Everyone knows that Women’s crisis and refuge centres are horribly underfunded so what better way to combat that than joining Women2Gether in fundraising for Birmingham & Solihull Women’s Aid. They’re promising music, food, stalls, a raffle and much much more.

You can download the actual report or the Government’s response here

The BBC “Stern Review Calls for focus on care of Rape Victims”

The Guardian “Focus on Rape ConvictionRates Stopping Women Coming Forward, Warns Stern”

Cath at Too Much to Say For Myself “Some Initial Thoughts on The Stern Review”

Channel 4 News have PC Ellie Bloggs “PC: Rape Reporting Better But Myths Still Exist”

The Times “‘Misleading’ Rape Conviction Statistic Will Not Be Dropped, Says Solicitor General“

From a quick look at what’s on the front page I have to say it doesn’t address my previous concerns with the Women Libbers documentary — that is it focuses heavily on white women’s work and maligns the voices of black and minority ethnic women — but maybe the clips aren’t as white as their screenshots.

If you have time to check it out before us do let us know in the comments!

The Conservative’s A Post Bureaucratic Age conference held in Shoreditch on Monday was an outing for the tories progressive face: an open data, crowd sourcing, power to the people fist in the air for politics—however it may have oversold itself a little bit.

The day started well with Stephan Shakespeare of YouGov talking about the empowerment of the citizen, not the corporations with an emphasis on bottom-up politics and with the “radical freedom of data act” making it possible for a truly diverse slice of people to be active in the crafting of policy and the direction of their lives.

David Cameron’s turn saw him talk about a four prong future: Transparency, Participation, Decentralization and Accountability, and the phrase ‘a post bureaucratic age’ made itself apparent numerous times as if saying it would will it into existence. The celebration on the stage was that all data would be available online for all to see and interact with but it truly missed the point, as Martha Lane Fox of LastMinute.com would mention later, that 10million people in Britain are still not online, 4 million of those are the most disadvantaged of our society –the power then would continue to shift to those who already have a palpable chance of being in the mix. Not to mention the additional barrier of being able to read and use raw data which could not really be described as a laypersons job.

Another layer of confusion was met in the Q&A after Cameron’s speech where his importance of access to the internet was undermined by the “three strikes and you’re out” rule for illegal downloads. Cameron dodged the bullet the first time miss understanding the content of the question and relied on stealing is bad rhetoric rather than what does this mean for citizen participation in government.

And entwined with this celebration of technology of connecting the people directly to the power was a the new roll of tory policy; passing control from central government to local councils; offering the right to buy on local amenities that the government chooses to close down; local meetings to define local needs and local planning without the obstacles of bureaucracy. And this just struck me as bad.

If the power is shifted away from the government do they no longer take responsibility for the country? For example if you people in this village can’t organize yourselves to keep this school/post office/leisure centre running, if you can’t figure out to divert money to community building then it’s your fault. The policy feels a bit like the split of the American states, where women’s reproductive rights have been hacked to pieces one state at a time.

Cameron’s example of a local service that could change radically with his open data act was the criminal system, namely the accountability of the police. His rallying point for this was crime maps, so we the people could see what was happening, what needed cracking down on. However, crime maps don’t make the rapes counted as non-crimes suddenly appear, crime maps don’t radically change the systemic discrimination and racism in some forces, just sharing information and ridding yourself of responsibility will not change the world.

And as an example of this post bureaucratic age: a panel of nine of ten people, a largely white male panel which failed to navigate crowd input and diverse interaction as most of the conversation took place between panelists. Martha Lane Fox, my new favourite business woman, not only pointed out that not everyone is online but that government could not simply bail out of a situation because where amazing community work was happening there was still a need for guidance and funding. The discussion, albeit on stage, about changing the parameters of success and failure so that testing, testing, testing and organic routes to the right end were acceptable was entirely on point but would no doubt come at the cost of oodles of paperwork and bureaucracy.

You can’t rid bureaucracy with a snappy new title but you can work towards a more positive form of politics with less polemics but probably a lot of paperwork.

Advertising fail

Oh no, it’s not sexist ‘cos there are pictures of men in the same position. Head Palm Desk.

A Place of Rage – Trailer from Kali Films on Vimeo.

