Women's economic independence and austerity measures: Economy #Beijing20 & EWL

One of the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action ’95 is ‘Promote women’s economic rights and independence …’ Women and the economy is one of the interdependent 12 critical areas of concern in this Platform for Action.
After 20 years the gender pay gap remains a major issue within the EU as women workers on average earn 16% less than men. A worrying development is the widening gender pension pay gap which stand at 39% within the EU. The gender pension gap shows that gender inequalities accumulate throughout women’s lives and that a life-cycle approach to women’s economic independence is urgently needed.

Women’s economic independence is the foundation of all rights. EWL’s key demands to the European Union and the Member States are a.o.

- Guarantee the individualization of social security and taxation rights in order to break women’s dependency on their partners and/or the State;

- Close the gender pay gap by 2020 and set targets to close the pension gap;

- Use Gender Budgeting as a standard methodology of all public budget processes;

Austerity measures
Austerity measures have a huge effect on women, both as workers in the public sector and users of public services. Moreover, women bear a disproportionate share of tax burdens, as they use larger portions of their income on food and basis goods for the household. Did you see the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) video-clip “A she-(re)cession. What does austerity mean for women in Europe?”? (2013) Note 1

The EWL publication (January 2015) Women's Economic Independence in Times of Austerity (Note 3) is using a gender equality and feminist lens in Country Profiles of Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden (Gender Budgeting), Greece and Italy (Social Enterprises). Social entrepreneurship can be a promising avenue through which women can empower themselves and others.

Joanna Manganara, Board Member since 2004 and President since 2013 of International Alliance of Women, is telling the story of Greece in an interview. Quote "It is also important ... to see women ... as actors of change in political decision-making." 

Let's take action and bring words into reality

How can we get to a feminist economic model? 
By a.o. Democratise the EU semester process through the participation of the EP and women's organisations.

From Words to Action
Will you read & share EWL’s factsheet about Women and the Economy?
Please get involved! Note 3

Note 1 

EWL clip ‘A she-(re)cession What does austerity mean to women in Europe?' https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=euIp9VdKzFk
Note 2 
EWL publication Women's Economic Independence in Times of Austerity January 2015

Note 3 
EWL 'From Words to Action' 2015 Calendar and Factsheet at
http://www.womenlobby.org/news/ewl-news/article/ewl-beijing-20-in-january-women-s?lang=en 
Note 4 
This blog is follow-up Action as written in blog 'Connecting feminists by social media'. Do you want to help IAW and EWL at Facebook and Twitter to share information and spreading knowledge? How you can help is described in this blog 'Connecting ...' 

Blogger Arina Angerman
is representing International Alliance of Women (IAW) in the Policy Committee of the European Women's Lobby (EWL). She is a consultant in how to use social media as a board member, entrepreneur or manager: Social Media 4 (Baby) Boomers

Connecting feminists by social media: IAW Board Meeting, EWL Policy Committee and #Beijing20

IAW Board Meeting: equal rights = equal responsibilities

logo of IAW is Justice Woman in yellow

In october 2014 24 members of the extended IAW Board met in Sion, Switzerland. The International Alliance of Women (IAW) is an international NGO comprising of more than 40 member organisations involved in the promotion of women's human rights and gender equality, and of the empowerment of women and girls around the world. 
IAW is a non-political and feminist organisation founded in 1904 and based in Geneva. Subtitle of IAW is Equal Rights - Equal Responsibilities. IAW has general consultative status in ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) since the beginning of the UN - 1947. Since October 2013 IAW has a new website www.womenalliance.org According to president Joanna Manganara the website is 'face and voice to the world'. (note 1)
 
Do you want to help IAW at Facebook and Twitter?
On Facebook news from IAW is published and news from other NGO's, newspapers or individuals is shared in accordance with the focus of IAW. At the time of writing this blog Facebook IAW has 550 likes. Womenalliance at Twitter has 240 followers. According to Lene Pind, head of Communications Unit, 'It is a rather informal medium, but very effective and very fast'.
Result of my inventarisation: 11 of the women attending the Board Meeting are using Facebook and 5 are using Twitter. 
International Alliance of Women as a NGO has a glorious past and has to work on getting a glorious future. The individual members and their organisations are encouraged to like, share, post, comment, follow and RT (ReTweet)! 'The board ... decided that the further development of these social media was to be pursued.'

New Policy Committee of European Women's Lobby 
130 ´Phenomenal Woman´ members of EWL, representing EU countries and European-wide organisations, attended the General Assembly in Lisbon in October. European Women's Lobby (EWL) is the largest umbrella organisation of more than 2000 women's associations in the European Union (EU), working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men.

