Clive Chatterton has recently retired from his job as the governor of Styal Women's Prison. He has written to Kenneth Clarke the Justice Secretary, describing the levels of self harm among inmates as "frankly staggering...having never come across such a concentration of damaged, fragile, and complex-need individuals". He said that a third of the inmates at Styal should have never been there. He called for alternatives to prison for women could come from savings made from not jailing that third.
But why would the government listen to him now when presumably they didn't when he was in the job?
Baroness Corston conducted an enquiry into women prisoners' issues in 2007 following the deaths of six women in Styal. She called for a network of small custodial units only for those "considered a danger to the public". Five years on, pitifully few of her recommendations have been realised.

I have had the dubious pleasure of seeing how the New and Expectant Mothers Policy is not working in one branch, with the shabby treatment of one expectant mother by one trust which has resulted in a fair amount of distress on her part.

Did you know as an expectant mother you should have a risk assessment completed, and this should be reviewed every four to six weeks?

Did you know that your employer should provide an area for you to rest, and for new mothers, a place to express and store breast milk?

If you have any queries or concerns, or have any experience as a new or expectant mother member that is positive or negative, please let me know on lrobinson@napo.org.

On November 16th I attended the TUC Equality Conference at Congress House. Over sixty organisations and trade unions were represented.

Zoe Williams, feminist and journalist with the Guardian opened conference and set the tone by illustrating her condemnation of the government cuts with evidence that there isn't a "single move away from social justice which doesn't affect women". For example, and this is one of many, she said 92% of lone parents are women, and changes to CSA means that they will soon be "charged to chase the absent parent" for a financial contribution. She also said that 40% of Public Sector workers are women, as opposed to 11% of men - so public sector cuts hit women hardest (In Wales the public sector is the biggest employer).

Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC gave a keynote speech to conference and in his speech stated "we know that the poorest are now paying for the bankers' crisis". He pointed out that Britain is becoming a more unequal, unfair, and unjust society, with the phrase "Women and Children first", meaning that they are at the frontline of the impact of the cuts.

Kate Green, Shadow spokesperson for Women and Equality said that there will be cuts to the child care element of Child Tax Credit, Early Years provision, Surestart provision, libraries, and leisure services - all provision that women use most. She said she believes that women feel less safe in an increasingly unequal society, where there are lower numbers of police, less street lighting and a reduction in community safety.

Some breathtaking statistics emerged during the day and here is a taster:

. In nineteen local authorities all of the redundancies have fallen on women.
. Unemployment is at a 23 year high.
. Half of BME under 25's are unemployed.
. The disabled are facing more than £9billion in cuts to support services.
. Over 650,000 people will be taken out of the scope for advice on legal issues.
. Grants to LGBT support groups are being cut

The TUC launched the Equality Duty Toolkit and the Women and the Cuts toolkit at the event.

Brendan Barber said we need to get organised, active, build alliances with other unions and community organisations because "Equal Societies are Better Societies".
He stated that the action on November 30 is action for Social Justice. We in Napo who are committed to the campaign for Justice can put our hand on our heart and say "It's Us, and It's Now".

Pensions - Did You Know...

. If closed today, the Local Government Pension Scheme could still pay all of its liabilities for twenty years.

. The average pension for a local government worker is £4,000 per year - hardly gold - plated.

. Women suffer pay inequality during their working lives, which continues to impact upon them in their retirement. A quarter of single female pensioners live in poverty and for every pound of income received by men in a pensioner couple, women receive less than 32 pence.

Women often retire poorer because:

. They generally earn less

. They may have broken work patterns due to caring responsibilities and are less likely to make their full contributions to national insurance

. They often rely on their partners pension - and circumstances can change


Without better changes to the system too many younger women today will face a retirement in poverty. The move from final-salary to money-purchase schemes and proposals to increase public-sector retirement ages will impact on women as much, if not more, as men.

We had a successful Fringe meeting of WiN at this year's AGM with a DVD on the Women Seeking Asylum Charter. Sarah Pailthorpe from Brighton Voices in Exile gave a presentation about the charter and some of the issues faced by women seeking asylum in the UK.

WiN resolved to begin a campaign within Napo to raise awareness.

This included:
. an article in December's Napo News
. Look into the possibility of a postcard campaign amongst members
. Link to other unions who are supporting the campaign via the Women's Officer at the TUC
. Promoting branch activities through regional links
. Meeting representatives of Asylum Aid to establish what more WiN can do.

