A brave face for PM, Lucas Papademos

Not been paying attention to the news this week? We’ve helpfully rounded up the need-to-know events making the headlines in Europe of late…

Greece under pressure to hand over budget control

Greece is facing increasing pressure as its ability to manage its budgets is called into question. At the annual World Economic Forum, which took place from January 25 to 29 in Davos, Switzerland, Germany suggested that Greece be stripped of part of the power it holds over its fiscal policies. In particular, the appointment of an EU budget commissioner with veto powers was proposed. Greek officials angrily rejected the proposal.

Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos continued to show an extremely brave face and continued with assurances that Greece is very close to signing a debt deal with private creditors. Over the past weeks Greek officials have repeatedly announced that deal was very close. This has, however, clashed with reality. Debt talks continue intermittently, with the Institute of International Finance (IIF), representing the creditors, refusing to agree with the government on the interest rate of the newly issued bonds, which should replace its current debt. The Greek situation does not seem likely to improve any time soon, especially after European inspectors announced the discovery of a new €15 billion black hole in the country’s finances on Thursday 2.

EU forms “fiscal compact”

Even though Germany’s plan to strip Greece of its financial independence has failed for now, a possibly greater achievement in terms of fiscal regulation was reached on Monday 30, when 25 out of 27 EU member states agreed to sign the new Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union. The agreement was reached during a summit held in Brussels and stipulates the creation of a “fiscal compact” with very strict rules in terms of budget deficit.

The Treaty is expected to be signed in March, and would give the European Court of Justice the power to monitor compliance with fiscal rules and to fine those countries who are found in breach of them. UK and the Czech Republic, however, refused to sign up.  British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the UK would take legal action if the treaty proved to threaten Britain’s interests. While the summit was taking place, Belgium was also hit by its first general strike in six years. People in the streets protested against the new austerity measures introduced by the government, which aim at saving €11.3 billion.

Death toll rises in cold snap

At least 220 people died since the arrival of a wave of freezing weather in Europe. The country with the highest number of victims so far is Ukraine (around 100), but many other are having to deal with subzero temperatures. In Poland the mercury went down to -38C, whilst about 11,000 people were trapped in Serbia’s remote villages due to heavy snowfalls. Romania, the Czech Republic and Croatia were also severely hit by the bad weather. Even Italy experienced some pretty harsh temperatures, with historical lows registered in Rome and other cities around Europe.

Sarkozy announces new financial transaction tax and other stories

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has recently launched a package of measures aimed at stimulating growth and the creation of new jobs, which is seen by many as a desperate move to increase his dwindling popularity – ahead of the presidential elections in May. The tax on financial transactions is part of the package and will be introduced in August. Later in the week Sarkozy had to face accusations that he had spent £30,000 of French taxpayers’ money to repatriate his son Pierre from the Ukraine, after he was admitted to hospital for food poisoning in Odessa. Elsewhere, Prime Minister Francois Fillon was forced to cut France’s growth forecasts for 2012 from 1% to 0.5%. However, Sarkozy has still the solid shoulder of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to cry on; Europe’s Iron Lady has pledged she will help the president in his campaign with joint appearances scheduled in spring.

Julian Assange appeals to Supreme Court against extradition

Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange and his legal team went before Britain’s Supreme Court this week to appeal against his extradition to Sweden, where is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. Assange has previously failed to convince a lower court that the cross border warrant for his arrest is invalid, since the prosecutor who issued it was not a valid judicial authority. The hearing started on Thursday 2 and ended the following days.  Seven judges of the Sumpreme Court decided to adjourn and Assange will now have to wait several weeks before finding out what fate awaits him.

To fly. To fail

It was a bad week for European airlines. On Monday 30 Spanair, Spain’s fourth largest airline, filed for bankruptcy. Two days earlier the company had left more than 20,000 passengers stranded, after it abruptly suspended all its flights. The company could now be fined €9m over the collapse for breaching rules on continuity of services and passengers’ rights. On Friday 3 it was Hungarian airline Malev’s turn. The decision to cease all its operations came after Malev was ordered by the European Commission to repay €130 million the company had received in state aid from 2007 to 2010.

Jennifer Robinson, the legal advisor for Julian Assange and Wikileaks gives an insight into proceedings the extradition proceedings

Are you defined by your nine to five?

‘So, what do you do?’ It’s usually the first question we ask a new person when we meet them. It’s socially acceptable small talk and usually helps to spark a conversation. It’s more interesting than talking about the weather, more appropriate than launching into an interrogation about their personal life, and (usually) a safe option.

But if it’s the first thing we find out about a person, does that mean we form our judgement of them based on that answer? How important is somebody’s career in defining who they are as a person? Of course, it usually depends on who you ask. Some people feel that their career is their life, while others feel no attachment to their role at all, and view their nine to five simply as something they have to do to fund their five to nine.

Perhaps it comes down to a question of vocation versus paying the bills: for some people, their job is simply a means to an end, whilst for others, their job is an end in itself. This difference may depend on the role, rather than the person. Doctors, policemen, teachers: these are, generally speaking, the kind of roles that seem to extend beyond a career choice and into a lifestyle. Sarah, a 24-year old teacher, says that, although she definitely feels there is more to her life than teaching: ‘I think I am a constant teacher – I now find myself thinking about the way young cousins or friends children access the world, how I would support them to learn certain skills… The way I look at life in general is hugely influenced by my training and my career – not just other children I come into contact with, but a lot of my life choices are based on pedagogical factors that came on board during my teacher training.’

