Engender blog

All of Engender’s latest news. Reports, reviews, books, articles, and information from across Scotland’s women’s sector.

We would love to hear from other feminists around Scotland. Check out our guidelines for more information on how you can blog for us.

Feminism on Film: Engender joins with Take One Action Film Festival

Take One Action promotional imageFilms can be an amazing way to explore new ideas, understand complex issues, and celebrate change. And documentary film is a particularly good medium for discussion, as anyone who's overheard conversations about Fyre Festival, R Kelly or Apollo 11 this year will know.

Guest Post: Hyper-sexualising queer women is a social injustice - it's time to change the narrative

Denisha Killoh is a proud member of the LGBT+ community with experience of fighting for change for marginalised groups. As Pride month draws to a close, she reflects on the need to take action to end discrimination against lesbians.

Follow Denisha on Twitter @denishakilloh

We live in a day and age where people are quicker than ever to call out injustices in society. Recently, we’ve seen an unprecedented rise of social activism, as a direct influence of social media, allowing anyone with a cause and a platform to fight for change.

Census report: what does it mean for gender equality?

We’re pleased that the basic framing of the ‘sex question’ is unlikely to change. There were proposals put forward by some groups that people should be required by law to state their ‘sex at birth’ rather than their sex.     For the last twenty years (at least) trans people have been selecting the sex that they are understood to be by the public services with which they interact.”

Today the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee has released its Stage 1 report on the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill[1].

Because, with the best will in the world, not everyone enjoys poring over committee reports, we’ve summarised some of the key points, and what they mean for women’s equality, here:

GUEST POST: Abortion Legislation in Latin America

Belén González Leggire is an Uruguayan journalist with a master's degree in gender studies and public policy. She was born in Montevideo, and is been living in Edinburgh since 2017. The topics she has investigated over the past years have included sexual violence against women during military coups and the design of social care services in Europe and South America. She is a member of WomenBeing, a research network for the promotion of gender studies.

Here, she writes about abortion legislation in Latin America, where women can be sent to prison for illegally terminating a pregnancy or even for suffering a spontaneous miscarriage.

If we want to talk about the status of women in one of the most unequal parts of the world, we need only review the different abortion legislation that exists throughout Latin America...with a total of more than two million induced abortions each year, 90% of women live with no legal protection in this matter.

2018 was yet another year with much to think about for the feminist. In May, Ireland finally repealed the Eighth Amendment, a subsection of their 1983 Constitution that gave the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the fetus. This cruel law has made termination illegal in the country for the last 35 years. Simultaneously, in South America, Argentina had the chance to join the small group of countries in the region which legalise abortion. Unfortunately, this did not happen. And despite the “#EleNão” (#NotHim) campaign - a social media movement of women rallying against inequality and the election of Far Right a presidential candidate - Jair Bolsonaro won the elections in Brazil, resulting in the country giving the far right more power in the region as a whole.

Festive Friday Feminist Fanfare

It can hard to focus on the good stuff, when there seems to be so much bad stuff in the world. So as the year draws to an end, we wanted to take the time to reflect on some of the wins, joyful moments, and reasons for optimism which we've seen this year.

We'd love to invite you to join us in a #FestiveFridayFeministFanfare on Twitter today to share the things that have made you smile this year.

We'll go first....

Downloads

Engender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement ChangesEngender Briefing: Pension Credit Entitlement Changes From 15 May 2019, new changes will be introduced which will require couples where one partner has reached state pension age and one has not (‘mixed age couples’) to claim universal credit (UC) instead of Pension Credit.

Engender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and SexismEngender Parliamentary Briefing: Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism Engender welcomes this Scottish Parliament Debate on Condemnation of Misogyny, Racism, Harassment and Sexism and the opportunity to raise awareness of the ways in which women in Scotland’s inequality contributes to gender-based violence.

Gender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal CreditGender Matters in Social Security: Individual Payments of Universal Credit A paper calling on the Scottish Government to automatically split payments of Universal Credit between couples, once this power is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016Gender Matters Manifesto: Twenty for 2016 This manifesto sets out measures that, with political will, can be taken over the next parliamentary term in pursuit of these goals.

Scottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against WomenScottish NGO Briefing for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Joint briefing paper for the UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.

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