A letter to the recently appointed Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency is a useful source of information for Napo members:

" The Charter was developed in 2008 as a framework of principles that we believe should underpin the treatment of women who seek sanctuary in the UK. In particular the Charter requires, as a minimum standard, that all women seeking asylum must be treated with fairness, dignity and respect, in accordance with the UK's obligations under international refugee and human rights conventions. Over 280 organisations have now endorsed the Charter, which has been instrumental in persuading Government and the UKBA to commit to a genuinely gender sensitive asylum system".

The letter goes on to say how gender discrimination is present in the Asylum System in the UK:

"Our 2009 campaign, Every Single Woman, which was run under the auspices of the Charter, called on Government and the UKBA to ensure that the minimum standards applicable to the treatment of women with the right to reside in the UK should not be denied to those who seek protection here. When a woman is the victim of rape, sexual violence or honour crime in the UK, she can expect an appropriately sensitive response from the Police and the courts. Our argument is that women fleeing violence abroad should be able to rely on the equivalent approach from our immigration services.
While 26 pieces of policy and legislation have been passed to ensure that women have access to fair treatment in the criminal justice system, only two specific policies have been adopted by the UKBA. For example, a woman settled in the UK who has been raped can expect support from specially-trained police officers; no such specialist support is on hand for a woman who claims asylum after being raped overseas. A victim of domestic violence (including 'honour crimes' or forced marriage) settled in the UK has time to build a rapport with a single official from the outset of any investigation; no such assurance is available to women fleeing such domestic violence abroad, no matter how important continuity and trust are to the disclosure of distressing information."

Here is the link if you would like to read the letter in full.


http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/da...ec_UKBA_Sept_2011.pdf

An entry on August 18 in Equality and Diversity said:

Unemployment figures have shown that women's unemployment is now at its highest in more than 30 years - 1.05 million women are now unemployed, the highest figure since May 1988.
More than half a million women - 512,700 - are now claiming job seekers allowance - the highest figure since April 1996.
A new report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission considering the status of women in the UK has warned it will take another 60 years - or 12 general elections - to achieve an equal number of women MPs.
Sex and Power also found that the number of women in the Cabinet has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. Women are similarly absent from the top tables of media, business, the judiciary, the arts and the education sector.
Anna Bird, Acting Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, said:
"It's 2011 and women remain largely excluded from positions of power and influence in virtually every sphere of life - the media, the judiciary, the education sector and more. There is a shocking absence of women in politics - men MPs outnumber women 4 to 1, the number of women in the Cabinet is at a 10 year low.
"The absence of women from positions of power across the country is especially worrying, given that women today face an uncertain future. The number of women out of a job reach is now at a 30 year high - more than a million women are now unemployed; at the same time women are facing widening inequality as cuts to public services and benefits bite.
"This report must act as a call to arms; the government and others can no longer turn a blind eye to this injustice, wishing and hoping it will sort itself out.
"Decisions that affect us all, be it how to balance the nation's budget, or our preferred system of welfare, are being made without women round the table. We look forward to hearing all political parties respond to today's findings and explain their plans to challenge this stark and persistent injustice.
"Fawcett believes that Government should lead the response: David Cameron must honor his pledge to run a Cabinet where women make up one third of the Ministers. In times of economic difficulty it becomes more not less important to have a range of voices and experiences inform government policy.
"Unless all political parties take radical action to open up politics to women, calls on business and the like to open up their top tables to women sound hollow"

An article appeared in the Evening Standard on Friday stating that the public sector cuts are affecting women disproportionately to men. The link is below, along with the main points of the article.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/...from-spending-cuts.do

Figures for June showed female claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance rose 9500 in June to 493,900 - the highest since August 1996.
Recent benefit changes - such as moving single parents off income support to Jobseeker's Allowance -account for part of the rise but women account for around two-thirds of the public sector's six million employees.
Female unemployment passed the one million mark last year whereas male joblessness has seemed to be lowering, according to the Office for National Statistics. Tony Dolphin, chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "Public administration, health and education is the only broad sector of the economy where more women than men are employed.
"With the Government planning to implement more cuts in the public-sector workforce over the next few years, the outlook for female unemployment is likely to remain gloomy for some time."
As a public sector service employing a majority of women this has particular resonance for the Probation Service and Cafcass, and undoubtedly for Napo.
Lisa

Napo is one of over two hundred organisations to endorse the Women Seeking Asylum Charter. It is a campaign which is now two years old. It calls on the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to commit to treating women seeking asylum with fairness, dignity and respect.

