International Women's Day

Saturday 8th March 2014 was International Women's Day. In celebration, Routledge have put together a free to access collection of articles from a wide range of journals. 
 
This year's IWD theme is 'Inspiring Change'. To reflect this, this campaign is split into four collections that celebrate the social, political and economic achievements of women internationally: 
 
- Women and Politics
- Women and Development
- Women, Work and Business
- Inspirational Women 

You can access the free articles here: http://bit.ly/1ictaaY

Free Resources For International Women's Day

Friday, 8th March was International Women's Day and to celebrate it a number of free resources were made available online.

These include:

• International Women's Day page on the UN website. Has a history of the event, records of past days, news and basic facts and figures about women.
• ILO puts the spotlight on sexual harassment. See their statement
• Council of Europe International women's Day files
• International Women's Day Resources. Has videos & posters
• UK Government map showing UK government action to empower women across the globe..

Rise In Convictions For Violence Against Women

Prosecutions and convictions for crimes of violence against women and girls have risen by 15,000 over four years.

The figures come from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which covers England and Wales.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said the rise was due to better training and a greater understanding of victims. The Refuge charity welcomed the increase but said it represented only "the tip of the iceberg".

Most victims of domestic violence suffer in silence - Mr Starmer said a woman would on average be assaulted 30 times before she sought help. In a speech he will highlight the progress he believes the CPS has made when it comes to all violent crime against women and girls.

The DPP will tell his audience that last year in England and Wales there were 91,000 prosecutions and 52,000 convictions. The CPS launched its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in 2008.
It focused on a number of issues including domestic violence, rape, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

Women Hold Fewer Than 1/3 Of Top Jobs - BBC Research

Figures compiled by BBC News show that fewer than 1/3 of the UK's most inflential jobs are currently held by women.

Women occupy on average 30.9% of the most senior positions across 11 key sectors analysed by the BBC, including business, politics and policing.The armed forces and judiciary have the fewest women in top posts - 1.3% and 13.2% respectively - while secondary education has the most (36.7%).

Campaign group the Fawcett Society said progress was still too slow.

"Men outnumber women by four to one in Parliament and only a third of local councillors are women," the group's Preethi Sundaram said.

"When we look at the top quarters of power in the political world there are only five women there out of 22… It's quite an appalling fact really."

The European Commission is considering new laws to get more women into the top management jobs. Currently, just one in seven board members at Europe's top firms are women.

You can read more on this story as well as statistics on women in top jobs here: Women hold fewer than one third of top jobs.

New Report & Film Reveal The Shocking Impact Of Tobacco Packagin On Children

New research published by Cancer Research UK claims that tobacco companies are designing cigarette packs to resemble bottles of perfume or with lids that flip open like a lighter to lure young people into smoking. It said the findings provided a “chilling insight” into the power of branding and marketing by the tobacco industry.

Young people and women are identified as target groups to aim tobacco packaging at according to the new report which has been published alongside a short film that illustrates children's reactions to the slickly designed cigarette packs.

You can view both the film and report here: Tobacco packaging.

Female Offenders: The Corston Report - Five Years On

Here's some useful material for anyone interested in the needs of female offenders.

Justice Minister Lord McNally visited the Hammersmith-based women’s community centre, Minerva, to see first-hand how significant investment has helped bring about changes in the way women are dealt with in the criminal justice system.

Much has been done to address the needs of female offenders since Baroness Corston led a review on women in the criminal justice system five years ago. One of the key aims of the Minerva Project is to reduce the number of avoidable family breakdowns (specifically in relation to children).

You can read the full press release here.

Equal but different? New report on alternatives to custody for women from HMI Probation

A new report from HMI Probation has been published on: Equal but different? An inspection of the use of alternatives to custody for women offenders.

New Research on Violence Against Women & Girls

The results of a new consultation report 'Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls' have now been released. The research was commissioned by the Department of Health and led by the Home Office in consultation with the National Children's Bureau. It elicited the views of young people on issues surrounding violence against women and girls including relationships education at school, social attitudes towards violence and sexual bullying. The full report and further information can be found on the Home Office website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Violence_against_women_and_1.html