{"id":8850,"date":"2016-05-26T11:59:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T10:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8850"},"modified":"2016-05-26T16:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T15:04:00","slug":"let-women-be-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8850","title":{"rendered":"Let women be heard"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voices are being drowned out of the EU referendum debate and must be heard, senior Labour women have said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The call, made on the same day as the TUC published a report<\/a> highlighting the gains achieved for women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment rights under the EU, was seconded by Unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, speaking along with shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra, former Labour leader Harriet Harman and shadow minister for women Kate Green on Tuesday<\/a> (May 24)<\/u>, said the EU debate had been hijacked by \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTory blokes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voices have been drowned out by the unmistakably masculine and noisy playground spat that is taking place between Tory blokes who are fighting a proxy leadership election. Sometimes they appear to be more worried about their own futures than everybody else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harman spoke of the gender disparity in the media\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coverage of the EU referendum. Loughborough University media analysis<\/a> between May 6 and May 18, found only 16 per cent of TV appearances regarding the EU had been made by women and that the 10 most prominent EU campaign voices were all male.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harman has written to the broadcast media watchdog Ofcom and called on them to ensure women are represented equally during the EU debate and for EU issues affecting women to be given proper coverage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harman said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHalf the population of this country are women and our membership of the EU is important to women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives. Yet men are, as usual, pushing women out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen are being excluded and the debate narrowed. The broadcasters have a legal duty to keep a balance between those who want remain and those who want to leave. They should have a balance between men and women. This referendum is too important to be left to men.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite EU finance spokesperson and executive council member Agnes Tolmie was also critical of the debate, which she said is ignoring women and being dominated by Tory rivals Boris Johnson and David Cameron \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both of whom are resorting to generalised scare tactics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bRight at the moment it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about egos and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no female voices. We need more women on TV and more engagement with the issues.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In an effort to address the balance Tolmie is chairing a women only EU debate held by the Scottish Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Convention in Glasgow this Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has also produced a video<\/a> speaking to women members about their decision to remain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unlikely that anyone is 100 per cent enthusiastic about the EU. But at least from the inside we can make a difference through the MEPs we choose to elect,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Tolmie said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we leave then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stuffed. The Conservative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity policies have already knocked back women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights in this country. Without the EU they will unravel even further.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The call by Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s senior women coincided with the publication of a TUC report that underscored the benefits of EU membership for female workers.<\/p>\n

These include legislation for equal pay, as well as paid holidays for part-time women workers and protections against pregnancy discrimination.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brexit \u00e2\u20ac\u015brisks turning the clock back decades on women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, the TUC said, because it would allow a government with a deregulatory agenda to make sweeping changes to employment law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are not surprised that conservative politicians, who would like to see a bonfire of these rights have failed to mention them in the European referendum debate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt’s up to us as women to speak up for our rights at work and encourage other women to vote to remain in Europe – the media would do well to give air time to our experiences and life stories and how Europe affects us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

See here <\/a>for more about the EU referendum <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voices are being drowned out of the EU referendum debate and must be heard, senior Labour women have said.   The call, made on the same day as the TUC published a report highlighting the gains achieved for women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employment rights under the EU, was seconded by Unite.   Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[486,465,209],"wps_subtitle":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Tory blokes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 drowning out women in EU debate","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8852,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8850\/revisions\/8852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}