WOMEN – FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE

UNIT 7 WOMEN – FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE Women are far less criminally inclined than men Activity 1 Before reading the text, discuss with a partner the different types of offences which come under the category of sex crimes. FIND THE CORRECT SEQUENCE OF THE TEXT BELOW LAW ON SEX CRIMES TO BE TIGHTENED A B C D E F G A) Ministers also want to strengthen the law on rape to tackle the appallingly low 9% conviction rate, and define consent by setting the prosecution the lower test of proving that the victim had not given their ‘voluntary and genuine agreement’. B) It is expected that the new offence would apply to a man or woman over 18 who was involved in a sexual act with a child under 16. This would ensure that all children under 16 get the same level of protection. The law would cover those who incited, induced or compelled a child to carry out a sexual act, “whether on the accused, another person or the child himself”. C) Ministers want to call the new offence “adult sexual activity with a child”, rather than “adult sexual abuse of a child” so it might include offences involving no physical contact, such as a recent case where a man incited two young girls to undress. The offence would cover an adult who forced a child to witness a sexual act, whether it was live or recorded. It would ensure that much heavier penalties were available to courts for child sex offences. It is also expected that the offence would not carry any time limits. D) A new crime of “adult sexual activity with a child”, and a reform of the law on rape are to be included in an overhaul of Britain’s laws on sex offences, which are to be introduced into parliament this year. The catch-all criminal offence – the first of this kind anywhere in the world – recognizes that sexual activity between adults and children is unacceptable, and that some cases are so serious that they warrant a life sentence. E) It would still be for the prosecution to prove that the woman did not consent to sex if the defense said that she did. The law will still list examples where such consent is not present, such as where the person was asleep, or too affected by alcohol or drugs to give “voluntary and genuine agreement”. F) Ministers have begun to thrash out their detailed response to an internal Home Office review of the law on sex offences, published in July 2000. The new crime of “adult sexual activity with a child” will replace the seven different sex offences used to prosecute in child sex cases such as indecent assault, intercourse with a girl under 13, gross indecency and buggery G) The changes in law on rape will not see the introduction of a lesser offence of “date rape”. The legal concept of “consent”, however, is to be clarified and defined as “voluntary and genuine agreement”. (Alan Travis: The Guardian) HERE IS A QUOTATION ON A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STUDY MADE BY AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. The battered woman is pictured by most people as a small, fragile, haggard person who might once have been pretty. She has several small children, no job skills, and is economically dependent on her husband. It is frequently assumed that she is poor and from a minority group. She is accustomed to living in violence, and her fearfulness and passivity are emphasized above all. Although some battered women do fit the description, research proves it to be a false stereotype.” Activity 2 DEBATE A. Do you agree with this point of view? Does the description above fit your perception of “battered women”? Present your personal point of view on the issue. B. In pairs discuss the subject according to the following key issues on the topic of domestic violence Low self-esteem; violent background; traditionalism; economic factors; cultural factors; family stress; changing pattern of family life Exercise 1 Fill in the gaps using the words in the table: advertisements, across, able, and, clutches, condemn, contract, director, difficult, end entrepreneur, efforts, fate, involved, nation, of, Patriarch, personal, romantic, southern, streets, they, threatens, Ukraine, with, wound. One shrewd 1) … formed a company called "Love You". This company is 2) … in enlisting Ukrainian women and girls to marry Serbian men, who live in the mountainous regions of southern Serbia. 3) … say that this program of marriage received the unofficial approval 4) … the Yugoslavian government and the blessing of the Serbian 5) … . Paul, because it proposes to renew the gene pool of the 6) …. Obviously, this firm has enough profits to place TV 7) … for enlistment of women from the Orthodox world especially from 8) …. Beginning in the spring of 1997, the city of Cherkass 9) … the oblast (region) had the opportunity to view several 10) … TV advertisements proposing marriage in the picturesque mountain region of 11) … Serbia, with similar ads in the local newspapers. Some women were brave enough to make radical changes in their 12) … lives. We cannot 13) … them in this. We are all aware that life in Ukraine at this time is 14) … and especially so for women. But if our women knew the 15) .