Calendar for the year

First Riveters meeting: 29th September 2011

Womens' Week: 3rd-7th October 2011

 

Why do we need a Women's Officer?

• Co-ordinating the women's campaign is a full time job as women have to strive against oppression in every single sphere of life.
• Women are under-represented even though they are the majority of students. Most union and university committees are not gender balanced so women's voices are often not heard.
• There are some crimes that happen mainly to women. Victims of such crimes often feel uncomfortable taking about them to non-women. For example, 97% of reported rapes happen to women. Therefore it is important there is always at least one woman guaranteed to be around on executive.

Why do we not have a men's officer?

While men suffer discrimination based on their sexuality, ethnic background or disability status (for example) they are far less likely to suffer discrimination based purely on their gender.

Women's liberation often comes under unfair criticism, unlike other liberation campaigns, because many people do not realise the extent of discrimination faced by women. For example, few people would question why we don't have a white officer, a straight and non-trans officer or a non-disabled officer.

By having a men's officer we would also reinforce a gender dichotomy, and this would mean people who do not fit into the gender binary of man or woman would be even less represented unless we also instated a gender-queer, transgender, transsexual, intersex (etc.) officer.

While there are issues that are important and are only to do with men, these tend to be issues of health and welfare rather than discrimination.

Although women are the majority (52% of the world's population) but are still a group that is under-represented in politics, business, media and many other areas of society.

How do I get involved?

Email the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk, ring her on 0161 275 2939 or come along on Thursdays at 5.30pm to the Riveters meetings.

Isn't feminism only for scary women?

No! Feminism, as defined by the Riveters is the movement organised around the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. It's about aiming for equality. Everyone can be a feminist regardless of gender.

In the words of Julie Burchill, 'If a woman answers 'no' to the question 'are you a feminist?' she should immediately be stripped of her voting rights, her right to institute divorce, her legal protection from domestic violence and marital rape - oh, and her pay should be cut to 19% less than that of her male colleagues.'

Sexism vs Feminism

Feminism

Feminism: (definition by the Riveters)
The movement organised around the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.

Discrimination

There are two main types of discrimination that are faced by women:

1) Direct discrimination - where someone is treated differently because of their characteristics, e.g. being a woman. For example, if a lecturer said you couldn't wear trousers to do a presentation where you had to be 'dressed smartly' that would mean a woman had to wear a skirt or a dress. That is direct discrimination.

2) Indirect discrimination - where an event, service etc is more accessible for use by one group of people than another. For example, if you were a single parent who wanted to be a course rep but all the meetings happen in the evening when you have to take care of your children. That is indirect discrimination.

Some discrimination against women occurs because of biological differences between men and women. For example, a breast-feeding woman might need more breaks during a long meeting than a man. To not allow those breaks would disadvantage that woman. Because work and education places have been dominated by men, a culture of sexism still exists.

Scary Statistics

• The Gender Equality Duty was introduced in 2007. This requires public authorities, including Universities, to promote gender equality and eliminate sex discrimination.
• The foreign office gets 250 reports of forced marriage a year
• Women make up less than 20% of MPs and ethnic minority women make up just 0.3% of MPs.
• A home office report from 2002 found domestic violence to have a higher rate of repeat victimisation than any other crime.
• Women working full-time are paid on average 17% less than men (or 36% less if they work part-time)
• Two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner
• On average, a woman is assaulted 35 times before her first call to the police (Jaffe, 1982)
• 74% of men would report a dog being beaten to the RSPCA or Police, but 53% would report domestic violence to the police.
• 96% of executive directors of the UK's top 100 companies are men.
• Domestic Violence accounts for nearly a quarter of all recorded violent crime in England and Wales - one in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime.
• 167 women are raped everyday in the UK.
• 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are at risk of female genital mutilation in England and Wales.
• More than 60 million women are 'missing' from the world today as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide.
• At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
• The Russian government estimates that 14,000 women were killed by their partners or relatives in 1999, yet the country still has no law specifically addressing domestic violence.
• The number of women in jail has more than doubled over the past 10 years ? because the courts are getting harsher, not because women are committing more crime.
• Up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners.
• Out of every 100 rape cases reported to the police, just six end in the rapist being caught and punished.
• One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute

Contact the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk or 0161 275 2939

Riveters Blog

Mooncups

Consensus decision-making

Fawcett Society

Manchester Women's Network

NUS Women's Campaign

Riveters or search "The Riveters" on Facebook

To Buy:

Mooncup

The lifelong alternative to tampons, for the reduced cost of just £10 from the women's office. It's a bargain! Read an article about them here .

 

Riveters Hoodies

Riveters hoodies: To buy a hoodie visit and place your order here.

 

Services:

Safety Bus

This bus leaves from outside the union and takes you to your door for £1

Free stuff:

• Personal attack alarms
• Condoms / femidoms / dental dams
• Tampons / pads
• Chlamydia Testing Kits
• Pregnancy Testing Kits

Available from the Women's Office.

 

Advice and information

The women's office is full of advice and information on a range of topics including domestic abuse, sexual assault, pregnancy, sexual health, sexuality, and safety.

