NAWO: National Alliance of Women's Organisations

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS

Latest News The website is currently under construction The Commission on the Status of Women BEIJING + 15 celebrated at CSW 54 - Held March 2010 at the United Nations in New York The UK government had responded to a questionnaire sent out by the UN in preparation for Beijing + 15 and NAWO found no more than about 4 mentions of age or ageism or older women in the entire document. Hence we prepared a lobbying document - rather like a small 'alternative report.' This document was sent to the Government Equality Office hoping to influence UK government input to the EU position to be taken at Beijing +15 which was also the Commission on the Status of Women. The EU speaks with 'one voice' under the current Presidency of the Union at CSW and in March that was Spain. NAWO does not think it had much or any impact - hence we are continuing to lobby on this topic. Two trustees from NAWO attended the preparatory conference for NGOs held in Geneva in December 2009.		NAWO's 21st Anniversary Celebration and AGM April 27th was the day! We celebrated NAWO's 21st birthday and held our AGM with the theme of Generations of Women's Movements. Two very interesting panel discussions were followed by champagne with lunch provided by Linklaters and partner, Janet Cooper, to whom very many thanks for hosting the whole event. A tasty, colour-of-the-movement cake provided by past NAWO chair, Juliet Colman completed lunch after which we held our AGM. The first panel discussion, The Eight-letter 4-letter F Word intro-duced our guests, Ceri Goddard from Fawcett Society, Michele Hanson from The Guardian and Jess McCabe from The "F Word" who shared their views on feminism and feminist. What did the word represent? Was it important to use it/not use it? Often young women are blamed for letting down their feminist fore-mothers but sites like The F Word and UK Feminista as well as member organisations such as the London Feminist Network give the lie to these complaints. It was the woman of a certain age – Michele Hanson – who confessed she found it a difficult word to use. "Collective Voices" panellist discussants Kat Banyard from UK Feminista, Carlene Firmin from ROTA- Race on the Agenda - and Myria Vassiliadou from EWL – The European Women's Lobby - opened new dimensions and raised questions about the formations and shape of modern feminism and its continuing relevance and importance for so many areas of women's lives which remain well below the aspirations of all of us who want – not much – just to change the world. Carlene Firmin was movingly articulate and experienced about the problems faced by young women and girls involved in gang violence, often but not exclusively a problem of black youth, while anyone who wants to join in the activism of us all – just go to UK Feminista's site. There is plenty of room for collective voices still. Although the celebration was a happy day for NAWO, since we rarely have this precious op-portunity of sharing moments with so many of you at the same time, NAWO is, alas, facing financial difficulties. We struggle with little paid help in the office because we are so short of funds, and this despite putting in applications where we believe we stand good chances of success. We have supportive members, a great team of Trustees, fantastic interns, excellent staff, and enormous good will but Woman cannot survive on This Alone. Hence we are talking to other organisations about joining forces. More news on this to follow...
		50/50 coalition Supporting Harriet Harman‟s call for 50:50 representation of women In line with EWL‟s 50:50 campaign(http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2010/06/5050_coalition) and our concerns (above) NAWO is a partner in the 50:50 Coalition begun by Orlanda Ward to support Harriet Harman‟s call for 50:50 in the Shadow Cabinet. Of course we think the ruling Government‟s Cabinet and of all decision making bodies should achieve this goal. Other part-ners include The Million Women Rise Coalition, WILPF, Women‟s Views On News, Shevolution (Lesley Abdela) and the London Feminist Network. The press release is attached to this email. You can hear Harman on this topic speaking to Woman‟s Hour at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sl6jl#p0089839 http://www.ukfeminista.org.uk/news/454-press-release-5050-coalition-forms-to-back-harmans-5050-quota.html European Union Consultation on an EU strategy to combat violence against women NAWO was recently asked by the European Commission to be involved with the consultation regarding the proposed future EU strategy on combatting violence against women. You can view NAWO's response to the Commission's questionnaire below. NAWO's response to EU Consultation