It’s true that people who take on certain careers may experience a certain amount of pressure to fulfill their roles even outside the workplace. As Sarah explained, a teacher may find that they are always teaching in some way or another. A doctor would be unlikely to walk past an injured person in the street without offering medical assistance, and a police officer is unlikely to ignore a crime just because they are off duty. This kind of social responsibility doesn’t always extend to other roles. I work as an editor and proofreader, and although I frequently spot misspellings and grammatical errors on signs in public places, I don’t feel any kind of duty to correct these errors (although, if they are particularly amusing, I may be tempted to take a photo).

If you feel that your job is something that you wish to be defined by, you may take a great deal of pleasure in telling people: ‘I am a writer,’ or ‘I work in fashion.’ But if it’s something that you do to pay the rent, it isn’t always something you want to share. Laura, who works as a PA in London, says: ‘I dislike how in this day and age if you aren’t in a ‘career’ type job people assume you aren’t interesting/driven/intelligent. And I find that so interesting because the best people I know, the most engaging and unique people, define themselves through what they do outside of the work place…. For me, I realize that the job I would actually love to do is sort of unachievable at the moment. And sometimes it proves you are more dedicated to make time for what you really care about in your own time. I do dislike telling people I’m a PA because you do get that ‘Oh, you’re stuck in a dead-end job’ look, but the fact is that that salary allows me to do all sorts of interesting things in my free time.’

A career with a sense of purpose?

So although many people thrive on their career and feel strongly defined by what they do, there are just as many out there who see their nine to five as something rather dull: perhaps even as something they dislike. With the jobs market moving more slowly than ever, plenty of us are stuck in roles we don’t really want, hoping that something better will come up.

If you fall into the first category, and feel your career is worthwhile and something that defines you, then you should feel free to warmly congratulate yourself on discovering a job that means something to you. If you fall into the second category, however, it shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of. Your job doesn’t have to mean everything. You don’t have to be defined by the desk you sit at, the salary you earn, or the room you spend 40 hours a week in. There are 128 other hours in the week to account for. And, as 25-year old electrician Joe points out: ‘I enjoy my job, but I’d much rather not be working. Even if I had the greatest job in the world I’m sure I’d rather be free to choose what I want to do with my day.’

So, next time somebody turns to you and asks: ‘So, what do you do?’ why not give them a smile, and reply: ‘What, between nine and five, or five and nine?’

Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson

You can see the original version of this feature on Women’s Views On News.

Last December, Irish women were left with a bittersweet taste in their mouths after the release of a bill designed to get more women involved in politics. The historic Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011 designates mandatory targets for all political parties, stipulating that they run 30% women and 30% men in subsequent general elections or lose half their funding.

However, while redressing a long-standing imbalance, the bill comes only days after a slash and burn austerity budget which has targeted women, lone parents and women’s organisations. Indeed the National Women’s Council of Ireland, the watchdog for women’s rights in Ireland, has seen its budget cut by a savage 35%.

Despite the international attention and acclaim given to Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese (two of our former Heads of State), Irish women have been woefully under-represented at almost every level of politics. Only 91 women have ever been elected to the Dáil [lower house of the Irish parliament]. Of the 4,744 Dáil seats filled since 1918 only 260 have been filled by women (5.48%). The Dáil today is no different. It is an almost entirely male dominion: 85% of the members are men.

There are three main reasons why we need more women involved in politics. This injustice is the first – half of the population have been marginalised from political decision-making. The second is that women bring different experiences, skills and perspectives to politics. A more diverse set of experiences will create a different kind of Oireachtas – a parliament of all talents. Finally, a critical mass of women in politics can change the political agenda and, ultimately, change the kind of decisions being made. The recent budget is a further illustration of how excluded women are from the decision-making structures of Irish society.

In Norway this was called a “politics of care”. Women politicians ensured that the state absorbed its responsibility for balancing the role of women as mothers/carers and as full economic participants. The state provided better care facilities for children, it extended flexible working arrangements in both the private and public sector and, most radically, it provided arrangements for shared maternity and paternity leave after a child is born.

In Rwanda – top of the global league table for representation of women (at 53%) – politics has moved on from the 1994 genocide, where rape was used as a weapon of war. Today gender based violence is at the top of the political agenda. In these states – and in 17 of the top 20 countries for representation of women – some form of gender quota has been applied. This is because they work. Opponents of targets are long on criticism but question them and they are short on alternatives. Gender targets are a proven method of transforming politics.

A 2009 report by an Oireachtas (parliament) sub-committee on women’s participation in politics identified five barriers for women’s entry into politics (first identified in the 1970s in Trinity College, Dublin, but they apply internationally):

● Care – There is a noticeable dearth of young mothers in politics. There are some exceptions but most women at this age step away from politics to care for children. The lack of maternity leave for politicians doesn’t help the situation. Later, many older women often provide care for elderly relatives. As women do most of the caring in Irish society this limits their potential to get politically involved.

● Cash – Women earn on average 30% less than men and so have less money to spend fighting election campaigns and less wealthy networks of potential supporters to tap into.

● Culture – Irish adversarial politics, modelled on the Westminster style of our old colonial masters, is unappealing to women (and many men). The childish behaviour of many public representatives who prefer to heckle instead of holding meaningful debates on policy or process is deeply off-putting. Late night sittings of the Dáil and the necessity to combine national work with a clientelist local culture means that politics is, as one prominent woman politician put it, a “family-hostile” environment.

