UK Headlines Round Up

Osborne’s Election (and Hopefully Last) National Budget

Last Wednesday George Osborne (UK Chancellor of the Exchequer) announced his sixth and last budget of this term of parliament. In the spectre of austerity, Osborne had the audacity to stand up and declare ‘Britain walking tall again.’ Read: white, middle class men in the private sector are walking tall on the backs of everyone else! Including women. This was of course, the election budget, so it was full of ‘gimmicks and giveaways’ such as yet another penny off the average pint. There was absolutely no mention of the 200,000 signatures strong petition delivered to parliament last week to lobby the government to stop taxing tampons as ‘luxury goods.’ As far as I’m concerned there is nothing ‘luxury’ a tampon – sign said petition here. In fact, there was not a single mention of women in the entire speech, despite the fact that many journalists have attributed his so-called growth to women’s labour whilst austerity has been proven to have disproportionately disadvantaged women. For instance whilst unemployment for men increased by only 0.32% from 2009-2013, it increased by 20% for women – this is largely a result of women being in disposable positions or that the public sector (where most of these cuts have targeted) is two thirds women. For more on this see this great article. Remember these are the budgets that closed down pretty much all shelters, legal aid and support for rape victims in the UK. Need I say more?

As is evident for the statistics in this fantastic piece, women have literally been excluded from any kind of economic growth. Whilst Osborne stands tall and talks of employment being at an all time high since the crisis, what he really means is men’s employment. The women’s rate still remains 10% beneath said figure. The hypocrisy here leaves me dumbfounded, Osborne has cut local authority budgets by up to 60% and still requires a rigorous Equally Impact Assessment on all local authority budgets. Yet when it comes to his own NATIONAL budget where he is dismantling public services piece by piece, it is believed, he has not run a single EIA on all 5 of his previous budgets. That has been left to academics and journalists once measures have been put in place! For instance, this time around the fiscal dimension of Osborne’s budget is being heralded by some as a success because of the personal allowance increase: women will pay less income tax because they tend to be in lower paying jobs. HURRAH! That is not a win for me. That is not Osborne standing up a denouncing the very idea of women being paid 19.7% less than a man. That is justifying the pay gap by saying OOH but they’ll pay a penny or two less tax! The Women’s Budget Group will post their analysis of this years budget soon and we will see the full extent of the damage for women. This budget was once again targeted at the ‘male, pale and stale’ private sector worker who is the only unit of analysis in the Conservatives ‘long term economic plan.’ It keeps the rich rich and the poor poor and even increases this gap alongside the gap between men and women. One must appeal to one’s electorate I guess.

General Election 2015 Television Debates

Along a similar tangent, the dates for this years general election campaign television debates have finally been announced after all the antics. The British political system has changed drastically over the last 5 years and we are absolutely no longer a 3-party state. Indeed, one of the election debates will include all 7 of the biggest political party leaders. Including 3 women! Nicola Sturgeon (SNP), Natalie Bennett (the Green Party) and Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru) will appear alongside Cameron, Milliband, Clegg and Farage on 2 April. Personally, I am not sure of the relevance of Plaid Cymru or the SNP’s presence because as an English constituent I cannot vote for either of them. Nevertheless, the almost gender balance is refreshing and I really hope the debate for the women will be more than what they’re wearing? It will be very interesting to see what questions are targeted at these women. All three of these leaders are continuously sexualised or demonised by the media, simply because they are women and I am sure there is more of that to come. For example, last week the BBC 3 talk show often described as ‘young persons question time’ featured a Q&A with Surgeon, Wood and Bennett. I understand why Sturgeon and Wood were grouped together but why Bennett? It seems to me because she is also a woman? This bizarre sexism suggests a kind of ‘loose women’ chat show appeal whilst all 4 of the other leaders will be scrutinised separately and seriously on this show. I’ll leave you with a delightful cartoon the repugnant Daily Mail released last week upon the announcement of a possible Labour/SNP coalition. Just in case you thought the General Election could be exempt from sexism:

Jeremy Clarkson

I really think I might have missed something here. I cannot understand why and how this is a national news story and not simply a tabloid feature. This man has been sexist, racist, homophobic and every other offensive under the sun and yet it takes him to physically assault another man and/or threaten BBC profits for it to become a news headline. I have very little else to say on this matter. I cannot understand why it is even a story and I don’t wish to give it anymore wasted airtime than it has already received! Get rid of him. Replace him with someone who isn’t famous for being a bigot. Job done.

