Increase in violence against women during Christmas period

Irish women experience more frequent and more severe abuse during festive seasons, and the number of incidents of financial abuse is increasing this year, according to a press release from Women’s Aid.

Deirdre Campbell, Manager of the Women’s Aid National Freephone Helpline said:

“There are specific ways in which the Christmas period impacts on the way women are abused. Abusive men may be at home more over Christmas or may be drinking more. While alcohol is not responsible for domestic violence it does act as a dis-inhibitor for abusive men and this may lead to more violent episodes. Also, there is a notable increase of financial abuse”.

In the press release, Women’s Aid stated that financial abuse reported includes withholding money for Christmas presents and food; where the relationship has ended the abusive partner may withhold child maintenance; and forcing the woman to take debt in her name to meet the family financial needs.

The organisation highlighted that many forms of domestic abuse often continue after couples have split up, and that the extra stress surrounding Christmas has led to high numbers of women reporting financial abuse by their boyfriends, husbands and partners, as well as by ex-partners and ex-husbands.

Tagged: Domestic violence, Recession, Violence against women, Women's Aid

Immigrant women in the U.S. food industry powerless to protect themselves from sexual abuse

Undocumented women working in the U.S. food industry are regularly exploited and humiliated, and are viewed as ‘perfect victims’ by sexual predators, according to a new report.

Sexual harassment and violence is a constant threat, said the women interviewed in the report ‘Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry’.

In addition to the commonplace exploitation of immigrant workers, undocumented female workers also suffer from the gendered aspects of abuse.

They are isolated, vulnerable due to the lack of legal status, generally have little knowledge of their rights and are thought to lack credibility.

Many do not report the abuse and attacks out of fear of losing their jobs or being deported. As women are often the primary carers for their children, such fears are often more widespread among women than men. Losing their job might mean that they will be unable to support their family. Deportation could even mean being separated from them.

The men harassing and abusing them are often their supervisors or other men who the women depend on to keep their jobs as well as for practical aspects of the job, such as transportation to and from the fields.

In a similar report from California released in the mid 90’s, a worker told the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that one of the fields was referred to as the ‘field of panties’, because so many women had been raped by their supervisors there.

These women are some of the most vulnerable women in our society. They work under excruciating conditions for extremely low wages. They have few entitlements, and often face too many barriers to execute the few entitlements they are aware of. Their human rights are grossly violated.

Lack of papers does not justify the constant fear of and actual sexual harassment and abuse, just as it does not justify all the other forms of abuse these women endure on a daily basis.

No woman should be the ‘perfect victim’ of rape and sexual abuse.

This report has identified these women as just that. We can not allow for them to be identified, but not helped.

Tagged: Immigration, Rape, Sexual Abuse, Sexual violence, U.S., Violence against women

Little interference by the Garda allows sham marriages to flourish in Ireland

Illustration from stock.xchng

Recently there have been several investigations into so-called ‘sham marriages’, where women are trafficked into Ireland to marry Asian men.

By marring EU-nationals, the men secure European passports, enabling them to work, live and travel throughout the EU.

Sandra Zalcmane, head of Shelter Safe House, a Latvian NGO offering support to victims of human trafficking, has earlier said to the Irish Times that the number of girls and women they support after sham marriages has increased over the last year, and that Ireland and Cyprus are the most common destinations for such marriages. Zalcmane also said that the organisation has helped many women who has been raped and suffered sexual abuse related to sham marriages.

Arturs Vaisla, head of the Latvian police’s human trafficking unit, claims that organisers started to use force, fraud, rape and mass rape in 2009, when they realised that the Irish police could not do anything, and that they kept silent about the problem.

At the moment, entering a sham marriage is not illegal in Ireland. In many other countries, including Germany, France and Belgium these issues  are tackled by legislation, and registrars can postpone or cancel a wedding if they suspect foul play. A Latvian-English interpretor working in Ireland claims many marriages are obviously bogus, but that despite this, he has never seen a registrar block a marriage.

Officials at the Latvian ministry of foreign affairs last month told the Irish Times that they have tracked hundreds of women coming to Ireland to enter marriages with Non-EU nationals, but that they were ‘very frustrated by the slow response of the Government to the problem’. Latvian officials have been trying to combat sham marriages since 2006, but says the feedback from Irish authorities has been minimal.

The Irish Government has issued new guidelines to marriage registrars in a bid to reduce the number of sham marriages, but recent news stories prove that this has had little or no effect.

Just this week, another story about two women rescued by Garda in Dublin broke. The Garda broke into a flat where the women had been locked in for several days. The women had been told that they would travel to Ireland to work, but were met by two men who told them they would get married. When the women refused, they were locked in a bedroom. The women were able to contact friends in Latvia via a hidden mobile phone, who again alerted the Latvian police.

Next week Fine Gael will propose in the Dáil that the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2010 should be amended to make it a criminal offence to voluntarily participate in, or organise sham marriages.

The Girl Effect

Thanks to UNIFEM‘s tweets, I came across the great campaign ‘The Girl Effect’ today.

The main focus of the campaign is to raise living standards in the developing world through investing in girls.

You can watch their inspiring, newly launched video ‘The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking here’:

There are plenty of ways to get involved in the campaign; by sharing banners, logos and videos, reading their resources, help spread awareness about the campaign by liking their Facebook page, or you can simply download a poster.

Help Women Living in Poverty with Oxfam Unwrapped

This week I’m giving Oxfam Ireland a hand rolling out Unwrapped, their annual campaign promoting alternative Christmas gifts.

Rather than buying bottles of wine and colourful ties for your colleagues, friends and family members, Unwrapped offers life changing presents such as seeds, clean drinking water and school books to someone living in poverty.

And they have some great gifts aimed specifically to help women and girls too:

(All photos and descriptions from www.oxfamirelandunwrapped.com)

Support a Woman in Business

Give Girls a Head Start

Supergranny

Protect women

The gifts can be purchased online and will also be available in Oxfam shops both in the North and in the Republic shortly.

That’s Christmas gifts sorted then!