Equal Pay Day 2009: the countdown begins

Friday 30 October is Equal Pay Day in the UK and in the run-up, we are calling on the Government to get tough on pay inequality in the UK.

Why 30th October? It’s the day that women effectively receive their last pay cheque of the year. This is because the 17.1% full-time gender pay gap is equivalent to men being paid all year round while women work for free after 30th October.

The gender pay gap isn’t inevitable. Equal Pay Day 2009 is your opportunity to do something about it.

To find out more about the campaign, check out the Equal Pay Day blog.

Courts to get new powers to protect victims of domestic violence

Refuge, the leading organisation combatting domestic violence, has welcomed recent changes to the law.

From late September, courts in England and Wales have greater powers to grant restraining orders to protect victims of domestic violence.

Previously, courts were only able to issue restraining orders following conviction for specific offences. Now abused women will be able to obtain protection without having to go to a separate court or to find the funding to pay for civil orders.

Enforcement of any restraining orders remains key to protecting victims.

In the most extreme cases, men who have been allowed to breach bail conditions with impunity have gone on to murder their partners. Refuge say it is essential that bail conditions and restraining orders are more rigorously enforced, and the Government must provide the courts and police with the resources and training needed to ensure that this happens.

More information is available from the Refuge website.

Fawcett Society AGM 2009: Saturday 17 October

Fawcett supporters are invited to join staff and trustees at our Annual General Meeting on Saturday 17 October from 1pm to 4.30pm in London EC1 (nearest tube: Old Street).

The event is open to all supporters with an active regular gift to the Fawcett Society by Standing Order or Direct Debit. Fawcett supporters are welcome to bring guests, but please note that only those with an active regular gift are entitled to vote. Angela Mason CBE (Chair) will deliver a key note speech, and you will get the chance to meet our new Chief Executive, Ceri Goddard. To attend, please email wendy.hall@fawcettsociety.org.uk.

Fawcett at ‘Feminism in London 09’

The Fawcett Society will have a stall at the Feminism in London event on Saturday 10 October where you can learn more about their work and speak to staff and members of Fawcett.

The event, organised by the London Feminist Network, offers a forum to discuss and develop feminist perspectives on topics as diverse as racism and sexism, poverty and motherhood, prostitution and more.

Speakers include Susie Orbach, Beatrix Campbell, Sabrina Qureshi, Gunilla Ekberg, Marai Larasi and Southall Black Sisters.

Find out more or register online here.

London Mayor Boris Johnson is off to Manchester this week, but can’t leave his broken promises behind

Members of the London-based Boris Keep Your Promise campaign are attending the Tory Party conference in Manchester to highlight Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s current failure to live up to his manifesto commitments.

Boris promised to give £744,000 a year to the beleaguered London Rape Crisis network. Now campaigners are asking if this broken promise is a pattern that will be repeated by the Conservatives, regarding their national pledge to increase funding to Rape Crisis.

Matty Mitford of the Boris Keep Your Promise campaign says. “In their most recent manifesto, The Conservative Party make admirable promises to reverse the massive reduction in Rape Crisis Centres throughout the country but considering Boris Johnson’s failure to deliver on his commitment to Rape Crisis is London, how can anyone possibly take this policy seriously?

“The only way to reverse the blow to credibility of the Tories is for the central party to tell Boris he must stand by his word as a Conservative and elected representative and provide the £744,000 a year he promised.”