To mark the two year anniversary of the campaign a report, "The Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum, 2 Years On: Impact and Actions" has been published and can be found here:

http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/da...138/WAN_July_2010.pdf

The report shows what is being done around the UK to further the campaign.

A sister campaign, "Every Single Woman" was launched in 2009 as part of the charter. Its aim was to bring ministerial pressure to bear on the UK Border Agency (UKBA).
You will be interested to know that there is a marked disparity between the experiences of female victims of sexual and domestic violence going through the criminal justice process in the UK and that of women asylum seekers who have experienced the same crimes abroad and are going through the asylum process in the UK. Clearly a number of our members will work with people in both those groups. Whilst the purposes of the two processes are not the same - one is to investigate a crime and the other is to determine refugee status - the sensitivities required are similar. To rectify this disparity, the campaign argues, the lessons learned by the criminal justice system needs to be transferred into the asylum system.

Lisa Robinson
National Vice Chair

It is the time in the Napo year when your Branch AGM will be held.

For those of you who have not had your AGM yet and want to take part but aren't sure of all the jargon or procedures here is an easy to follow guide of the most common terms used:

Motion - A proposal put forward by someone in the branch with a supporter (the seconder) that is debated, voted upon, and which has to be acted upon. If you would like to bring a motion, but are unsure how to, your branch secretary, chair, or any other officer or official can help.

Officer or Official - These are the people the branch elects to run the branch day to day business and all the officers and officials make up the branch executive committee (BEC). Officers are the chair, any vice chairs, and the treasurer. Officials vary from branch to branch but include Secretary, Equality and Anti-Racism Officer. The difference between officers and officials is legal, and technical, but for most situations there is little difference between them although their roles are different.

Standing Orders - These are the rules that govern how a meeting is run. They have to conform to the branch and national constitution. Any officer or official will be able to give you guidance.

Point of Order - If a member attending a meeting thinks that the standing orders are not being followed they have the right to make a 'point of order'. In other words, to challenge the chair of the meeting to show that standing orders are being followed.

For more information, follow the link. This is a guide to AGM but the rules are basically the same
http://www.napo.org.uk/files/s...20/point_of_order.PDF

Membership and voting - Don't forget, some members of Napo have retired or are no longer active. Only active members of Napo employed either in Probation or on secondment are full members and can vote on all issues. Only full members can be officers or officials. For a vote to be valid at least 4% of all full members must be present (Quoracy).

Enjoy your AGM, see you at the big one (Eastbourne).

Lisa.

Report by Lisa Robinson, National Vice Chair

The conference is a biennial one and was held this year in Birmingham, hosted by Staffordshire and West Midlands Branch. Eighty women met in the Crowne Plaza Hotel and heard from a range of speakers.

Chris Hall, Head of Interventions at Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust opened conference and invited us to consider how far women have come since the days when a hat was a requirement for female Court Duty Officers. Before the morning workshops Hilary Rimmer, Vice Principal at Birmingham Metropolitan College gave a speech, highlighting the relationship we have with the education system via our mutual clients, our fights against the cuts and our ability to influence change in our professional and personal roles as women.

After lunch the General Secretary of the NUT, Christine Blower talked about how she became a general secretary. Modest about her own efforts, hard work and tenacity, she attributed some of her success to being in the right place at the right time and "sheer bloody-mindedness".

Gill Kirton, from Queen Mary University shared her research into the role and activities of women in the trade union movement. She said that whilst women outnumber men in the largest unions currently, power is still concentrated in the hands of small groups of male union leaders. She said that having women in leadership matters is important. Some reasons for that included: because women should represent women; they are role models for other women; it is natural justice; and we have unions' membership dominated by women.

The WiN strategy was launched at the conference and discussed in workshops. Whilst its contents were welcomed, conference wanted to ensure that the steering group was drawn from a national pool rather than the branch hosting conference. The paper will therefore be re-issued to branches for some specific work on that issue prior to going to the July NEC for approval.

This conference was organised by a hard-working and committed planning group, and held in an atmosphere of solidarity. WiN continues to be highly motivates to address ongoing challenges to women activists within Napo. Conference also gave some direct practical help to one local women's organisation. A collection was taken for Roshini, a Birmingham Asian Women's refuge. It was particularly encouraging to see a significant number of first time attenders at conference.

The day was rounded off with dinner, which gave us a chance to unwind and chat about the day, about our lives, to our sisters who are alongside us in the fray.