● Selection conferences – Political parties are the gatekeepers of the Irish political system. Selection by a political party in Ireland’s multi-seat constituency PR/STV [proportional representation/single transferable vote] electoral system is not a guarantee of election – unlike the UK system where “safe seats” exist. Nonetheless selection by a political party is of vital importance and selection processes – especially in more conservative rural Ireland – are often controlled by a coterie of men unwilling to allow women access to the political system.

● Confidence – Despite leading the way through every level of the education system, managing careers, children and organising the home, too many women still lack the confidence to enter politics, preferring to be asked than to actively seek out positions.

Each of these “5 Cs” applies in different ways to different women: a combination of hard (political reform) and soft (training and support programmes) are important for resolving them. Targets for the selection of women by political parties will help to eliminate some of these barriers and start to fix Ireland’s broken democracy.

Only 91 women have ever been elected to the Dáil. Of the 4,744 Dáil seats filled since 1918 only 260 have been filled by women...

Women’s Views On News is the women’s daily online news and current affairs service, operating on a ‘not for profit’ basis. The site provides up to date news on all the major national and international stories of the day, in much the same way as any newspaper or online news service, but the stories featured are always about women.

Are we living too fast these days?

2011 has seen us tackle subjects as diverse as corruption and quarter-life crises head on; offering advice and opinions along the way; we hope that we’ve made you think a little more carefully – and take a closer look at society, and yourselves, of course! Here’s our edit of the Social Butterfly must-reads of the year.

Live Fast, Die Young?

With over-eating and excessive consumption of alcohol, we’re told that our generation is storing up countless health problems for the future – what’s the reality, asks Katie Shellard.

Alpha Females: Europe’s Power Players

Ilaria Parogni takes a look at ten European female political leaders; Women are still underrepresented and discriminated. But it is good to know that somewhere they made it to the top…

How To Be… In A Relationship

Plum Woodard shares thoughts, tips and advice on keys to the mechanics of a happy, healthy relationship.

Press, Power and Profit

As media ownership concentrates further and journalists begin to break the law in search of a scoop, how much power is too much – and what effect is it having on the Fourth Estate? Sarah Gorman considers the situation today.

RIP Masculinity?

Negotiating masculine identity has never been harder. An onslaught of new roles has led men to think about themselves on different terms, writes Charlotte Briere-Edney.

Something Rotten in the State? Corruption in European Politics

People around the world believe they are living in more corrupt societies than three years ago, a poll by Transparency International suggests. So how corrupt really are European governments? Jade Wimbledon investigates…

The Quarter-Life Crisis

Colliding with a global economic recessions and the pressures of work, relationships and money; today’s twenty-somethings are frustrated, dissatisfied and finding life a struggle… Olivia Parker considers the quarter-life crisis.

How to… Advise

Serving up advice is one of those precarious things that can either be dished out idly with disproportionate consequences, or carefully considered over and above the call of duty only to be ignored…. Plum Woodard advises on… when to advise!

Hard Maths: Downturn, Development and Women

Is seeing women as a crucial part in solving the world’s worst poverty and health traps a net positive or negative? Sandra Smiley takes a closer look at aid, women and the financial downturn.

Life: Edited

Thanks to social networks, it has never been easier to see ‘real life’ as a constantly edited process. What impact does our ability to edit life have on our actually living it, wonders Rebecca Winson.

A New Era of Journalism?

The Wikileaks cable release shook the world media scene but will it have a lasting impact? Lauren Novak looks at life after Wikileaks…

The Outcasts of Europe

Persecuted, shunned, and evicted: can there be any future hope for gypsies, Europe’s pariahs, asks Olivia Parker.

Fashion's first lady: Samantha Cameron

Married to the Government: Political Wives

Smart, highly-educated and with successful careers of their own; Charlotte Briere-Edney considers today’s first ladies.

Dissecting Cognitive Behaviour

Each year, one in four people experience mental health problems; CBT is an opportunity to explore how you view yourself and how you feel the world views you. Plum Woodard takes a good, hard look at Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Reporting Discrimination: The Female Foreign Correspondent

They’ve been in the news rather than making it of late; should female foreign correspondents should take a step back and just let the men do the job, asks Ilaria Parogni.

Faith in Europe: Religion and Politics in Perspective

Ilaria Parogni  looks at the struggle to find a balance between secularism and religious identity in Europe and the relationship between religion and politics.

How To… Be Confident

Katie Shellard considers how, with some simple techniques, practice and commitment, you can turn down the volume on self-doubt and crank up the confidence.

Beyond the Erasmus Exchange

There is growing concern that too many European students aren’t straying far enough from home; is education in Europe too inward-looking? What about university beyond the continent? Lauren Novak tackles the crisis besetting the Erasmus Exchange today…

All About Anger

Where we’re rarely criticised for experiencing feelings of love or feel shame for being happy, why then are we told to ‘cool down’ or ‘get a grip’ when seized by our anger? Plum Woodard sums up the pros and cons of a controversial emotion.

Faith in Europe: Constitution and Controversies

Ilaria Parogni casts a critical eye over the questions and controversies governing religion and politics across the continent today.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Islam, Sharia Law and Contradictions

A fierce critic of Islam, a feminist activist and the resident scholar for a right wing think tank; how does Ayaan Hirsi Ali reconcile these apparently contradictory stances? Emine Dilek interviews the inspirational lady herself.

Girls and Gangs

Youth violence in the UK is a serious problem – and even more so due to the current economic downturn. Harri Sutherland-Kay takes a look at what’s being done to tackle the gendered impact of gangs.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali talking about her book Nomad and issues in Islam today

What does your status say about you?

