AUNG SAN SUU KYI – THE ELECTED BUT IMPRISONED LEADER OF BURMA

Conference, hear the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, speaking about Aung San Suu Kyi. “I think of my sister Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi every day. Her picture hangs on the wall of my office, reminding me that, thousands of miles away in Asia, a nation is oppressed. Every day I ask myself: have […]

JOB SHARE CONSEQUENCES

The role of job sharing a post in an employer’s organisation or at Branch or Regional committee seems to work well for women and in the case of UNISON seems to be an effective tool to engage women from various Service Groups to become first interested then active lay members. It seems to fall down […]

MARY SEACOLE – TURN HER INTO STONE

In June 2009 a proposal to raise public funding to erect a monument to this positive black female pioneer and her significant achievements was aired on national television. The ambition to erect a statue of her “going forth”, to be sited in St Thomas’ Hospital grounds on the lawn opposite the Houses of Parliament, was […]

REGIONAL RAPE CONVICTION RATES – IT’S A POSTCODE LOTTERY

Conference, every thirty four minutes a crime of rape is reported to the police. For every rape reported, many more are not reported. One in four local authorities has no specialised support services to help the victims of rape. Conference notes with dismay the Fawcett Society statement that there is a growing gap in rape […]

WOMEN AND CYCLING

In early 2009 SUSTRANS (sustainable transport Charity) commissioned a survey of one thousand women to better understand why women only travel by bike for less than one per cent of journeys in the UK compared to fifteen per cent of journeys in the Netherlands. SUSTRANS found that while many women have access to a bike […]

BUYING SEX IS NOT A SPORT

Buying Sex Is Not a Sport is a grassroots campaign to raise awareness and effect change around sex trafficking and prostitution and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games. As the demand for prostitution has historically increased around major sporting events, those concerned with the sexual exploitation of women and girls have already begun working and […]

THE PERSONALISATION AGENDA

Conference notes that the introduction of direct payments, along with pilots of Individual budgets, have the potential to increase choice and control for disabled and older women over the services they receive. However, we are concerned that there are insufficient safeguards to protect disabled women who choose to employ their own personal assistants as well […]

FREE SANITARY PRODUCTS FOR WOMEN ON LOW PAY, THE MINIMUM WAGE, OR IN RECEIPT OF BENEFITS

Sanitary protection is not a luxury for women but is a necessity. There may be more than one woman in a family and this is a drain on already stretched financial resources at a time when the cost of living continues to rise. Sanitary protection products maybe something that are cut back on at this […]

ISOLATION OF WOMEN

Conference is aware that many of our women members, particularly those in rural areas, experience personal isolation. Low pay contributes to women’s isolation for example by: 1)Limiting their access to public transport because of costs. 2)Accessing mothers’ babies and young children’s groups. 3)Educational courses, including UNISON’s Return to Learn and personal development to increase work […]