Events
All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Development & the Environment present ‘The View from the Streets: citizen-led contributions to urban poverty reduction’ at 7pm on Monday 17 October in the Grand Committee Room, Houses of Parliament, in the name of Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP
“In our experience, it is always women who dream of tree-lined streets, brick houses and safe places for their children to play. And women are willing to save incrementally to turn this dream into a reality. Thus, women’s savings and loan schemes are the foundation for all collective action.” Shack/Slum Dwellers International
Speakers include, Bijal Bhatt Director of Mahila Housing SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association of India) Trust. Diana Mitlin Acting Head of Human Settlements Group, International Institute for Environment and Development. Jockin Arputham President of Shack/Slum Dwellers International, and Richard Dobson Project Leader, of Asiye eTafuleni (AeT is a WIEGO partner working on urban planning in Durban, South Africa).
RSVP here
FEM 11 – A National Feminist Conference on Saturday 12 November at Friends House, Euston Road from 10.00am to 5.30pm
Join hundreds of campaigners and thinkers at UK Feminista’s national conference to debate key issues facing women today and how to build a feminist future. Featuring workshops and seminars organised by leading feminist organisations, including: Fawcett Society, Abortion Rights, OBJECT, Southall Black Sisters, Women for Women International, Imkaan, Women’s Resource Centre, Platform 51, Rights of Women, Centre for Women and Democracy, Women’s Environmental Network, End Violence Against Women coalition, Imkaan, Women for Refugee Women and the White Ribbon Campaign. Speakers include: Sandi Toksvig (Radio 4), Shami Chakrabarti (Liberty), Zoe Williams (the Guardian), Carlene Firmin (campaigner), and Bea Campbell (author and journalist). Tickets range from £5-£8, get them at the UK
Plantungan: A film of women's suffering and resilience - the latest film about Indonesia and the 1965 tragedy by Putu Oka Sukanta. 5.00pm, Tuesday 11 October at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies)
A former political prisoner of Indonesia’s brutal Suharto dictatorship, Carmel Budiardjo, introduces a moving film about the notorious prison camp, Plantungan, set up for women political detainees in a remote area of Central Java. The film portrays the long-term and ongoing effects of the ‘New Order’ regime and its efforts to destroy women’s organisations and movements dedicated to improving women’s rights.
This is the latest in a series of documentaries about the harrowing events that accompanied Suharto’s violent rise to power in 1965/66 made by one of Indonesia’s leading independent film producers, Putu Oka Sukana. Hundreds of thousands of suspected Communist and their alleged sympathisers were killed or imprisoned without trial. Putu Oka Sukanta was himself a prisoner between 1966 and 1976.
In 1968, Carmel Budiardjo, a British citizen, was dismissed from her job as an economics researcher at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. She was arrested and held in detention for three years until her release in 1971 following an Amnesty International campaign. She will discuss an answer questions about her experiences, which were recounted in her book, Surviving Indonesia’s Gulag, published in 1996.
Carmel Budiardjo is the founder of the UK-based human rights organisation, TAPOL, which takes its name from the Indonesian word for political prisoner. TAPOL is a co-sponsor of this event.
Rights of Women: Lost in the “balance”: Trading women’s human rights for immigration control? 2.30-4.30pm, Tuesday 6 September 2011, Kings Cross, London
The UK Border Agency (UKBA), the agency responsible for controlling migration to the UK, has opened two consultations setting out proposals to dramatically change the rules around migration in the areas of family migration and employment-related settlement. These proposals have serious implications for the safety and well-being of migrant women and if implemented would place the Government at risk of breaching its obligations under domestic and international human rights law.
The Government has an obligation to protect all women in the UK from gender-based violence, regardless of their immigration status. Yet these proposals risk placing women at greater risk. The family migration consultation proposes to extend the probationary period (the length of time a spouse must wait before applying for indefinite leave to remain, ILR) from 2 to 5 years in partner and other family cases, exposing migrant women to a risk of remaining trapped in an abusive relationship. The employment-related settlement consultation proposes major reforms that we and others believe will result in a dramatic increase in the abuse and trafficking of migrant domestic workers in the UK.
This seminar and debate will equip you with an understanding of the main proposals and enable you to respond to the consultation to ensure that the rights of the women that you work with are upheld. Template consultation responses will be provided and discussed. Speakers include Kate Roberts, Community Advocate from Kalayaan and Catherine Briddick, Senior Legal Officer from Rights of Women. Other speakers will be confirmed.
This seminar is free of charge but booking is essential. Download the booking form from RoW’s website here and email it back to Rights of Women or send it by fax on 0207 490 5377. Space is limited. You will receive confirmation of your space upon booking.