The women's officer knows local Manchester services well, or at least knows where to look. You can drop in to talk to her at any time, or call 07787422509 or email womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk if you'd like to arrange a meeting. The office is well stocked with tea and you are always welcome.

 

UMSU Women's Rights Group

The UMSU women's rights collective, The Riveters, are a campaigning group who are dedicated to fighting for the equality of the genders. The Riveters are an inclusive group who engage with feminism through a variety of meetings, speakers and events.

The Riveters use consensus decision making (click here to find out more) in order to involve everyone in decisions made to best represent women.

We meet every Thursday at 5.30pm in the Advice Centre of the Students Union. Come along and change the world! Click here to see other upcoming events

The Riveter

The Riveter is the magazine published by The Riveters. It is a feminist publication by women for women discussing issues from female ejaculation to whether marriage is patriarchal.

Download the first issue of The Riveter Zine - November 2010

The Riveter Zine Issue 1 (16Mb download)

Download previous issues of The Riveter

• The Riveter Issue 7
• The Riveter Issue 6
• The Riveter Issue 5

Back issues are available for your perusal in the women's office and if you want to get involved in the production of the Riveter, email the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk

Minutes

• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 14 May 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 30 April 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting Women's Week
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 19 March 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 12 March 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 5 March 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 26 February 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 19 February 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 29 January 2009
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 18 December 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 11 December 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 4 December 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 27 November 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 23 October 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 9 October 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 2 October 2008
• Minutes of Riveter's Meeting held on 25 September 2008

Buy a Hoodie

Click here to buy your very own Riveters Hoodie.

Get involved

To get involved in the Riveters, come along to the Meetings, join our facebook group
click here

- or email the Women's Officer womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk

Contact the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk or 0161 275 2939

The Women's Campaign

The Women's Campaign is a liberation campaign which aims to challenge and change the inequality of women students and women in society. It works like the other liberation campaigns (black students, lgbt, disabled students) to gain social, economic and political equality for everyone regardless of gender, sexuality, disability status, or race.

Women still face massive inequalities in society and our campaign aims to challenge these.

The main campaigning areas this year will be:

• Violence against women

  Every week 2 women are killed by a partner or former partner. In conflict zones, women are used as weapons of war. 97% of rapes happen to women. Women experience violence because they are women and it needs to stop. We will be holding a series of 'Reclaim the Park' events, where we set up to have an evening picnic to take back the dark parks from danger! We will hold a Reclaim the Night March, hold self-defence classes and campaign to increase security on campus.

• Pro-Choice

  From defending and extending abortion rights to providing better childcare provisions, information on all options for women and ensuring women are enabled to make their own choices.

• Equal Pay

  With a pay gap of 18%, a glass ceiling and the possibility for the cap to be lifted on tuition fees we need to campaign hard on this issue. We will campaign for pay audits of all companies, to stop management level sexism and to open all jobs up to women, providing them with maternity leave without affecting their income.

Why do we have a women's Campaign?

The women's campaign exists to challenge all forms of sexism in society to ensure women are given equal opportunities in the work place. It exists to challenge the lack of childcare provisions in the University, to challenge pro-life group aims of removing a woman's right to choose. It exists to make a massive stand against violence against women, rape, and female genital mutilation. It exists to carry on the feminism of our sisters from past decades until we have full equality. It exists to make a difference.

Contact the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk or 07787 422 509

 

Women's Office and Women's Officer

The Women's Officer

Hello I'm Sylvia Barnett and I'm your Women's Officer for the next year.

The Women's Officer is one of the 14 members of the Union Executive. The executive is the body within the Students' Union who represent and act on behalf of the student body.

The Women's Officer role is one of 8 full time positions on the executive, meaning they take a sabbatical year to do the role. According to the Union constitution the responsibilities of the Women's Officer are:

 

• organising general campaigns which relate to students
• organising specific campaigns which relate to women students
• promoting the interests of all women students within the University and the Union at all levels
• offering confidential advice and information on all matters to women Union members
• ensuring that policy pays full regard to the equality of the genders and for ensuring that the rights of women are protected in all policy formulation and implementation

Why do we have a Women's Officer?

• Co-ordinating the women's campaign is a full time job as women have to strive against oppression in every single sphere of life.
• Women are under-represented even though they are the majority of students. Most union and university committees are not gender balanced so women's voices are often not heard.
• There are some crimes that happen mainly to women. Victims of such crimes often feel uncomfortable taking about them to non-women. For example, 97% of reported rapes happen to women. Therefore it is important there is always at least one woman guaranteed to be around on executive.

Contact the Women's Officer: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk or 07787 422 509, or come and find her in the Exec office in the Students' Union!

 

International Women's Day

This event is still being developed, come along to the Riveters to find out more, and to help organise events during this week!  We meet in the Students' Union every Thursday at 5:30pm.

Contact:

Womens' Officer:

email: womens@umsu.manchester.ac.uk

phone: 07787 422 509

 

Riveters:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Riveters-UMSU-Womens-Rights-Collectiv...

Website: http://www.theriveters.co.uk/

Reclaim the Night - Friday 23 April 8pm