Does anybody actually care about the millions of children who don’t attend private schools and will reach the age of 15 not being able to read and write properly? Obviously, not looking at the mess state schools are still in… Mind you, May and Gove are highly educated…
Excellent advice for writer’s block.
Every writer has dealt with that massive, invisible beast that plants itself squarely on our desks, preferably in front of our computer screens, and leers at us in a mocking sort of way, just daring us to get anything accomplished. Sometimes this beast teams up with Facebook or another soul-sucking website and we lose hours without knowing where they’ve gone.
And our story sits tragically abandoned.
There are lots of ways to get around writer’s block. We all have our tried and true methods, so I thought I’d contribute a couple of mine.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes (quite frequently, actually) I just need to get away from my work. And I don’t mean Facebook away or even read-a-good-book away. Those have their places (especially the latter). But little treats that allow me the sense of escape can make all the difference when it’s…View original post 734 more words
Amid the bleak economic outlook, women in the UK had a little something to smile about just before the festive season got under way.
This was owing to the Office of National Statistics‘ (ONS) revelation that the gender pay gap had narrowed markedly.
Figures showed it had dropped below 10% for the first time after women’s earnings increased faster than men’s. The gap between men’s and women’s median full-time hourly earnings had fallen from 10.1% in April 2010 to 9.1% in April last year.
The change followed a 1.9% increase in women’s earnings – up from £11.69 an hour to £11.91 – compared with a rise of 0.8% for men, from £13 to £13.11.
Meanwhile, women working part-time were also being paid more than their male counterparts. The gender pay gap for part-time workers was -5.6%, widening from – 4.3% last year, the ONS said.
Undeniably, as it stands the pay gap based on all employees had fallen from 19.8% to 19.5%.
In this sequence, a month earlier, the minimum wage for women was increased to £6.08 an hour. However, The Telegraph reported on research which suggested women in their 20s were earning more than men of the same age.
But this hard-won progress that has so far been made in narrowing the gender pay gap is in danger of disappearing in a puff of austerity smoke as more and more women lose their jobs.
Female unemployment in the UK is at its highest in 23 years – 1.13 million.(ONS)
Women workers also made up two thirds of the 48,000 hike in the number of people out of work in the three months to December, which brought the jobless figures to 2.67m.
Putting aside the top earners, those women still managing to hang onto their jobs – amid whole swathes of public sector redundancies sweeping across the country – are struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
In a report last year, the Resolution Foundation noted that “while the National Minimum Wage protects workers from falling too far into poverty, it does not guarantee a decent standard of living.”
It stated: “The Living Wage is currently set at £8.30 in London and £7.20 in the rest of the country.”
On 9 February, BBC’s Newsnight programme carried a report in which a woman employed by a supermarket chain store revealed she was in rent arrears despite working and receiving benefits.
The night-shift shelf-stacker told the reporter she could not imagine being able to survive on her low income with the additional responsibility of having children to feed and clothe.
Unsurprisingly, research undertaken by the Save the Children and Daycare Trust charities last year revealed low-income families were having to turn down jobs or were considering leaving work because they could not afford to pay for childcare.
The situation has clearly worsened since then given the shocking results of a survey carried out by parenting website Netmums, which revealed some parents are now turning to loan sharks to keep their families afloat.
Of the 2,000 mothers who took part in the website’s survey, a staggering 70% were teetering “on the edge” of financial disaster; 61% were short of money on a weekly basis and 20% were eating less in order to conserve money for the maintenance of their children.
In this context, Joanne Mallon, author of Toddlers: An Instruction Manual: A Guide to Surviving the Years One to Four, is now calling for childcare to be viewed as a joint enterprise rather than the sole responsibility of women.
She said: “As a mother I would absolutely go without whatever I needed to, to make sure my children have what they need, without a second thought.
“Both mothers and fathers benefit from being able to work whilst their child is in childcare, so both should contribute towards this expense.
“But very often this doesn’t happen, and mothers are left financially worse off as a result.”
In the same vain, the European Federation of Public Service Union (EPSU) has warned of a “roll back” in the strive for equal wages, if governments do not take into account that women are disproportionately affected by major cuts in the public sector.