NAWO AGM and Roundtable: Strengthening Women’s Voices in Government, 8th September 2011, House of Lords, Committee Room 1, by invitation of Lord Beecham
13:00-14:00 AGM (NAWO members only)
14:00-16:00 Round Table (all welcome)
Speakers include:
Helene Reardon-Bond, Government Equalities Office (tbc)
Liz Law, Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform,
Treasurer, European Women’s Lobby and UK Joint Committee on Women
Please register at events@nawo.org.uk. Maximum 50 (first-come, first-served). Give yourself time (30 minutes) to clear security.
Knowledge Networking and Capacity Building Program on En-gendering Macroeconomics and International Economics in Istanbul, 9-17 October
The Gender, Macroeconomics and International Economics International Working Group (GEM-IWG) along with GEM-Europe and GEM-Turkey, is pleased to announce its European regional program on knowledge networking and capacity building on gender, macroeconomics and international economics. This program aims to facilitate the integration of a gender perspective into macroeconomic research and policy formulation in Europe with a special focus on the transition and emerging economies in Eastern and Southern Europe, the Balkans as well as the Caucasus and Central Asia. The purpose of the program is to create a knowledge network of economists in these regions. For more information, please click here.
WIDE Annual Conference: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality amidst the ‘Arab Springs’ -Challenges and Lessons Learnt across Regions, 27-28 October 2011, Brussels, Belgium
What is now known as the ‘Arab spring’ has had a dramatic ripple effect all over the region, still in upheaval to different extents. Although women were prominent actors of those upheavals, issues of non-discrimination, equality and women’s rights face difficulties to be included in the frameworks of ongoing and/or upcoming constitutional reform processes. Moreover, in many countries retaliation against women has been brutal, ranging from rapes to virginity tests to imprisonment and torture.
The international community is playing a significant role both in terms of diplomacy as well as direct support and selective media coverage. “The Arab spring” has created new international interests as well as new funding pots. What are the implications for the peoples of these countries and for women’s rights in particular?
To discuss these issues with other women leaders from the region as well as with women activists from the European Union, the WIDE Network, in close partnership with the Collective for Research and Training for Development – Action (CRTD-A), is delighted to invite you to its Annual Conference “Women’s Rights and Gender Equality amidst the ‘Arab Springs’” to be held on 27-28 October 2011, in Brussels, Belgium.
A concrete aim of the conference will be to build a mutual understanding among participants of what is at stake so as to be able to identify possible joint efforts and ways forward to contribute to secure a transition that will address women’s rights agenda(s) and put social concerns and women’s proposals at the core of current important political processes in the region and also in the European Union.
Please register no later than 25th of August 2011. For more details, please contact Natalie and copy Benedicte.
CEDAW For Change - 1 Week Intensive Institute in Toronto, 24-28 October 2011
The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education organises training on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 24-28 October 2011, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
This one-week module is designed to cultivate a better understanding of the principles of non-discrimination and equality as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and each State's obligation to respect, protect and fulfill women's human rights. The deadline for applications is 1 September 2011. For more information, please click here.
International Conference: New debates on gender, migration and development: linking production and reproduction chains in contemporary mobility, Maó, Menorca (Balearic Islands), Spain, 6, 7, and 8 October 2011
The main objective of this event is to articulate the debate surrounding issues of gender, migration and development. The specific aim of the conference is to combine the disciplines, approaches and perspectives that analyse the various societies affected by international migrations, focusing on the question of gender. Our work will be based on the analyses of global production and reproduction chains (and the so-called ‘global care chains’ in particular) and the new models put forward for the study of emerging trends played out by women in contemporary mobility flows.
Confirmed guest speakers:
- Lourdes Beneria- Cornell, New York, USA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Sylvia Chant- The London School of Economics and Political Science
- Mokhtar El Harras- Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines. Université Mohamed V Agdal.
- Caroline Moser- Global Urban Research Centre, University of Manchester
- Nina Sorensen- Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen
For more information, please visit the website
The Commonwealth People’s Forum, Perth Australia, 25 to 27 October 2011
The Commonwealth People’s Forum is organised by the Commonwealth Foundation and is an opportunity for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to meet and exchange views on a range of international development issues. One workshop will focus on gender. Inputs from the forum will be presented for discussion with Foreign Ministers.
Every two years, Commonwealth leaders meet at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The next meeting is being held from 28 to 30 October 2011 in Perth, Australia. The theme for Commonwealth Day this year was ‘women as agents of change’. More information about CHOGM and the People’s Forum (including registration) can be found here.