Our Equality Counting project is continuing with new communities of interest (COI's) starting up.  We're now looking for women to join a group which will foucs on child poverty and explore the relationship with gender inequality.  The group will be trained in equality legislation and participatory research methods and use this to develop an action which will infulence change.  If you'd like to be part of the group or would like more information, please contact Rosaria at Rosaria@engender.org.uk or 0131 558 9596. If you know someone who may be interested in taking part please pass this info to them.  

'Growing up in Scotland', the Governments study into the realities of life for children published a report into the Circumstances of Persistently Poor Children in 2010 and have this week published a report into Parental service use and informal networks in the early years . It found that mothers living in disadvantaged circumstances were more reluctant to engage with services aimed at supporting parents with young children and that child health and health behaviours are less favourable in families experiencing adversity.  Read more     

All members are invited to our next Inspiring Women meeting on 27th July in the Engender Office.  This meeting will discuss the gendered nature of poverty and specifically, why the discourse around child poverty doesn't acknowledge the experiences of women bringing up children.  The debate around poverty continues to be gender blind and focusing on child poverty and pensioner doesn't address the experiences of women through their working lives and caring roles that makes them more vulnerable to persistant and recurring poverty.  The meeting is from 5.30-7pm and light refreshments will be provided.  Please contact karen@engender.org.uk if you are coming along to this. 

As part of our Women into Public Life project, MEP Catherine Stihler will visit Mull and Iona to meet local women.  There are three free tevents being held on Friday 17th June:

Blethering Breakfast - Iona, 8.40am - 10.15am - full details

Women's Lunch - Craignure, Mull, 1pm - 2.30pm - full details

Digital Dialogue - Craignure, Mull,  2.45pm - 4.15pm - full details

T he UK Governments inclusion of the 2010 Equaltiy Act in the Red Tape Challenge, asking the public if there are regulations that should be changed or if the act should be 'scrapped altogether', has raised concerns about the governments commitment to equality.  The Minister for Equalities, Lynne Featherstone, has issued a statement acknowledging the concerns of equality groups and stating that it's not the governments intention to abolish the act but they want to know "whether the Act could be simplified, better implemented, or if certain provisions should be dropped or amended."   It's a reassurance which also manages to illustrate that we are right to be concerned for the future of the Act.  Read the Ministers message 

From the 16th-30th June the Red Tape Challenge will focus on Equalities with an online debate facillitated by Caroline Waters, Head of HR, at BT - see here. 

The European Parliamentary Committee "Women's Rights and Gender Equality" have drafted a resolution which calls for legislation including quotas to increase women's representation on Boards.  Presently women only represent 10% of executives in the biggest companies on the EU stock exchange and only 3% of CEO's of these companies are women.  The resolution recommends that women's representation should reach 30% by 2015 and  40% by 2020.  Read more...

The publication of the report into the commercialisation and sexualisation of children by the Governmentst this week has garnered a lot of media attention.  The review was carried out by Mother's Union Chief Executive, Reg Bailey, and his report, Letting Children be Children made several welcome recommendations including:

• putting age restrictions on music videos
• covering up sexulaised images on magazines and newspapers
• restricing where outdoor adverts containing sexualised images can be placed
• introducing a code of practice for retailers to check the design, buying, display and marketing of clothes, products and services for children
• making the default setting on home internet, laptops and smart phones not to recieve adult content 

For more on this issue see Zero Tolerance's briefing, Sexualisation of Young People in the Media which contains research and resources.  Zero Tolerance have also worked with the Women's Support Project on a film and information pack challenging the sexualisation of young people, Pleasure Vs Profit, which will be launched on 21st June in Glasgow - read more 

The Pensions Bill to be debated in Parliament shortly proposes to speed up the equalisation of the state pension age. The plans would see men's and women's state pension age at 65 in November 2018, and then raise again to 66 by April 2020. This is 6 years earlier than was origninally planned. Thousands of women will find themselves working for an extra 2 years before being entitled to the state pension and the speed of the proposals means that hey will have little time to plan for the changes.

Campaigns by Age UK and Unions Together against the speed of the changes include petitions and videos outlining what the changes mean for women born in 1953 and 1954.

See Unions Together - Hands Off Our Pensions and Petition

Age UK - Don't Move The Pensions Goal Posts Again and Campaign