EHRC news

The EHRC publishes a range of equality related publications. You can also sign up for their newsletter. Check their website out here  http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/

The Con Dem cuts and YOU!

 Hard copies can be obtained through my Department. Email lroy@cwu.org.

Some moving poems about Domestic Violence

These poems on domestic violence is meant to be provoking it was written over the course of a few weeks it is dedicated to all the victims of this particular form of violence. Remember you are neither alone or forgotten. If you need help,support or advice please contact me directly.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PART 1 – BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

A million times she’s imagined the day when she will have the courage to walk away
Maybe not today though, he’s promised to change
He’s under a lot of stress with work and physically drained

A glance too long as the grocer she pays
Accusations of flirting are thrown her way
Bad language he pours to even up imagined scores
Just keep up with his pace as to the car he does race

Impossible targets he sets
Followed by bullying threats
He’s made this once a happy home vile
As never ending chores for her he does pile

When football friends he does invite
His romantic gestures cause delight
But when they’ve left and beer’s flown
Jealous images have been sown

His fist he tries to justify
As she bathes her swollen eye
She feels totally alone in this prison for her home
He even monitors the phone

And so it’s best to remain out of sight
Her retaliatory words she must bite
Don’t wake him as snoring fills the house
Roam as if on eggshells, deathly as a mouse

She’s bought into his degrading belief
In truth he’s just a dream catcher, a thief
Long forgotten thoughts of love and romance
This coward’s led her a merry dance

What she can’t understand
Is why he uses fists and hands
When all she still wants is his love
Requesting in desperate prayers, help from above

As one day when ‘she’ lights his fuse
It’s her who’ll feel the bruise
Or maybe it’ll be a life and death decision
When his violence is dealt with too accurate precision

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – PART 2 NOT IN FRONT OF THE NEIGHBOURS
Her world collapsed with your first slap
In her mind she could not recap, what had made you snap?
Bouquets of flowers you then would bring
As forgiving lies you then would spin

She forced a smile, if brave enough divorce she would file
Regretting, parent’s savings spent on her big day
Caused such heart felt pain, the guilt made her stay

Years past, her friends long left, her family feel bereft
A change in her so obvious it’s plain to see
If she left him now all loved ones would agree

Her shopping trips demand timing
Or on return walls you’ll be climbing
Her fear grows as your tension shows
Will it stop at a tantrum? Heaven only knows

Was it dinner served six minutes late
That made her chip your favourite plate?
Either way it sealed her fate
As paw with jaw did communicate

It ruined lunch and inspired your punch
You then accuse of over cooked chips
Quickly leading to bloody lips

Clanging saucepans wake you from a light kip
Temper rains down with a wounding kick
"Caring husband’ accompanies another hospital trip
‘My clumsy wife had another staircase slip’

Sceptical Nurses think ’Why doesn’t she flee?
As through his palpable lies they plainly see
But it’s hard to find renewed courage
When inside your emotionally damaged

Linked arm in arm together you wave
Suspicions of curious neighbours staved
‘They look so happy, could I have heard tears?
For now at least relieved of fears

The truth you realise what you’ve got
But you choose not to stop the rot
Always monitoring the phone just in case she tries to phone home

Your love you demonstrate with fear
An anxious grip so intense you ignore all tears
You need her most, this you’ve found
She’s not the weak one; it’s the other way around

Janette Taylor
Gloucestershire Amal Branch

CWU Womens Conference 2011 Report

I am indebted to Pauline Granstan for compiling the following report on our Womens Conference in Edinburgh.

The Difference between Rhetoric and Reality!

CWU 2011 Women’s Conference
Delegates attending the 13th motion based CWU Women’s Conference on 5th February listened as movers and seconders reiterated their fears of the likely impact the Comprehensive Spending Review under the Con-Dem Government will have on women. General Secretary, Billy Hayes outlined some of the proposed cuts still in the pipeline. The public sector, the biggest employer of women will experience a pay freeze in the current financial year. At the same time the government is projecting the loss of half a million jobs all of which will impact disproportionately on women as employees and service users.
  Closures and rationalisation of Sure Start Centres coupled with high inflation will hit low income families the hardest. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of said: in “2011, real wages are likely to be no higher than they were in 2005. One has to go back to the 1920s to find a time when real wages fell over a period of 6 years.” No wonder women fighting for equality and fairness are opposed to what they consider to be ill thought-out policies.
  National Equality Officer, Linda Roy reminded conference of some of the metaphoric miles travelled by women inside and outside the CWU. There have been some first female CEOs, business leaders, academics and sporting legends. We are also mothers, sisters and partners she continued. And due largely to the efforts of women and some men, the previous government introduced a raft of equality legislation and family friendly policies that allowed for the balancing of family and working life.
  However Linda, like most women continues to believe that in many spheres their contribution to society is being undermined. Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys are prime examples of men who believe a woman’s role is that of a housewife and mother tied to the kitchen sink. Women for Messrs Gray and Keys are not strong enough, smart enough or worthy enough. Taken within this context no wonder women who’ve chosen to enter paid employment are angry. They are annoyed because their pay is still less than that of men doing the same job and as they get older the pay gap further widens. They are outraged that in the 21st century the old-boy network is still the status quo and so the glass ceiling persists.
  The challenges women continue to face means the fight for equality is still a long road ahead. And so Motion 11 on Rule 2.1.5 and 2.1.6 on the question of proportionality within the CWU is one that continues to come back at the equality conferences. As Linda Kietz, speaking on behalf of the London Regional Women’s Committee says she will continue to bring this motion to conference if it kills her.
  The open debate on the issue of Reserved Seats further highlights the dichotomy between Rule R.2.1.5, Rule 2.1.6 and the arguments around the principle of meritocracy. Speakers in favour of reserved seats believe the rules in place have done little to influence the advancement of disadvantaged groups within the Union. On the other hand those in favour of meritocracy strongly believes that the introduction of reserved seats smacks of “tokenism” and that we may not necessarily have the best person for the job.
  The 2011 CWU Women’s Conference saw its biggest attendance for many years. Subjects such as surrogacy, gender pay gap; the stigmatisation of sex workers and the way we elect our representatives are topics women believe needs addressing and until such time as a satisfactory solution is found, these topics will continue to reappear.

RD11-02-23
8th February 2011

Keep the Post Public. Nottingham Rally

I'll be there. Come and join us and send a message to the ConDems that the public do not want Royal Mail privatising.