A Place of Rage is a film celebrating the contributions of prominent African American women including Alice Walker, Angela Davis and June Jordan – and it’s on its way to finally being released on DVD, with EXTRAS! And it needs your help.

Full disclosure: director, documentary-maker Pratibha Parmar, is a friend but I think I could enjoy her back catalogue even if I didn’t know her to be a wonderful woman.

Within the context of civil rights, black power, lesbian and gay rights and the feminist movement, the trio reassess how women like Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionised American society and the world generally. A PLACE OF RAGE made its debut in 1991 yet it’s content is still one of the richest and most cherished with candid interviews from Angela Davis, Alice Walker and powerful poetry from June Jordan.

To update the original footage Parmar has recorded a new interview with Angela Davis, sharing some of her thoughts about the women’s movement today and the icon of Angela Davis vs Angela Davis herself. She’s also putting together some footage filmed three years ago in Rawanda and DRCongo with Alice Walker, bearing witness to women’s stories, suffering and making change.

The project is currently accepting donations to help meet the high costs of getting the DVD finished and launched to help raise awareness about the contributions of women of colour.

All Donations of over $1000 or £800 will be credited on screen and donors will receive signed copies of the DVD by Angela Davis and Alice Walker. All Donations of $500 or £250 or more will receive a signed copy of the DVD by Angela Davis and Alice Walker

The Home Office is launching a new £2m TV, internet, poster and radio campaign to raise awareness about teen domestic violence launching with an ad directed by Shane Meadows, the director who brought us Somerstown, This is England and Dead Man’s Shoes.

The campaign comes in response to an NSPCC study showing a high number of 13 – 17 year old girls had suffered violence at the hands of a partner, and the normalisation of such violence.

The study suggested a quarter of girls aged 13 to 17 had experienced physical violence from a boyfriend and a third had been pressured into sexual acts they did not want.

The children’s charity said it was alarmed by the number of young people who viewed abuse in relationships as normal.

You can watch the full advert at the BBC.

BELLY dancers in Nottingham are taking part in a women-only benefit to raise money for Million Women Rise, in London May 6.

Malika, one of the star performers of the night, said: “I have experienced domestic violence myself and know how important it is to have support through these difficult times and I am honoured to be able to support this very important issue.”

Event organiser Mo said: “There’s a sizable Egyptian dance community in Nottingham – and its great that these women have offered to share their dance for a great cause. We’ve performers from many different traditions – cabaret, tribal, funky, dancing with sticks, veils – you name it.

Find out more on the facebook event page

The job will involve developing credible policy proposals that both influence current debates and set the agenda for future thinking on realising women’s rights and in conjunction with the CEO, devising campaigns strategies that don’t just respond to but shape our changing political and social times. We are looking for a creative and flexible individual who has experience in devising national policy ideas and campaigns that have affected change and is able to form and maintain strong relationships within and outside the organisation.

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Policy and Campaigns Officer

The Policy and Campaigns Officer will play a central role in delivering high profile public campaigns, behind the scenes influencing with key decision makers and engaging our supporters and allies to bring about change for women. Previous experience in national and parliamentary campaigning is essential as is an understanding of and in skills in developing and influencing policy.

For more information, please click here.

Treasurer

The Treasurer will be responsible for maintaining an overview of Fawcett’s financial affairs, ensuring our financial viability, that proper records and procedures are maintained and that the whole board considers our finances in its planning and decision making. The Treasurer will also chair our resources group and with the rest of the board ensure good governance and the ongoing growth and success of Fawcett.

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Internship: Research & Admin (Election Campaign)

An excellent opportunity for someone wanting to gain research and administration experience within a campaigning organisation.This post will be based in the Campaigns Team and will be primarily responsible for supporting all research and policy development relating to the Fawcett election campaign ‘What About Women?’, as well as supporting the Fawcett Society’s work more generally.

We are looking for someone 2-3 days per week, for a minimum of 3 months. Expenses will be covered.

To find out more, click here.

Internship: Communications & Events (Election campaign)

An excellent opportunity to use your communications, IT and organisational skills to further Fawcett’s presence in the Election campaign ‘What About Women?’ This post will work with as one of two communications interns designing materials, establishing and mediating an online forum, inspiring activism through social media, updating the website, and monitoring media coverage.

We are looking for someone 2-3 days per week, for a minimum of 3 months. Expenses will be covered.

For details, click here.