These days, nearly everybody has a Facebook account, many of us are on Twitter, and social networking has become firmly entrenched in our everyday lives. Facebook may be a valuable tool for keeping track of events, remembering birthdays, and staying up to date with our friends, but what role does it play in our love lives?

Thanks to Facebook, it’s possible to find out all about potential partners, even before you’ve had your first date. The wonders of ‘facestalking’, as it has become known, mean that we can browse the pages of people we’re interested in, whether admiring their profile pictures or clicking through their interests to see if we’re compatible. And even when you’re well past the first date stage, Facebook makes it possible to find out far more about our partners than they may want to share. Rather than having the dreaded and often uncomfortable conversation about why their last relationship ended, we can open the ex-files on our own by browsing through their Facebook history: every photograph, every wall post, every loved-up status, is there to view.

One of the key ways social networking has changed modern relationships is Facebook’s relationship status tool. For many, changing your status has become a way of signifying the end of the ‘dating’ period and the start of the ‘relationship’. It’s a public declaration of your feelings that all your friends can view and, if they feel the need, comment on. Some people choose to hide their relationship status altogether: others declare themselves single and open to offers. Absurd US boyband Heart2Heart have recently taken the internet by storm with their so-cheesy-it-must-be-a-joke song ‘Facebook Official’, encouraging the girl of their dreams to ‘put a heart on [her] page.’

As well as opening the doors for people to make public commitments, the casual and detached nature of Facebook and Twitter make it all too easy to dabble in flirtatious banter – and easier still for your other half to find out. From finding out your partner has been ‘liking’ a few too many of someone’s photos to feeling jealous of their retweets, social networks are full of potential relationship problems. In recent years a number of celebrities have got into hot water over their online banter: Jason Manford, for example, famously disgraced himself by exchanging lewd messages with female fans over Twitter.

There’s no doubt that the advent of social networking has made all of us used to having an audience: our inner monologues have been replaced by tweets and status updates, and there is a general compulsion to over share. All too often this spills over into our love lives, making social networks a minefield of public displays of affection, from his ‘n’ hers profile pictures to excited tweets boasting about perfect dates. Isn’t it possible that things were more romantic when love was a little more private – when we penned love letters rather than ‘liking’ each other’s statuses and tweeting sweet nothings.

There are many though, who feel that the changes made to our love lives by social networks are positive. Lucy, who is in her forties, says: ‘I met my new partner online – a friend of a friend on Facebook. We both have failed marriages or relationships behind us and neither were looking for a relationship – it just happened.’ As well as opening the doors for new romance, many couples have made social networking a part of their relationship. Comedienne Caitlin Moran recently spoke of her enjoyment of watching television with her husband, while both tweeted away about what they were viewing.

It’s clear that social networks have changed our relationships to a certain extent, and it’s impossible to avoid that. They’ve altered the way we interact with our friends: perhaps it was inevitable that they would change the way we interacted with our partners, too. But when it comes to romantic dinners and first kisses, at least there’s no substitute for the real thing: at least, until someone invents an app for it.

Heart2Heart’s so-cheesy-it-must-be-a-joke song ‘Facebook Official’

Riots and violence on London's streets

You can see the original version of this feature on Women’s Views On News.

In November, UK Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new strategy on tackling gang and youth violence. The report, which May states is the first truly cross-governmental approach to tackling gang and youth related violence, was written as part of the government’s response to the UK riots in August.

The recommendations, which run up until April 2014, include establishing an Ending Gang and Youth Violence Team, distributing £10 million worth of funds to areas severely affected by gang and serious youth violence, plans for effective data sharing, new offending behaviour programmes and making more advice available to parents.

But what does it say about gender? Very little is the answer. There are no more than a few paragraphs on the gendered impact of gangs. The report does state that: “In focusing on the male perceptions and male victims of gang violence it can be easy to lose sight of the role that young women and girls may have in gang related activity… [This] shows the often hidden impact of serious youth violence on them.”

Carlene Firmin was a lead researcher of a report on the impact of serious youth and gang violence on women and girls by Race on the Agenda (Rota) published in 2010. Firmin wrote an article for The Guardian soon after May’s report was released, saying: “With girls seen as a prop rather than as integral to the causes and consequences of youth violence, some professionals and decision makers have focused activity on males who are perceived as ‘central’ to all solutions…But following […] Theresa May’s strategy […] it is evident that the tide could be changing.”

I have to admit that despite the accumulation of good and important work on girls’ involvement in gangs, I was sceptical when I read May’s report. This is partly down to the lack of space given to gender, which is very typical of the vast majority of government proposals. But it is mainly because I am unable to see how these proposals will be implemented effectively in a time of financial crisis when budgets will be dramatically reduced for the foreseeable future.

Lee Sprake, a youth worker based in Portsmouth, told me that cuts in youth services since the 1980s, police targeting of young people for anti-social behaviour and the criminalisation of youth (of which the London riots – the harbinger of the report – are an excellent example), the rise in youth unemployment, low rates of pay and the growth of insecure part time work have all led to an increase of anger in young people, especially in a time of mass inequality and gross commodification.

Catch 22, a charity that works with young people in 150 towns and cities across the UK, has been involved in various projects about gangs and serious youth violence. It is also involved in promoting campaigns throughout Europe on the importance of healthy relationships between young people; the aim is to reduce girls’ involvement in gangs.

In a series of recommendations put together in 2009, Catch 22 made the case for gender-specific programmes that would enable services to adapt in order to meet the needs of young women. Part of this should be an emphasis on building relationships rather than establishing rules. It highlighted the importance of taking family and peer groups into account when looking at young women’s offending behaviour, as well as the benefits of approaches that maximise young people’s self-esteem and sense of worth.

