Wales: Healthy debate over women'sofficer role

[Harold Schiffman]

  Healthy debate over women's officer role

Dec 13 2007 <http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/education-news/2007/12/13/>by
Katie Dalton, Western Mail

*A university view*

ALTHOUGH the stereotypical view of students usually evokes images of
drinking and partying, huge numbers of students are active in a variety of
areas, from volunteering to student politics.

It is the latter that I will focus on, as it has been a controversial few
months for student officers within the National Union of Students in Wales.

NUS Wales represents more than a quarter of a million students from the
higher and further education sectors.

Policy is submitted and debated by constituent members at NUS Wales Winter
Council, an annual democratic event. Issues debated this year included a
Scottish-style parliament for Wales, local council elections and working
with Unite Against Fascism to stop the BNP.

However, the most contentious motion called for the removal of the full-time
NUS Wales Women's Officer to establish a full-time Welsh Language Officer.

At the moment, the NUS Wales Women's Officer is a full-time position,
alongside the NUS Wales president and deputy president. The position of
Welsh language officer exists in a part-time capacity, alongside the black
students' officer, LGBT officer and students with disabilities officer.

As NUS Wales cannot afford eight full-time positions, it has been the case
that the Women's Officer exists as a full-time position and supports the
other part-time liberation officers.

As a passionate member of the women's campaign, and an advocate of
liberation groups in general, I have always supported the Welsh language
campaign. However, I was appalled to see one liberation campaign attempting
to reduce the capability of another.

Liberation campaigns within NUS should continue to stand together, united in
the fight for equality.

However, when one position rivals another, members must take a long hard
look at which campaign makes the most difference to their students' lives.

When one in four women suffer from domestic abuse and two women are killed
every week by a current or former partner, it is clear that the women's
campaign really does deal with life and death issues.

When Students' Unions across the country deal with serious cases of domestic
abuse (the biggest killer of women between the ages of 15 and 44), it is
near on impossible to discount the work that the NUS Wales women's campaign
does, by raising awareness and providing domestic abuse training for
officers.

Therefore, when the issues are examined, it is fundamentally absurd to
consider the removal of the full-time NUS Wales women's officer. Women may
be in the majority, but they are still oppressed both inside and outside of
education. When female graduates earn an average of £1,000 less than their
male counterparts just three years after graduation, it is clear that
equality remains a distant dream.

Throughout the lead-up to council, the women's campaign received letters of
support from students' unions across the UK, the Labour group in the Welsh
Assembly, Unison Cymru Higher Education Group, Amnesty International Wales
and Welsh Women's Aid, to name but a few. All recognised the importance of
the women's campaign within the student population and in wider society, and
were appalled that there had been an attack on such an important position.

The good news is that we successfully defended the position of NUS Wales
Women's Officer and ensured continued full-time representation for female
students across Wales. Thanks must go to the people and organisations that
supported the women's campaign over the past few months, and special credit
must be given to the delegates who stood up for their female students and
voted to save the full-time NUS Wales women's officer position.

*Katie Dalton is president of the students' union at Swansea Institute of
Higher Education*






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