Arina Angerman (left) of IAW an European-wide organisation from Amsterdam was elected as representative to new Policy Committee / Board of Administration and Marion Boeker (right), Vice-President for IAW European Membership from Berlin is alternate. Arina continues the representation at EWL of Joanna Manganara, president IAW, from Athens. The new Policy Committee of EWL has 38 elected members.

Beijing20
The international community will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, a fundamental human rights instrument for women and girls adopted in 1995. Marion and I attended the launch of EWL's Beijing+20 report in Lisbon.

EWL demands as actions a.o. women as agents of change for a sustainable people-centred world. IAW too wants emphasis on women as agents of change in their essential contribution to solutions of problems. European Women´s Lobby is posting or sharing every day at Facebook and already has 17500 likes!

Goal of IAW representative at EWL will be 
--- to share information and spreading knowledge by Twitter or Facebook in order to strenghten the visibility of IAW and EWL at social media by posting or sharing at least twice a week (social media mobilisation)

--- From Words to Action 2015 Beijing20 Calendar of EWL ...
let´s make 3 months to take action from words by writing a blog 
** European´s Women´s Voice publication on women´s Economic Independence in Times of Austerity (blog published at Febr 22th) note 2
** Connecting generations of feminists by using modern technology - blog published at May 28th (we work on capacity building and mutual learning = lifelong learning)
** Campaign For A Europe free from violence against women (International Day to End Violence against Women Nov 25th)

Call to a doable action!? Please join
 International Alliance of Women or European Women´s Lobby or Arina Angerman or Marion Boeker at Twitter in order to follow, share and engage with their activities for Gender Equality or Equal Rights = Equal Responsibilities F/M or Social Media + Women´s Rights = The Future!

   note 1. in Reports for IAW Board Meeting Sion, Switzerland 2014 Compiled by Lene Pind, head of Communications Unit

note 2. From Words to Action: launched on 26th of January 2015 a special edition of the EWL magazine 'European Women's Voice: Women's Economic Independence in Times of Austerity' 

I vote for a woman. Why? EWL's call for a strong commitment to gender equality - #EP2014

The European Women's Lobby, the largest umbrella organisation of women's associations in the European Union (EU), is working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men, and representing a total of more than 2000 organisations. (Note 1) The EWL calls for a strong commitment to gender equality in the European Parliament elections 2014. Gender equality is an essential part of democracy, social justice and human rights. 

Why is it important to vote? 
The European Union is a key player in terms of democracy and social change. By voting at the European elections, YOU decide who represents you in the European Parliament. The candidates you chose are your supporters for the next five years. 
The EU supports gender equality through legislative acts and support to national developments. European laws or directives call for equal treatment on the basis of sex and include equal pay for equal work. The Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee of the European Parliament plays a key role by sending out strong messages which determine policies in Europe.

The International Alliance of Women (an international organization promoting the human rights of women and girls around the world) is a member of the EWL and is represented in the Executive Board by the president of IAW, Joanna Manganara from Greece. 
As an active member of IAW I want to endorse and share five points of the EWL Manifesto EP elections 2014 'Act now for her future, commit to gender equality!' 

1. A comprehensive framework to achieve gender equality
Adopt and implement the EU Strategy for Equality between women and men 2015-2020. 
Such strategy is key to guarantee that the European Union sees the goal of equality between women and men as a core objective of its work.

2. Sustainable funding for gender equality
Guarantee adequate EU funding for programmes, policies and actions on women's rights and gender equality.
Budgets mirror political priorities. The EWL is also calling for gender budgeting to be incorporated at all levels, which consists in applying assessments of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective al all levels of the budgetary process (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation).

3. Credible EU policies on gender equality at international level
Ensure consistency between EU internal and external policies, including at UN level and in the post-2015 development framework. 
And 2015 will see the 20th anniversary of the Platform for Action - Beijing+20. The PfA is an agenda for women's empowerment and delivers strong commitment to realise gender equality and promote women's rights. The review of progress on implementing this human rights instrument will be conducted at national and regional levels.

4. Women's economic independence, the key to all freedoms
Combat women's poverty, including in-work poverty, and put an end to the gender pay and pensions gaps. Statistics show that women on average continue to earn 16% less than men within the EU. In figures, women's employment rate - 63% - is nowhere close to the EU target of 75%.
The austerity measures, which have been introduced as result of the financial cricis, have undermined years of progress towards women's integration in the labour market: a she-(re)cession. Animated EWL video-clip on the impact of austerity measures on women in Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euIp9VdKzFk

5. A Europe free from violence against women
Establish 2016 as the EU Year to End violence against women, with substantial resources to raise awareness and support actions at all levels.
The results of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) European wide survey on violence against women based on interviews with 42,000 women published in March 2014 show the wide and extremely high prevalence of violence against women: one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. Violence against women is far too high everywhere in Europe: urgent change is needed.