Rosie Chadwick, director of public affairs, policy and innovation at Catch 22, feels that these are incredibly important to consider. The combination of factors that surround girls in gangs is hugely complex, often including destructive interpersonal relationships in which violence is normalised, poverty and a lack of interest in school. There is still a lot more work that needs to be done on methods of intervention and pathways out of violence and, as Catch 22′s work states, it is critical that these methods respond to the young women’s personal experiences.

Chadwick notes that while there have been pockets of work done on girls’ involvement in gangs and serious youth violence, May’s proposals have finally brought the subject into the spotlight. And although there is still a lot more to be done, she says, May’s document is “a small but important step in the right direction.”

As much as May’s report does take some of Rota’s work into account and has, hopefully, begun the move towards gender-specific services for young people in gangs, I remain very critical. This stems from my own sense of terror at a great many of the policies of the coalition government, the increasing criminalisation of young people and the horrific treatment of young people on political demonstrations and during the riots.

Footage from during the London riots

This doesn’t even touch on my concerns about the move to “payment by results” services by the Ministry of Justice, which is reducing the funding and therefore the capacity for women’s organisations that, through their knowledge and expertise, are in a position to develop specialist services for young women. May’s report, though recommending that specialist services need to be put in place “for girls and young women suffering gang-related sexual exploitation and abuse”, still doesn’t address the intricacies of working with young people in gangs, with gender being more of an added consideration than anything else.

Despite the lack of mainstream media coverage, the involvement of girls and young women in gangs and serious youth violence seems to be a hot topic at the moment. The Greater London Authority has just commissioned an in-depth research project, which is being undertaken by the research arm of the Women’s Resource Centre. Before the Rota study there had been almost no gender and class analysis within reports on gang and serious youth violence. This new project will use this analysis and build on Rota’s work to develop a strategic framework to enable a more coordinated and consistent response to girls involved in gangs.

The only way we’re going to develop effective strategies of working with young women involved in serious youth violence is through research and funding projects that are able to holistically address their needs. With the current economic priorities being to cut back on the public sector, the voluntary sector and on education, with their criminal justice priorities, especially after the August riots, being to lock people up, I’m not particularly optimistic. There is a lot more to be done, but I do hope that this new interest in the topic and investment in research means that the tide really could be turning on how we work with young people and gang violence.

Women’s Views On News is the women’s daily online news and current affairs service, operating on a ‘not for profit’ basis. The site provides up to date news on all the major national and international stories of the day, in much the same way as any newspaper or online news service, but the stories featured are always about women.

University: was it really worth the cost?

Last year, it was announced that as of 2012 university tuition fees in the UK would rise to a capped sum of just over £9,000 a year. A long-jump increment on the already wallet draining £3,000 plus, David Cameron’s imminent implementation of the new fee structure seemed to come at a baffling time within Britain’s economical climate. A contrasting and inexplicit about-turn on Blair’s Education, Education, Education agenda, the nine grand subtext seems to infer that Cameron’s plan is to actively stop people from accessing university like before. At the risk of sounding like an elitist fogey (I’m a skint liberal as it goes), I think that redressing the current university system is exactly what’s needed.

I could barely manage the £1,000-and-something-a-year I had to fork out for my own higher education back at the start of the millennium. Grants had been abolished two years previously and a frantic miasma of ridiculousness set in when sixth formers the UK over began getting familiar with UCAS forms. Acerbic reports of degrees in David Beckham studies began filtering their way through the press. Embroidery was another study programme that took a battering from the media. Every sixth form student and their latest snog were going to university. As of the year 2000, it was nothing short of a presumption.

University education turned into booming business. For many, this new rite of passage turned out to be a somewhat of a carrot on a stick. Save for the sensible and academically capable that chose medicine, law, veterinary science or other suchlike professional qualifiers, for the likes of myself who opted for generalist academic degrees (English Literature in my case) we emerged three years later arrogant, weighed down in debt and with nowhere to go. Very few of us intended on becoming teachers (a question that’s constantly posed if you’re an English Lit undergrad) or lifelong academics. In spite of ourselves and our belief we knew absolutely everything, we were 18 and still enormously unfamiliar with where our interests lay, but we had to do the done thing – that was, choose what we were best at in school and leave home for uni. Right?

Not one of my friends who undertook an academic degree went on to work within their field of theoretical expertise. They generally went into advertising, after realising that being a straight up Bachelor wasn’t enough amid a surfeit of graduates, all hawking for exactly the same sort of jobs. MAs and MScs were harnessed and ridden until the ripe old age of about 23 and even then, it was still advertising for the poor masters of history.

What I wished I’d known at 18 is this: I should have taken at least three years out to get to know myself and ‘the real world’ and not ball blithely into halls of residence with nothing but an insecure summer in between Fresher’s Week and A Level exams. Like the vicar says at a marriage ceremony, university isn’t something that should be entered into lightly, but with solemnity and consideration. At that time, I had no idea I wanted to be a journalist; at 25, I’d figured it out but couldn’t afford to return to undergraduate study to make my way pragmatically with all the requisite bells and whistles. I’d have avoided generalist subjects as if they were infected with death, and I now envy the new generation of lawyers and doctors I see setting up their own practices with a hefty dose of identity and vocational satiation. I also admire those who have fought tooth and nail to pave their way in life despite having been equally as let down by the university system over the last ten years. Call it dilution, call it duping for debt; in recent years, I don’t believe that ‘going to uni’ holds much in the way of gravity, save for genuinely vocational degrees.

