• Relation Education for schools
    As a nineteen year old there have been many things that I have experienced so far in my life. We all in someway have gone though a lot that we unfortunately had no help with or anyone there to to comfort us and tell us that its going to be okay. You have the good memories that we cling to so dearly, and then there are those which are not so great. Events that should have never even taken place, especially for those so young and vulnerable. The bad memories where you think I wish I would have known ‘this’ or ‘that’ then maybe I would have not been so lost and helpless in that situation. If that were the case you could have been somewhere else today. A lot of our youth nowadays are susceptible to making very life-changing decisions or mistakes that they were not warned or aware of as they were growing up. Our education system is so set on Sex Education being improved constantly and carrying out classes to younger and younger ages each year. In doing so each generation is thinking more about sex in contrast to accomplishing a fully content life with healthy relationships amongst friends, families and significant others. Instead we end up with unsatisfied young men and women who seek happiness in the wrong things and places, they take their loved ones for granted, push their family away and allow the road to anti-social behaviour and depression to creep in where it seems almost impossible for the individual to ever be happy with anything or anyone. My aim for this petition is to launch the start of Relationship Education classes for young people. Where we can teach children the values of trust, respect, loyalty, communication, love, and integrity in the right way. From being raised in a single parent family I saw my mother in the most damaging ways as a child. I saw her beaten by men and women, I saw her heartbroken numerous times, she was also very angry with the world. But the one thing I would see in her for the most part compared to everything else was of course disappointment. She would always weep and wonder why she never saw certain things coming or how she wishes she would have done things differently or maybe to have not done anything at all. Relationship classes should have been put in place a long time ago, God knows so many of us would have benefited highly from them. Classes where we can help guide our youth, pave out the road to success and point them in the right direction is something that should be encouraged not thrown to the side. Good relationships with others should hold far more importance than Sex Education which I do still believe is essential to be taught but definitely not more significant than building a happy community with one another. I believe these classes will help our schools to see a dramatic drop in bullying, absences and insecurities. Through this scheme we will teach mutual respect, the correct manner to communicate with one another and to avoid unkind comments or gestures that would hurt your peer in any way. In addition to this procedure we will have gained a large increase in sociable engagement with other peers, good attendance, confident individuals, an expansion on creativity and most of all a happy class. Not only will this benefit children during school time but the life skills they will attain will be practiced in the comfort of their own home, with family and friends, through college, university, in the workplace and so on.
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    Created by Saira Kaur Picture
  • Stop VAT on sanitary products; don't just give the money to charity
    While women may be happy for extra funding for such charities, this purely political gesture completely misses the point. These products are NOT luxuries so why are they taxed as such? What George Osborne did today was keep a discriminatory tax and make it an enforced charitable contribution which only women have to pay. This is important because the tax is discriminatory.
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    Created by Anonymous Female
  • Don't take women out of politics A-levels
    The political history taught in schools is hugely biased towards the actions of men. Shoehorning feminism and women's political achievements under the banner of "pressure groups" diminishes the important work women have done - and still are doing - to make politics more equal and representative. The new curriculum plans to only include one woman in the list of key political thinkers students will study - and the entire Suffragettes movement will only be taught in a section on pressure groups. Women have helped shape this world as much as men have and it's integral that we are recognised as political thinkers, as well as giving kids great female role models to look up to... whether they're boys, girls or anything else. When we remove women from the syllabus we teach young people that women have no impact on politics. At a time when fewer than one in three MPs are female this is a dangerous message to give out. The government has a responsibility to teach young men and women that every voice is important, not just the voices of those already in power. For the sake of the men and women of the future we need to hear about the women of the past. Stop airbrushing women out of our history.
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    Created by Lauren and Ellen
  • New UK Passport Airbrushes Women From History
    The new UK passport design supposedly celebrates the British 'cultural pantheon' but in 16 pages features only 2 women, despite finding plenty of space for men, as well as everyday objects such as the postage stamp and telephone box. British history contains countless inspirational women such as Jane Austen, Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Bronte, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Laura Ashley, Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Mary Wollstonecraft, Marie Stopes, Agatha Christie , Beatrix Potter, Maggie Smith and Amy Winehouse - and many, many more besides! It is wrong that in 2015 men and women do not have equal representation on this important document - a document that will be in the hands of every man, woman and child for years to come. We are constantly hearing about how we must encourage women and girls to become engineers, doctors, company directors and much much more, but this sends the message to our women and girls that their contribution to society does not count. Is the contribution of inspirational women such as Emmeline Pankhurst or Jane Austen really not as important or interesting as a postage stamp or telephone box?
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    Created by Juliet Browse
  • Rid the UK of the Gender Pay Gap
    It is important so that our daughters know that when they study, work-hard and contribute to society in the same way as their male counter-parts, they are not penalised for the sex they happen to be. In today's, modern, inclusive society where anti-discriminatory practice is common-place, we believe it is the Conservative Governments duty to implement equality of pay, regardless of sex. The gender pay gap currently resides at 10%, meaning men earn 10% more just for being men. How can we hope to encourage more women into Government and the boardrooms of the country when the pay gap exists on top of the many other barriers to success women may face? Sign our petition to give women true equality in the work-place.
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    Created by Marie-Claire O'Brien
  • BBC - Diversify your poetry programming!
