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Boys' club Britain is more sexist than Italy, Azerbaijan and India, says UN human rights expert | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Britain has a pervasive sexist culture that stems from a “boys’ club” attitude and influences perceptions of women and girls throughout the country, a UN representative has warned. | Britain has a pervasive sexist culture that stems from a “boys’ club” attitude and influences perceptions of women and girls throughout the country, a UN representative has warned. |
Britain has a “boys’ club sexist culture,” according to a damning investigation by a UN human rights expert, that is more “pervasive” and “in your face” than anything she has seen in any other country visit. | |
The findings are the result of a 16-day fact-finding mission by the UN special rapporteur on violence against women Rashida Manjoo, who travelled across the country examining the prevalence of violence against women. She said sexism was “more visible” in Britain than in other countries she had visited, which include Algeria, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, India and Croatia. | |
In a remarkable revelation, she also said she was denied entry into the controversial Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire by the government on Monday, despite part of her brief necessitating she monitors alleged human rights violations of women in detention. She said she was accompanied to the centre by the Prisons Inspectorate but was denied access at the door, something which she said was “disturbing” and “of deep concern.” She said she was told the refusal came at the request of those at the “highest levels” of the Home Office. | |
This aside, Manjoo concluded that violence against women remains a “pervasive challenge throughout the United Kingdom”, drawing particular attention to the sexualisation of women and girls in the media (she referenced The Sun’s Page 3), misogynistic advertising, harassment on tubes and in public spaces, the bullying of girls in school, the “disproportionate” impact of austerity measures on women, and the inability of the criminal justice system to respond to women and girl survivors of violence. | |
Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, told The Independent that “it’s absolutely vital that we take this as a wake-up call to recognise the depth and severity of the problem. We still have gender inequality in the UK, yet we are so quick to point the finger at other countries and suggest women here are equal. The reality is that girls are suffering in schools, women are discriminated in the work place, and large sections of the media continue to portray women as dehumanised sex objects.” | |
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Violence against women and girls in any form is unacceptable and the Government has shown its commitment to ending it. | |
A comprehensive programme was drawn up for the Special Rapporteur's visit, including meetings with the Home Secretary, the Minister for Crime Prevention, and the Chief Inspector of Prisons. Several other options, including a trip to a women's refuge, were turned down by the Special Rapporteur. A tour of Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre was never agreed as part of this fact-finding mission.” | |