Will the new sanctions on university fees change this trend? Is it wise or downright exclusive? What sort of buoyancy will it give undergraduates, if at all? And what realistic alternatives will be offered up to those who can’t conceive of affording £9,000 a year? For an amusing insight into when university is a waste of time, read Reasonably Ludicrous, the fantastic new blog brought to you by Russ Nickel and Sam Julian. The moral? Think before you become a Bachelor of English.

Students protesting in London in early November

Erasmus exchanges open up Europe

The Erasmus exchange – it’s every university student’s escape clause. Six months to a year in a different country, away from Mum and Dad and the banalities of home, ‘studying’ the local cuisine, meeting life-long new friends… and occasionally attending a class. Apparently about three million Brits have taken advantage of the grant program to set off across the pond for a semester or two on the Continent. And the good news is the European Union Commission has recently committed to a budget increase for the program and even the introduction of new initiatives for Erasmus Masters students.

Only problem is, there is growing concern that too many European students aren’t straying far enough from home. Heads of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) say European education is too inward-looking and students must be encouraged to study beyond the Continent. While there is an impression that education in Europe is internationalising, it is actually more of a regionalisation in which students simply shift between EU countries, says EAIE Vice President Hans-Georg van Liempd. “If you look at the numbers of students that are studying in different countries in Europe … we have those few that are Asian, but the other students, they’re all regional,” he says. For example, of the 60,000 international students studying in the Netherlands about half are from Germany. Similarly, around half of the international students studying in Belgium come from France.

At his university in Tilburg, Netherlands, Mr van Liempd says there is a target to have 25% of students study abroad, “but we’re not there yet”. Students are reluctant to go on exchange because of the cost, and the fact that not all universities give credit at the home institution for courses undertaken elsewhere. “We want our students to have a better cultural awareness when they graduate and make sure they can work abroad if they want,” Mr van Liempd says.

EAIE President Gudrun Paulsdottir, from Sweden’s Mälardalen University, agrees that past “inbreeding” in the European education system has been a problem and emphasises the importance of foreign students. “What we need is incoming, non-European students”. However, she somewhat contradictorily admits “we don’t necessarily at this point need to send students outside (Europe).” And herein lies the problem; while there is plenty of movement on the Continent, fewer students are venturing around the world. Having lived as an Australian exchange student in the Netherlands for a year I can vouch for the experience of stepping outside your region, but I can also see how it would be easier (and cheaper) to stay in one’s relative backyard.

Academics are exploring this problem through a number of international education scenarios. In the ‘food chain’ scenario students from less developed nations migrate to more developed nations for educational opportunities. In the ‘cross pollination’ scenario students move between equivalent education systems (as with exchange programs or enrolled full-time international students). However, the ‘silo’ scenario sees students remaining in their geographical region to study. While not as strong a trend as the first two scenarios at this stage, it is a growing trend. For example, countries in the Asia-Pacific such as China, Singapore and Malaysia have signalled intentions to attract far greater numbers of students from that region in an effort to create international education hubs.

Back in Europe, there are a number of recent EU Commission initiatives intended to increase student mobility, including:

● Raising the proportion of young people graduating from higher education to 40%;

● Combining all European study exchange programs (such as Erasmus) under one umbrella;

● Proposing budget increases of up to 75% for the Erasmus program and;

● Instigating an Erasmus Masters Degree mobility program under which students can transfer their study loan to an international institution.

Mr van Liempd praises this last proposal in particular. “Many European students are quite risk averse when it comes to loans, compared to say American students who might take out an $US80,000 or $US100,000 loan to get a degree and pay it back later, so this is a very good idea (for Europeans),” he says.

The EU has plans for university research

The EU Commission also has plans for the university research sector. There is a target to boost the number of new researchers in Europe to one million by 2020, including introducing industry sponsorship of PhD candidates to benefit university research and companies themselves. Rankings are also set for a shake-up, with an idea to introduce new titles for researchers, from ‘new’ researcher, through ‘recognised’, ‘established’ and ‘leading’ researchers, up to ‘star’ status. A new university ranking system, U Multirank, is also proposed; a profiling and search system destined to give customised rankings of multiple institutions based on user preferences.

While not all these initiatives are likely to be well received by European institutions, Mr van Liempd says U Multirank is promising and should be widely adopted. “A student can get a ranking on a university according to what that prospective student finds important and then you get another student to whom these things are not important and they will get another ranking,” he says.

At the end of the day though, the usual question remains – where does the money come from? While the EU has promised budget increases, these are tight financial times. Mr van Liempd asks “with this economic crisis where do we send the money? Unfortunately in some countries, it’s not being spent in education or international education.”

Gender policies impact on asylum seekers

You can see the original version of this interview on Women’s Views On News.

Picture the scenario; after being persecuted and violated simply because you are a woman from a minority group, after having been failed and betrayed by the authorities in your home country, you make the heart-wrenching decision to leave behind all that is familiar and seek protection in a country where you feel you might be safe and where a women’s right to protection is more advanced.

You embark on a long and dangerous journey, having no option but to put your trust in smugglers and traffickers, risking further harm on the way. You hang on to the thought that you will be safe when you arrive but can’t help thinking of everything you have left behind.

On arrival, you are interviewed in a stark and intimidating holding centre, you undergo medical examinations, but no one really explains what is going on or what will happen next. Although you have a grasp of the local language, no one asks if you need any help to understand the complex information you are given about asylum procedures. You don’t feel comfortable or safe and your children are anxious and unsettled whilst you give painful and personal details about your experience to a male immigration officer. You’re not used to having conversations with men without a family member being present and you are too ashamed to tell him the full story.