50/50 Campaign: No modern European democracy without gender equality of EWL

50F/50M I vote for a woman / female candidate
I'm joining the 50/50 campaign 'No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality'. Only 35% of members of European Parliament and just 24% of members of National Parliaments are women. And only three out of 14 European Parliament Vice Presidents are women: Neelie Kroes, Viviane Reding and Catherine Ashton. I vote for a woman and for gender equality! Do YOU?

Note 1
This blog is a summary and is using agreed upon words from Manifesto, flyers and the website of the European Women's Lobby.

Voices storytelling of IAW Congress 'Safety - Voices - Choices' London 2013

IAW's ambition Equal Rights - Equal Responsibilities fits well with the historic venue of IAW Congress The Old Hall of Lincoln's Inn. The memorable Triennial 36th Congress of IAW was organised by UK All Pakistan Women's Association: Bashan Rafique and her team of Trustees, friends and volunteers. Sixty women from 21 countries and 16 organizations participated. IAW is an umbrella organization linking grassroots with UN policy.

Violence against women and girls
Since 1979 the IAW has used its influence to stop violence against women and girls in New York, Geneva and Vienna. Violence against women and girls is a plague in Arab Region, South-Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, Europe, Israel and The Pacific. You can read horrible stories, inspiring strategies and ways to eradicate violence against women and girls in the Report for Congress which was compiled by Secretary General Lene Pind. 
Fight violence is on any organization's agenda (Safety); and gender equality in decision making at all levels (Voices) and education in a broad sense (Choices). Vision of International Alliance of Women's Action Programma 2014-2016 is: 'Every girl, every woman counts. They must be safe, have a voice in decisions and a choice over their lives.' 


Gender and the ongoing financial crisis
''The current crisis has a higher differentiated impact on women because their economic position at the start of the crisis was not equal to that of men. Women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs, to be underemployed or without a job, to lack social protection and to have limited access to and control over economic and financial resources'' writes Joanna Manganara (2nd right), IAW Regional Vice President of Europe in the Report for Congress (p 104). 
Professor Diane Elson (left) was one of the speakers at the Panel Gender and the Financial Crisis. She wrote Budgeting for Women's Rights: Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW (Concepts and Tools)

Why is the financial crisis according to Diane Elson still relevant? Because austerity measures are global and underway in 119 countries and will reach 132 countries by 2015! Hardest hit are a.o. single women pensioners and single women without children. There is a need to develop Gender Equitable Alternatives like raise more tax revenue from rich people & big business. In Voices of IAW Action Programme 2014-2016: Therefore government (including local government) should ...'Fight tax avoidance in particular of very rich people and (multinational) companies.' Austerity policies violate Human Rights & ECOSOC Rights (economic, social and cultural rights) and counteract efforts to diminish the Gender Pay Gap. 

Margunn Bjornholt (right) talked in 'The winner takes it all' about the 'oil' fund of Norway. She became a new elected Board Member. One of the positive effects of the financial crisis in Iceland is that people are looking better after their health told Treasurer of IAW Thorbjorg Inge Jonsdottir (2nd left).


Member Elections Committee
My role at IAW Congress was member of the Elections Committee together with 4 other women from USA, UK, India and Cameroon. We organised elections for President, Treasurer, Secretary General and 19 Board Members. Joanna Manganara from Greece (left) was elected as new President. She succeeded Lyda Verstegen (right) from the Netherlands. Both with banner of IAW.

Education - internet and social media skills
In three Reports of IAW member organizations: Women's Comfort Corner in Zimbabwe (p 24), All Pakistan Women's Association (p 31) and Lithuanian Women's Organization (p 85) is information about the way they use internet in training. The IT program of APWA in Pakistan has enabled 45 young women and 16 school teachers to use the internet.

Very few of the participants and organizations at IAW Congress use social media like Twitter, Facebook, Blog or Google + to inform, share and connect with members, networks or ... Now everyone is using the internet and e-mail at a computer, laptop or tablet. In order to improve the impact of their voices and to connect to other women leaders in a modern way women leaders of IAW have to improve their social media skills is my advice. 
An inspiring start is in the IAW Pacific Report by Sheila Byard (p 90). "Since the visit of IAW Board to Melbourne October 8-12 2012 a small group of members have continued to work with and encourage younger women, including the IAW media intern group, to continue with promotional work using blog, facebook and twitter." See http://iawmelbourne.wordpress.com/


To have a look on women's part in the history of computing I - historian by education - visited the Gallery opened by Dame Stephanie Shirley & sponsored by Google UK.

Women in Computing Gallery in The National Museum of Computing (Bleatchley Park)