ISIS Propaganda takes more Foreign Lives: British Women killed in Tunis Attack

23 people were gunned down by an attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis, Tunisia last week. ISIS is claiming responsibility for this attack and therefore furthering their demonization in the press. Why change an extremely effective recruitment strategy? Attacking a museum in a tourism hub is a strategic move to send shockwaves throughout the world. 20 of those who lost their lives were foreign tourists. All of those countries will now be running stories on this attack when they might not otherwise have. In the UK, it was a woman who was killed: a wife and a mother. This is exactly what ISIS would’ve wanted because it serves to further demonise them. After all, white female lives are worth more to the West than the hundreds of others dying in the Middle East everyday. The protection myth will once again be trotted out here as further justification for air strikes to protect ‘women and children’. Air strikes are clearly not working! Something different needs to be done. This is upon the background of fears that 9 medics from London have recently travelled to Syria to work for ISIS. Unbelievably the gender of said medics has not been analysed by the press: IF they arrive in ISIS territory the likelihood of different and disastrous treatment for the 5 women seems inevitable. The threat of expansion into Yemen and Tunisia will scare foreign policy departments worldwide. As it should: Tunisia is a mere 1800km from Paris, geographically this is way too close to comfort. A different tact seems necessary, but what? I am no advocate for further military intervention – the narrative on extremism needs to change. With this change will hopefully bring a solution. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of all lives being lost in this catastrophe.

@GendertheNews

Four Headlines from 2014 that weren't Gendered and should've been. Number 4:

The Ukraine Crisis on a Backdrop of Nationalism in Europe

Photo Source: http://hybridtechcar.com/covers-popular-magazines-russian-president-28-photos/

@GendertheNew

The spotlight turned to Europe again in 2014 for its continuing economic woes but it was also there for a more unusual reason: there was a major international conflict on our doorstep. Victor Yanukovych was ousted from office in early 2014 by a revolution in the countries capital. This violent revolution came about because Ukraine finally ‘chose a side’ in its on going tug of war between west and east. Yankkovych (aside from being blatantly corrupt) chose short-term economic glory from Russia instead of long-term stability in the European Union. A decision his people were not happy with. Under the guise of controlling the situation and in the absence of any real governance Putin saw this as an opportunity (or perhaps orchestrated the whole thing depending on how truly megalomaniac you believe he is) to waltz into Crimea and claim it back as his own, with only pseudo-democratic legitimacy.  Then there was a sensationalist uproar about the new Cold War on Europe’s doorstep but analysis of the response to the situation was fundamentally gendered in the press: throughout the crisis in Crimea, Russia was dichotomised as hyper-masculine in opposition to the European Union, with Angela Merkel at its helm which, was largely feminised and seen to be too passive or weak in its dealings.

Look Southwards to the rest of Europe where nationalism is rife in many of key players in Europe: New Dawn in Germany, The National Front in France and UKIP in Britain to name but a few political uprisings. All of these euro-sceptic parties have shook the foundations of European politics and they all rose out of the ashes of the economic catastrophe of 2008-2012. Scapegoating differences in times of crisis proves to be an extremely successful political tactic. Whilst the role of testosterone in both the European and global financial crisis has been speculated about by many feminists, what absolutely links these nationalistic tendencies in Europe, Ukraine, Crimea and Russia is masculinity. Not masculinity as we know it in our dads, brothers, partners but masculinity on the world stage of international politics which only valorises hyper-masculinised ideals of stoicism, rationality and aggression. The language of sovereignty, statesmanship (the clue’s in the name), invasion, war and nationalism all orbits around this fictitious and performed hyper-masculinity. We can see this in nationalist discourse analysis the world around, we can see it in militaries and we can see it in Putin’s posturing around the big red nuclear button. I am no advocate of the ‘feminine relationship to peace’ but it seems clear to me that both the theory and practice of international politics are centred on certain, unattainable ideals of masculinity that leave very little room for women in the international sphere.

The second gendered element that links the Ukraine Crisis to nationalistic tendencies in Europe is the problem drawing of borders and straight line through the homes of everyday families. As Enloe (2014) points out cartographers around the world are being kept very busy in the twenty-first century. (Perhaps this provides an explanation for why they haven’t rectified the blatantly western-centric Peterson Projection map but that remains to be seen!) Whenever boarders are redrawn and communities are divided on ethnic grounds there are real lives involved. High Politick often disregards the this and it has been speculated that this is often a very gendered process. Often as the ‘breadwinner,’ ‘patriarch’ or ‘master of the family’ (excuse my largely heternormative assumption here for the purpose of point) men choose which side of the line families will go. Women must often simply follow suit without regard for their preference. Especially if there are offspring involved. For instance a Pro-Russian man might have married a Ukrainian women in Crimea yet she will be forced to separate herself from her Ukrainian friends, family or employment. Real lives are involved in headlines and those real lives are gendered – this is something we often forget.

That brings me to the end of this introductory 4-post-series of reflection on 2014, I hope reader thought they provided some insight into what I'm about. Stay tuned for more current headlines and follow me on twitter for regular updates! Next week I will be doing a round up of recent UK headlines and digressing into popular culture to ask: Is House of Cards Season 3 Feminist? 

Sources: 

Ukraine crisis: an essential guide to everything that's happened so far, The Guardian (2014) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/11/ukraine-russia-crimea-sanctions-us-eu-guide-explainer

Enloe (2014) Nationalism & Masculinity: The nationalist story is not over and it is not a simple story.

