Women in the U.K.

1
Women in the U.K.

• Civil, Political, and Economic Rights

2
C i v i l r i g h t s
3
Violence against women

• honor killings
• forced marriage
• rape, sexual violence
• trafficking
• female genital mutilation
• physical abuse and others

4
Steps that the U.K. has taken

• Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act in
  November 2004
• Prime Minister announced a 24-hour help line and
  Internet database of refugees
• with 2 million from the government
• as well as an additional 7 million to develop
  new refuges in partnership with local authorities

5
Statistics

• 25 of women in the U.K. and 30 of women in the
  U.S. will be victims of domestic violence
• 1 woman in 9 in the U.K. and 2 to 4 million women
  in the U.S. are severely beaten by their male
  partners each year
• 1 woman in the U.K. and 12 women in the U.S. are
  killed every 3 days by a current or former
  partner
• 167 women in the U.K. and 240 women in the U.S.
  are raped every day

6
Reproductive rights

• Abortion
• Emergency Contraception

7
Abortin

• Abortion Act of 1967
• allows two medical practitioners to authorize an
  abortion during the first 24 weeks of a pregnancy
  IF
• - It is a risk to her physical or
  mental health
• the Abortion Act gives medical practitioners the
  power to decide

8
Emergency contraception

• available to women over the age of 16
• no prescription required
• the U.K. has recently adopted measures to making
  EC available to adolescents under 16

9
P o l i t i c a l r i g h t s
10
Steps that the U.K. has taken

• The Sex Discrimination Act 2002
• allows political parties to reduce inequality in
  elected officials
• Government led a national campaign to encourage
  women to run for office
• goal is to have women in 45-50 of public
  offices by 2005

11
Women in government - UK

• Women make up about 19.7 of MPs
• UK ranked 14th in the EU and 45th out of 184
  countries listed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union
  in terms of the percentage of women holding
  office in the lower or single house of the
  national Parliamentary body
• Group Percentage of Women
• Europe - European Parliament UK members 24.4
• House of Commons 19.7
• House of Lords 18.2

12
Women in government - comparative

• Percentage of Member
  State Women MPs
• Sweden 45.3
• Finland 37.5
• Denmark 36.9
• Netherlands 36.7
• Spain 34.7

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E c o n o m i c r i g h t s
14
Steps that the U.K. has taken

• Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 and the Equal Pay
  Act of 1970
• Prevent discrimination in
• employment
• education
• other fields
• In October 2007, a new Commission for Equality
  and Human Rights will be set up

15
Rights of working mothers

• part-time nursery education for 3 and 4 year olds
• Since 2003, employees with children under 6 can
  receive flexible work hours
• Since 2003, paid maternity leave has been
  extended to 26 weeks
• 6 months of unpaid leave available to women

16
Economic statistics

• 70 of all working-age women are employed
  compared to 79 of all working-age men
• Women hold less than 25 of executive positions
• Womens hourly earnings are less than mens
  (9.02 and 11.44 per hour respectively)
• The U.K. has the highest female employment rate
  of the major EU countries

17
Pensions

• the Government introduced pension-sharing
  arrangements in divorce
• 1 in 5 single women pensioners risk poverty in
  retirement
• Black and ethnic minority women are at an even
  greater risk

18
Pay gap

• Gap in income between men and childless women
• Unequal pay
• full-time gender pay gap is 17.2
• 70 of low-paid workers are women
• Unequal hours
• Women have more difficulty finding full-time jobs
• National Minimum Wage has contributed to a 2
  drop in the gap

19
Credits

• Amnesty International
• Center for Reproductive Rights
• Equal Opportunities Commission
• Women and Equality Unit
• U.K. Watch
• National Institute of Health
• National Organization of Women

20
Jokes (Typos)

• We done gone abortin
• Steps the U.K. has taken SEX
• PensionersCant wait to get that free T.V.
  License when Im over 75!!! (you have to live a
  little longer than 70)
• Victorian Womens Rights Game
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/women
  /launch_gms_victorian_women.shtml