    Writers who are not white men have contributed hugely to our understanding and appreciation of poetry, and it is unforgivable and unrepresentative to exclude them from a national celebration of poetry. Women and people of colour have been consistently ignored, sidelined and poorly treated in academic and arts circles, often not being taken as seriously as white men doing the same things as us to a similar or even lower standard. As TV licence fee payers, we have a right to be fairly represented and to see ourselves - and a true reflection of the arts world - in the programming we pay for.
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    Created by Eve Moriarty
  • Update the information requirements on marriage certificates!
    As it stands, only the father's name and 'rank or profession' is needed on a marriage certificate. We believe this is archaic; a father's name and profession was important when marriage was seen as the passing of a possession (the woman) from one man (the father) to another (the husband). This is no longer the case. If the information is necessary for public record, then the mother's name and profession should be included too. Mothers play as vital a part in their children's upbringing as men do (and sometimes more...) and this should be reflected in modern marriage certificates. Ideally a person would be able to include information for only one parent if they so wish. Having to include a parent with whom one does not have a good relationship on something as significant as a marriage certificate can be unnecessarily upsetting.
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    Created by Abigail de Leon
  • Celebrate Suffragettes not serial killers
    A new museum gained planning permission by promising ‘the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history’, but has now been unveiled as a venue dedicated to the violent crimes of Jack the Ripper Originally billed as a celebration of East London women and the suffragettes this museum now celebrates the life of the serial killer who viciously murdered women across London's East End, from 1888 and 1891. The original application for the museum said: “The museum will recognise and celebrate the women of the East End who have shaped history, telling the story of how they have been instrumental in changing society. It will analyse the social, political and domestic experience from the Victorian period to the present day.” The document cited the closure of the local Whitechapel’s Women’s Library in 2013 to stress that the “Museum of Women’s History”, as it was billed, would be “the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history”. Now we are faced with a museum that celebrates gory violence against women. The founder (a former Head of Diversity at Google) claims "It is not celebrating the crimes of Jack the Ripper but looking at why and how the women got in that situation in the first place”. This victim blaming attitude is unacceptable and cannot be condoned. Shut this museum down now.
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    Created by Becky Warnock
  • COME CLEAN ON UNDERCOVER POLICING
    Everyone has the right to participate in the struggle for social and environmental justice, without fear of persecution, objectification, or interference in their lives. However, many campaigns and individuals have been targeted by Britain’s undercover police for decades, undermining efforts for social justice that should be welcomed in a democratic society. Citizens have been spied on, psychologically and emotionally manipulated, and abused by officers for being part of, or simply knowing people who were part of, such campaigns. We welcome the announcement of a full public inquiry into political undercover policing, but it must be truly transparent, robust and comprehensive. In particular the inquiry must: * Be willing to hear evidence from those affected by undercover policing including: - the women deceived into long-term intimate relationships by officers - the family justice campaigns for those bereaved at the hands of the police and those challenging the efficacy of police investigations in relation to the deaths or assaults of loved ones - the construction workers blacklisted with the help of undercover police - the families whose dead children’s identities were stolen by officers - all campaign groups spied on * Protect police whistleblowers from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act and encourage current and former officers to give evidence. * Cover all undercover police units from 1968 to the present day. * Ensure the police fully cooperate with the inquiry and do not obstruct its operation though the use of their ‘Neither Confirm Nor Deny’ stance. * Hold senior police officers past and present, especially former Met Commissioners and Special Branch Commanders, to account for any wrong doing attributed to the units under their command. * Investigate officers sharing or selling information and experience acquired through undercover policing to the private sector. * Make recommendations to change the law, especially the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000), to prevent these abuses from continuing.
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    Created by Alison Davis
  • Award Honours to mens and womens sports teams equally
    Awarding honours in such a clearly gender specific way does nothing to encourage young women and girls to believe that participating in sport will be considered as worthy and respected as that of male participation. Women's sport receives less funding, coverage and sponsorship than men's, by adjudging the pinnacle of Women's Rugby to be so much less worthy of Honour reinforces the status quo. Any man who believes a girl has as much right as a boy to achieve success in sports and to be recognised for that success should feel the need to sign this petition.
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    Created by Paul Phillips
  • Stop Next using really thin models
    I was horrified when looking at the Next website so see how very thin some of the models are. Girls today are bombarded with images of unattainable ideals, leading them to all sorts of issues with body image and self confidence.These are not the role models I want for my children. By using these models, Next is condoning this as an aspirational way to be. As a society, we have girls struggling with self image and then companies hold this up as both normal and desirable - most girls would have serious medical problems if they were this size. Anorexia is an illness. Sufferers need help, not the reinforcement that this gives. I am certainly not saying that fashion should be forced to use large models. Slim is healthy. Emaciated is not. Please sign, and through tackling a large high street name, show the fashion idustry that this is not what we, as consumers, want.
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    Created by Paula Aliwell
  • SOS: Save Refuges, Save Lives
    Two women are killed every week in England by a partner or ex-partner. These are the women who desperately need these specialist refuges. Last year Women's Aid member organisations supported nearly 10,000 women and over 10,000 children in refuge accommodation. However, on one day alone in 2013, 155 women with 103 children were turned away from the first refuge they approached, primarily due to a lack of available spaces. From 2010 to 2014 the number of specialist refuges declined from 187 to 155, leaving many more vulnerable women and children at risk and without specialist support. Closures of specialist refuges will cost lives. Help us to keep these services open for the women and children who need them. Help us Save Refuges to Save Lives.
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    Created by Women's Aid