Four Headlines from 2014 that weren’t Gendered and should’ve been

@GendertheNews

 3. Modi’s Election in India

Photo Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20907755

Many would not consider the election of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party’s leader Narendra Modi in May 2014 in the top 4 headlines of 2014. However, India’s booming economy makes it a key player in the changing world order. More importantly, after the deeply misogynistic nature of Indian culture was epitomised to the world after the New Delhi bus gang rape in late 2012, women’s rights and anti-sexual violence movements in India would be front page news at any feminist newspaper and should be top of any election agenda. The empowering and inspiring feminist protests and movements coming out of India in 2013 and 2014, brought issues of women’s rights to the very forefront the national agenda. These women would not longer let their voices be stifled. And politicians could no longer ignore them. We hoped.

A brief reflection on the Hindu Nationalists reputation of governing women in Gujarat from 2001-2014 speaks volumes about his attitudes towards these atrocities. During the anti-Muslim riots in 2002, it is believed the Sangh Parivar orchestrated the systematic rape of hundred of women, girls, men and boys. According to many Human Rights groups, Modi effectively stood by and allowed these atrocities. Strangely enough the investigation into Modi’s involvement in these riots has since been silenced. Yet again, when these attacks hit the headlines they were rarely gendered. This is staggering considering that the exclusively female branches of the Sangh Parivar undertook many of the attacks - internalised patriarchy looks to be rife here. Additionally, under his governance in Gujarat, which he hinged his election campaign upon, female education rates and rape conviction rates slumped whilst the minority of women in the community has suggested rates of female infanticide. (Wilson, 2014: The Guardian.) Should economic growth really be prioritised at the hands of patriarchy and misogyny?

Today, these attitudes continue, Modi has spoken a handful of times about the problem and his speeches seem to be just that: words. The laws have been tightened and some photos have been taken but real action to secure the safety of almost half of his country has not been seen. Recently he also banned the British-made India’s Daughter documentary about the 2012 bus rape and the reaction to it. Although some say this is a result of its inaccuracy and western bias, it is also interpreted as an outright attempt to silence the anti-rape movement in India that was reignited in the wake of said documentary. The response to these claims is that the laws in place for gender equality in India are there, but these are not problems that can be solved with the wielding of a truncheon (especially given the well-known corruption salient in the Indian police force): they are cultural. That is not to say that judicial reform is not important but these problems are deeply entrenched into the minds and institutions and this is a revolution that cannot be solved by signatories on a piece of paper. When there is a leader of a popular political party denouncing the upmost penalty for gang rape because ‘boys will be boys’ you know something needs to be done.

Nevertheless, Modi’s election was heralded as a triumph for liberal democracy (unfortunately I could not find gender disaggregated voting figures but the likelihood of male dominance in voting rates goes without saying) and both Obama and Cameron publicly invited him to Washington and London respectively. All in the name of economic and business interests: the mainstream press in both the lead up to and the aftermath of Modi’s election orbited around his economic plans to further liberalise the country and reach out for foreign direct investment and jobs for the disproportionately young (male) demographic. There were, at best, sparse mentions of his plans for India’s (bigger) social problems of gender inequality, corruption and wealth polarisation. Such is the nature of neoliberalism in its ability to blindly deny or ignore the real problems of society, as long as the people at the top have money in their pockets and women at their disposal. But the feminist movement in India threatens to take both of these away from their elites: as Enloe (2014) points out that tourism is central to the Indian economy (6% of GDP, 20 million central and 70 million supply chain jobs) and as they continue to ignore the fact that 1 woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, their tourism revenues slump. Indeed in the 3 months after the Delhi rape hit the headlines, the number of foreign tourists fell 25% on the same statistics from the previous year. The number of female foreign tourists fell by 35%. (Enloe, 2014: 59.) If they will not fight this problem for a lack of morality, then perhaps they will if the queues outside the Taj Mahal suffer. I have told people about my desire to travel to India only to get the repeated response ‘it’s not a place for women.’ There are 600 million real women who live in India; it should go without saying that if it is not a place for me, it is not a place for them and no state should be deemed ‘no place for women.’ When South Africa was publicly mistreating people of colour, the west stood up and listened, and used capitalism to stop it. Why will we not boycott India’s misogyny? Why is it consistently pushed under the rug? Beatrix Campbell coined the term neoliberal, neopatriarchy which resonates here. Thankfully, these amazing Indian women and men have not and will not stop until they see justice but this is just another example of the headlines not calling out blatant sexism. In the last of this series of posts on 2014 I will address the Ukraine Crisis in the veil of the rise of nationalism in Europe. Thank you for reading and please follow the twitter for regular updates! 

Sources:

Enloe, C (2014) Lady Travelers, Beauty Queens, Stewardesses and Chamber Maids: The International Gendered Politics of Tourism. (See recommended reading)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-27452924

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/04/narendra-modi-as-prime-minister-womens-rights-india

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/modi-indeed-will-be-bad-for-women-but-was-cong-any-better-1484151.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/05/india-women-activists-remind-modi-promises-201452674827263709.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-31635902