As a result, and after many difficult months of waiting, not knowing what the future will hold, your asylum claim is refused. You are cast adrift in an unfamiliar country, vulnerable and alone with your children, terrified at the thought of returning home.

Shamefully, this is the experience of thousands of women who seek asylum in member states of the European Union (EU) each year. During 2010, over 257,000 asylum applications were made across the EU, around 35 per cent of which were made by women or girls. Yet despite the obvious need for high-quality harmonisation between member states on questions of asylum, national policies remain a patchwork of dramatically varying standards and approaches which all too often lack gender expertise and sensitivity.

Gender equality is one of the common values which the EU proclaims in its treaties, yet there remains a lack of recognition that women may be persecuted for reasons different to men and specific to their gender. These include female genital mutilation, forced abortion or rape in situations of conflict or war, and therefore may need different forms of protection and services upon arrival in Europe.

The EU is pushing to mainstream gender awareness in European asylum legislation, not least through the Qualifications and Procedures Directives which set out the basic standards of protection and procedure for granting asylum to non-EU nationals. As recently as 2010, member states recognised the need for a ‘gender sensitive’ asylum system. The European Commission adopted a similar position in 2008, citing the need to incorporate gender ‘considerations’ in the development of the Common European Asylum System. Yet despite these statements, female asylum seekers continue to experience wildly differing standards of protection and reception in member states.

For example, within the EU, only Sweden and the UK have adopted their own gender guidelines which cover the issues that should be taken into account when assessing asylum claims, including gender-related persecution and the absence of state protection. Belgium has also appointed a Co-ordinator for Gender Issues. However, asylum seekers in other member states are simply left to rely on whatever makeshift measures may have been put in place.

There are a few glimmers of hope for the future such as the recent opening of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). Its role is to support member states in their efforts to implement a more harmonised asylum policy by improving access to accurate country-of-origin information, training and sharing examples of good practice. As a result, it could support the implementation of asylum procedures that are gender sensitive to ensure women benefit from a non-discriminatory and supportive process as well as consistent, high-quality decision making.

Gender protection: part of EU policy?

Amnesty International and the European Women’s Lobby are now working to have this built in to the development of the EASO. It is equally important that we see a similar approach relating to gender identity and sexual orientation. The revision of the Qualifications Directive offers a further opportunity to raise the standards of protection offered to women seeking asylum in the EU. The revised text, which is due to be voted on by the European Parliament later in October, obliges member states to take gender related aspects, including gender identity and sexual orientation into account when assessing asylum applications. The text also specifies that female genital mutilation, forced sterilisation and forced abortion should be given due consideration.

This is an historic recognition of some of the different types of persecution likely to be faced by women and as such represents a real step forward to mainstreaming gender sensitivity in the EU’s asylum policy, building on the existing work of UNHCR. Ensuring that female asylum seekers fleeing from gender-related persecution are protected is not just a role for European institutions – all member state governments and asylum authorities must commit to the proper implementation of EU legislation and to develop good practice and gender sensitive systems.

It is disappointing to say the least that the British Government has decided not to opt in to the new version of the Qualifications Directive. The revision of the Procedures Directive is still under negotiation and could offer further improvements, set down in law. It would be wrong to deny that some progress has been made towards the recognition of gender in asylum policies and legislation. Yet the challenge now lies in these commitments being implemented through the adoption of concrete and strong measures which incorporate an understanding of the unique experience of women.

To fail is to deny women their fundamental human rights; the very reason they seek international protection in the first place.

Women’s Views On News is the women’s daily online news and current affairs service, operating on a ‘not for profit’ basis. The site provides up to date news on all the major national and international stories of the day, in much the same way as any newspaper or online news service, but the stories featured are always about women.

Citizens protest during the uprisings

Since December 2010, an unprecedented tide of citizen protest and, in some countries, manifest revolution has surged through the Arab World as, from Mediterranean North Africa to the oil states of the Persian Gulf, ash-sha’b (the people) have demanded change from an-nizam (the regime). The causes of the intifada (uprising – Arab Spring is a Western term rejected by many directly involved as passive, impermanent and trivial) are easy to over generalise in a grouping of nations that has over three hundred million inhabitants with a myriad of dialects, religions and both economic and political circumstances.

Starting a Revolution…

The most excessively simplified version of events would tell you that the revolutions started with a slap – twenty six year old, Mohammed Bouazizi burned himself to death in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid in December 2010 after claiming that he was struck by a policewoman because he could not afford the required bribe to sell his fruit and vegetables in a particular spot. The resulting street protests – not only decrying corruption and lack of freedom of speech but also rising unemployment and cost of living – gathered momentum, despite violent police suppression, culminating in the end of the twenty three year rule of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali who fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14th 2011.

This narrative doesn’t do justice to ash-sha’b and the increased mobilisation of pro-democracy movements in North Africa. Since 2004, rival labour unions to ETUF (Egyptian Trade Union Federation), the sole legal, but state controlled trade union, had persisted in organising strikes in an environment of arrests and police brutality whilst the Tunisian Trade Union was at the heart of the January intifada. The 2010 Egyptian election, which saw President Hosni Mubarak retain his twenty nine year rule, is widely accepted as having been rigged and this corruption – together with an economic environment that saw wheat prices rise by fifty percent in 2010 (steeply impacting market prices, for the world’s biggest wheat importer, despite government subsidies) and youth unemployment throughout the Middle East/North Africa region of around thirty percent – further galvanised demonstrators.