Under these circumstances, I am inclined to agree with Gloria Mills, the Chairwoman of EPSU’s women and gender equality committee, who stated: “Equality on all fronts is a mark of a united and civilised society – it is not just for times of economic prosperity.”
Since the March 2011 uprising in Syria which saw its citizens openly revolting against their leader Bashar al-Assad, more than 5,000 have lost their lives.
Among the dead are women who have been protesting against a regime which has been roundly denounced for its aggression and brutality on the international stage.
This week Prime Minister David Cameron made an unequivocal statement about Mr Assad’s future as President of Syria.
He told CNN he “hoped” the general secretary of the Baath Party would acquiesce to a request by the international community to vacate his post by the end of 2012.
Mr Cameron’s comment — while attending the Word Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland — echoes the U.S. position on Mr. Assad’s controversial reign.
The White House said the commander of the armed forces “had lost control of Syria” and “will go”, BBC News reported.
Western and Arab diplomats believe the impasse can be resolved with a U.N Security Council resolution calling for Mr. Assad to devolve power to his deputy.
Although the resolution enjoys backing from 10 security council member states, its fate largely depends on whether Russia uses its veto to blow the plan out of the water next Tuesday.
While the mainstream media focuses on the political game of chess the world’s most powerful leaders are involved in, the contribution of Syrian women in the battle for freedom continues to be under-reported.
The fact that they are not visible in most media reports — despite being involved in the now famous “flash mobs” — has prompted some quarters to question whether they are fully taking part in the revolt.
Dr. Mohja Kahf, Associate Professor at the U.S.-based University of Arkansas and author of “Women’s mass protests during the Syrian Revolution: A Preliminary Analysis“, argues this perception is misleading.
She points out that Syrian women have been “providing logistical work for protest activity”.
“Because women were not seen street-protesting in the first few electrifying days of massive protests especially in Daraa March 18-24, the Syrian revolution was early typified by the viewer reaction, “Where are the women?”
Dr. Kahf also states women have been involved in “day and night protests, marches, candle-lit vigils, sit-ins,” as well as “interfaith and inter-sect rallies”.
“Women have innovated one form of protest men have not done: the Indoor Protest,” she adds.
During one of these events women read statements while the congregation holds up banners and chants protest songs.
In an effort to ensure the individual sacrifices they are making are to be documented, Syrian women have been relying heavily on the social media — i.e. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs.
In this context, there are a number of videos of the prominent Syrian actress turned activist Fadwa Soliman on YouTube.
She belongs to the country’s Alawite sect — the minority religion to which most of the regime belongs.
Last December, Al Jazeera reported Ms. Soliman had been “disowned by her family for her leading role in the protest movement”.
In one video she claims “millions of Syrians are rebelling in order to recover the freedoms that were taken from them”.
The revolutionary, who shaved off her long hair in protest, goes on to describe “the torture and killing” in the beleaguered country before calling on Canada to encourage the world’s most powerful nations to intervene.
Facebook pages also detail a bloody roll call of the females — young and old — who have been killed in the mass revolt so far.
So why is there a dearth of mainstream news coverage on Syrian women protesters? There are a number of possible contributing factors.
One reason could be the fact that western journalists are severely restricted inside the country so corroborating claims is difficult.
The reason may also lie in how news is managed.
When Kira Cochrane, features writer for the Guardian, examined the British media she found that “in a typical month, 78 percent of newspaper articles are written by men, 72 percent of Question Time contributors are men and 84 percent of reporters and guests on BBC Radio 4’s Today show are men.”
Furthermore, women linked to protesters are being singled out by government forces, according to Syrian/Palestinian American and Michigan based lawyer Muna Jondy.
She told Christa Blackmon, Social Media Editor for Aslan Media, of one incident where “the wives of democracy activists were being stripped and forced to parade the streets of their town until their husbands surrendered themselves into the hands of the government”.
Ms. Blackmon goes onto to state that because journalists inside Syria face many restrictions “it may be a long time before we uncover the full extent of the gender violence”.
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