Latest from UCU (University and Colleges Union) Women

Annual Women Members' Conference - Reclaim feminism, reclaim the fight for women’s rights!

Come and join us at the annual UCU women members’ conference on 14 November 2009 from 10.00-4.30 at Carlow Street, London NW1. The conference is open to all UCU women members and is free of charge. The main theme is the resurgence in feminism and in addition to an external key note speaker (to be confirmed) there will be a number of workshops. These will include: campaigning and activism in UCU, Gender Equality Duty in education, black feminism and end violence against women. The conference is a great opportunity to meet other women members and have a say in shaping union policy around gender issues. Delegates will be able to register directly via UCU head office – more information to be publicised shortly. In the meantime, if you wish to register your interest now, please contact Charlotte Nielsen in the Equality Unit: cnielsen@ucu.org.uk Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please encourage your female colleagues to come along too!

Collaboration with NUS

Olivia Bailey who is the newly elected NUS women’s officer addressed the recent meeting of the UCU women’s committee and outlined some of the women’s events and activities the NUS is planning for this year which include:
a campaign focusing on the impact of violence and sexual abuse on women students
women’s representation: encouraging women to participate and strengthening women’s networks and leadership
Feminist History/Feminist Future events
Sister Activist – activist training for women
joint campaign with UCU on nursery closures.
We look forward to working more closely with Olivia and her colleagues in NUS and collaborating where possible.

March for justice!

Since 2004 the London Feminist Network has organised the national Reclaim The Night march to say no to rape and male violence and demand justice for survivors. The UK rape conviction rate is still at its lowest ever, just over 5%. Join us to say enough is enough — put your feet on the streets for women’s rights and take back your night.

Saturday 21 November
Assemble 6pmWhitehall Place
More information from Reclaim the Night website at http://www.reclaimthenight.org/index.html

Equality Bill latest

The government equalities office has recently published its proposals for a set of specific duties for the new general public sector duty in the Equality Bill. UCU welcomes the Equality Bill as we have long campaigned for the harmonisation and simplification of equality legislation. However, UCU has a number of concerns. On our website you can find the latest briefings relating to the Equality Bill: http://www.ucu.org.uk/equalitybill In relation to gender-specific aspects of the Bill, UCU believes that the Equality Bill should contain three measures to ensure real action to end pay discrimination: the introduction of mandatory pay audits, the introduction of representative action (allowing trade unions or the Equality and Human Rights Commission to bring a claim on behalf of a group of women in equal pay cases) and the use of hypothetical comparators in equal pay cases (allowing the use of hypothetical comparators in equal pay cases where no actual comparator exists).