This year started with the Tunisian protests gathering momentum even as Security Services ruthlessly tried to quell them whilst in neighbouring Algeria demonstrators held placards demanding “Bring us sugar” in response to the diabolical combination of unemployment and rising food prices. Over the other border, Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Libya since he abolished the constitution in 1951, nervously watched and condemned the fall of Ben Ali whilst ash-sha’b took to the streets protesting about the availability of housing and widespread corruption. Civil unrest spread to the Arabian Peninsula with almost 16,000 Yemenis gathering on the streets of, capital, Sana’a to demand the resignation of the government and much smaller demonstrations, in Muscat, underlining loyalty to the Omani Sultan but renouncing corrupt officials. The 25th January was marked as a Day of Rage as sectarian tensions in Lebanon ignited and Sunnis loyal to ousted president Saad Hariri clashed with the army.

The Day of Rage

January 25th also saw coordinated demonstrations across Egyptian cities as social media enhanced the mobilisation of pro-democracy campaigners. Close to 50,000 people gathered in, aptly named, Tahrir (Liberation) Square in a display of determination and bravery that would outlast the regime. The numbers swelled to hundreds of thousands despite the regime blocking mobile networks and Twitter. Ash-sha’b held their ground in the face of the Security Services’ use of the same iniquity that had marked Mubarak’s reign (The Guardian quoted charity Human Rights Watch, describing that forces “routinely and deliberately use torture and ill-treatment – in ordinary criminal cases as well as with political dissidents and security detainees – to coerce confessions, extract other information, or simply to punish detainees”) – hundreds were arrested and tear gas used on protesters.

Egypt's symbolic site, Tahrir Square

A television address from Mubarak on the 28th January failed to dampen the demonstrations – the demand was clear: “ash-sha’b yourid isqat an-nizam” (the people want the fall of the regime). Western Governments were out of step with the force and pace of the intifada. For a time it seemed that EU and US leaders were more concerned about protecting a regime that had held peace with Israel and suppressed the influence of, political organisation, The Muslim Brotherhood than listening to ash-sha’b. France had already been criticised for continuing to support Tunisia’s Ben Ali during the protests – albeit refusing him entry during his flight – and now the White House was persisting with the weak rhetoric of “meaningful talks”. It wasn’t until after the army (an army that had received US funding) refused to use force against protesters on 31st January, after days of bloodshed between Mubarak supporters and opponents, after the massive “Day of Departure” demonstration on the 4th February; that Obama finally called for Mubarak’s resignation on the 10th February. Mubarak resigned on the 11th February and Tahrir Square, packed with men, women, Muslims, Christians, the old and the young, exploded with joy.

Tahrir: A Political Symbol

The sparks of hope that flew from Tahrir ignited the intifada in countries as far apart geographically as they are politically. The demonstrators in Algeria and Yemen escalated to thousands and were met by police force in the former and frightened regime tolerance in the latter. In Bahrain, a “Day of Rage” was held against the Sunni Royal Family by Shia’a protesters starting persistent demonstrations that were brutally suppressed. Martial law was declared and repercussions – such as arrests and demonisation of demonstrators (people were sacked from their oil jobs and both doctors and nurses that treated the anti-government injured were put on trial) – are still prevailing. And in the next step towards what would become a horrific civil war, the Libyan city of Benghazi saw hundreds of people clashing with police after a human rights campaigner was arrested on 16th February.

Libya’s journey from 16th February to David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent visit has been blood soaked; at least 30,000 people have died and an estimated 50,000 injured. The suppression of February’s protests quickly led to violent clashes between pro Gaddafi supporters and, what was now, a revolutionary movement. Rebel troops were met with ferocity from the government army (that had reportedly received instructions to bomb civilians) and the sound of battles was accompanied by increasingly disorientated televised addresses by Gaddafi. By 25th February anti-government fighters had reached Tripoli and, two days later, announced the formation of the National Transitional Council – an anti-Gaddafi political organisation said to represent Libya – from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi where the demonstrations began.

Throughout March, government troops fought back and, rising casualties (and perhaps a pre-disposition to remove Gaddafi after the Lockerbie Bombing) forced the world to take action. On the 18th March, the UN Security Council passed a resolution in favour of a no fly zone and air strikes and a NATO air offensive started the next day. On 27th June, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi as brutal attacks and counter attacks continued on the ground throughout the summer. By late August, rebel troops surrounded Tripoli and Gaddafi fled on the 24th August clearing the way for the National Transitional Council to move its, now internationally recognised, government from Benghazi to the capital.

What Now?

The intifada is far from over. This summer has seen the start of the baffling complexities of Hosnik Mubarak’s trial for ordering the killing of protesters, abusing his position and, bizarrely, selling oil to Israel at a too low price. Whilst Mubarak appears in court in a cage, the country, now headed by a Military Council, shuffles towards the promise of free and fair elections. Meanwhile, in Syria – controlled since the sixties by a Ba’ath Party headed by the Assad family – the death toll of protestors has reached over two thousand as the government use tanks and snipers to crack down on demonstrations calling for political reform. International pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to step down is growing at a reluctant pace, but a UN Security Council Resolution with teeth is being blocked by China and Russia. Last month, nearly fifty protestors were killed in twenty four hours in  Yemen; grim footage circulated over the internet of a ten month old baby being shot by the army

In the Arab World, 2011 has been the year of ash-sha’b as citizens continue to come together to defy danger and demand change. The fight for justice has been costly – conservative estimates put the death toll at almost 35,000 – but it carries on.

Amid cries for Mubarak’s immediate departure, demonstators break into song during the “Day of Departure”.