, jury members; the latest Crown Prosecution Service figures show that if you go to trial it is twice as likely you will get a not guilty verdict than a conviction.

No wonder then that we end up in a situation where David Cameron supports the proposal for rape anonymity for defendants based on ‘the significant number of false allegations.’ The evidence for that? Well there isn’t any. The Stern Review of the criminal justice response to rape victims states false reporting is ‘extremely rare’, but as a society the knowledge that women lie about rape is an undisputed myth, a stereotype not only unchallenged by the government but adopted within a proposal initially for legislation.

I was on a train recently with a woman who was interested in doing some pro bono work for us, explaining our services for victims when the man next to me told me to ‘Shut up’ and looking around the carriage I wondered how many other people agreed with his sentiments and how many realised that this is exactly what our victims are told to do.

When we ask the Practise Managers at our local GP surgeries to put our leaflets out some explain they can’t because they might offend people.

In March of this year a report came out called Taskforce Alberti, a review of the health response to rape victims, it states that in the UK an estimated 16% of children between 0 to 16 years old have experienced sexual abuse. There was no media attention given to this report, no interviews, nothing.

Rape and sexual abuse are in epidemic proportions and as a society our reaction is to distance ourselves with disbelief, the victim is blamed and a focus put on helping the abusers. As a whole our society would rather that organisations like Rape Crisis picked up the pieces invisibly and silently.

“My uncle used to ask for me to bring him tea in the morning that was the signal, I knew what would happen. He showed me pictures of my aunt after he’d beaten her up and told me if I didn’t do what he said then he would beat her again. I was 9 years old.”

So maybe after what I’ve told you we can decide that it’s no longer going to be a secret, that together we will effect the monumental change in our society’s attitudes that is needed towards rape and its’ victims. If we have to do it one person at a time, then we will.

If you would like to donate to Coventry Rape Crisis Centre please click here: www.crasac.org.uk/donations
We are on Facebook (CRASAC) and Twitter (@CRASAC)
Helpline Number: 024 7627777
National rape crisis website

You may have noticed that very few films have a female dominated cast, although it’s only too normal to see films with a [...]]]> Free next Tuesday evening? Following on from their very successful Women in Power and Politics season, the Tricycle threatre will present a special screening of MADE IN DAGENHAM (Tues 12th October 8.15pm).

You may have noticed that very few films have a female dominated cast, although it’s only too normal to see films with a pretty much all male ensemble, save for the token female love interest ofcourse. This is a great chance to see some talented British actresses (and some male actors) in a fantastic new film. MADE IN DAGENHAM tells the true story of one group of women’s ground-breaking fight for equal pay.

It’s 1968 and Ford factory sewing machinists in Dagenham, Essex, down tools when they are reclassified as ‘unskilled’. The film stars an all British cast of Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike and Bob Hoskins.

You can join in a post-screening Q&A with Director Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls), alongside Producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley (The Crying Game, Interview With the Vampire, Michael Collins). The Q&A will be hosted by Kate Kinninmont (Chief Executive – Women in Film and Television).

Tickets £12
Box Office: 020 7 328 1000
www.tricycle.co.uk
269 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 (Nearest Tube: Kilburn)

And let us know what you think of the film!

Join Progressive Women on Saturday 6th November for a day of INSPIRING LEADERS. Develop your leadership skills through our training workshops and be inspired by our guest speakers. For more information see here.

Do go along if you are able and show your support for ending violence against women.

More info here: http://www.millionwomenrise.com/

If you’re interested in finding out more, you can do so here at the Vote for Change [...]]]> At the meeting on Tuesday, both Beatrice and Caroline talked about electoral reform and the introduction of a form of proportional representation (PR) in the voting system as one way which could increase the numbers of women in Parliament.

If you’re interested in finding out more, you can do so here at the Vote for Change website which is a campaign calling for a referendum on electoral reform at the next general election. And there’s a Rally for Change in support of the campaign on July 9th in Westminster.

We at Progressive Women aren’t yet sure what we think about PR but we’re looking forward to listening to the arguments for and against over the coming months.

Mary

Here is a flavour of sites that exist already:

www.womeninlondon.org.uk Women in London [...]]]> Progressive Women aims to bring women together to explore issues we’re commonly interested in and support each other in politics and economy. We just want to share with you some of the exciting existing sites out there for women that we can tap into.

Here is a flavour of sites that exist already:

www.womeninlondon.org.uk
Women in London is a directory of London based women’s groups and feminist activities. This site has dates for upcoming events in April and May, job vacancies, training opportunities and networking groups for women of all backgrounds and interests.

www.thefword.org.uk
The fword aims to ‘encourage a sense of community among UK feminists’. The site offers features, reviews and articles on issues from the feminist perspective, ranging from racism, sexual harassment, consumerism, beauty pageants, religion, and pop culture. They also have an online shop for feminist literature – it’s definitely worth checking out!

www.ldnfeministnetwork.ik.com/home.ikml
The London Feminist network is a women only network and campaigning organisation formed to unite London-based feminist groups and individuals in action. Their most famous event is the annual Reclaim the Night march that takes place to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The march this year is 21st November. It’s a long way off but I’ve put the date in my diary – perhaps other Progressive Women would like to join me on the march?

Nicola said that the one thing we could all do right now would be to make sure we and other women we know [...]]]> Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting on Tuesday night. It was great to see so many progressive women come together to talk about the issues that really matter to us.

Nicola said that the one thing we could all do right now would be to make sure we and other women we know all know about our employment rights especially around redundancy.

The links she mentioned as good sources of information are here:
ACAS, Worksmart by the TUC, BERR

Details about the next meeting will be available in a couple of weeks, in the meantime keep checking back for more updates, links and discussion.