… that awaited them they would make all 16) …. to remain at home. One resident of Cherkass was 17) …, through a miracle, to escape the 18) … of her new Serbian husband. But now she has a problem with the 19) … of this marriage agency who threatens her 20) … death if she doesn't compensate him monetarily for breaking the 21) …. This "businessman" 22) … to find her in Ukraine if she manages to get 23) … the border of Yugoslavia. This woman might easily 24) … up without any documents or help on the 25) … of Belgrade. Activity 3 Read the text SERBS CRACK DOWN ON SEX SLAVE TRADE Serbian police have begun to crack down on “white slave trade” in women tricked into prostitution in the Balkans. In the biggest operation conducted so far by the organized crime department, hundreds of officers raided more than 400 nightclubs, dance bars and cafes, freeing dozens of young women. They arrested 150 people on charges ranging from procuring prostitutes to possessing drugs and arms. “This is good news”, said Enrico Ponziani, head of the international office for migration in Belgrade, which is opening a safe shelter for liberated women and children. “We are talking about thousands, not hundreds, of women and children who are trafficked through Serbia every year. We need more operations of that nature”. He said that Serbia was often the starting point for the trade in women and children as young as 14. Most were from Romania and former Soviet republics of Moldova and Ukraine, fleeing economic misery at home. They arrived in Serbia believing they were going to jobs as nannies and waitresses in Western Europe. “When they cross the border they are housed somewhere in Serbia and ordered to hand over their passports, Mr. Ponziani said. “At that point they start to realize they have been tricked. They are slaves because they’re being forced to do things they had no idea they would be forced to do”. He said the women were traded between Albania, Serbia and Bosnia many times. They were moved illegally into Macedonia, Kosovo and Bosnia to serve new clients. In Serbia one of the women freed said that she had been sold for $500. She escaped from Kazanova dance club in Panchevo, near Belgrade, which is run by Rade Spelovic. Serbian police describe Mr. Spelovic as one of the untouchable leaders of the slave trade. They said that he had threatened to unleash fierce dogs on any of the women who tried to escape. Western officials say that for every Serb running the trade, there are many more people in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova organizing their end of the business. The officials are mounting an awareness campaign in the Balkans and in the former Soviet Union to alert police and victims to the realities of “work abroad”. Exercise 2 Match these words or phrases with the underlined expressions in the text. a) to untie, to let loose b) to accommodate (often temporarily) c) to tighten up, to restrict severely d) to vary between, e) to fool, to cheat f) to start, to launch ( a programme/ campaign etc.) Activity 4 Translate into English Deşi nici concubina nu-i ştie adevăratul nume, ‘CREIERUL’ UNEI RETELE DE TRAFIC DE CARNE VIE A FOST CAPTURAT DE POLITISTII DE LA CRIMA ORGANIZATA După mai multe săptămâni de cercetări, poliţiştii Centrului Zonal de Combatere a Crimei Organizate şi Antidrog Timişoara şi colegii lor din cadrul Direcţiei Generale Bucureşti, au reuşit să dezlege misterul care blocase cercetările într-unul dintre ultimele dosare referitoare la activitatea unei reţele de trafic de carne vie. La începutul lunii februarie, poliţiştii timişoreni au descins într-un apartament de pe malul Begăi şi au găsit aici cinci tinere, între care două minore, care urmau să fie trecute ilegal în Iugoslavia, pentru a ajunge în Italia şi Spania, ca să se prostitueze. Atunci a fost reţinut şi unul dintre proxeneîi – Buciu Raoul, de 24 de ani, din Timişoara, care a fost arestat pe 30 de zile pentru proxenetism. Din cercetări s- a stabilit ca adevăratul ‘creier’ al afacerii era alt barbat, despre care nu se ştia decât ca-l cheamă Dan. S-a aflat doar că acesta are o concubină în Timişoara. În urma descinderii la locuinţa acesteia s-a stabilit că nici femeia, care era gravidă în luna a opta cu cel căutat, nu-i ştia adevărata identitate. A fost găsită o fotografie, care a constituit punctul de plecare. În urma verificărilor, poliţiştii Direcţiei Generale de Combatere a Crimei Organizate şi Antidrog l-au identificat pe cel din poză ca fiind Buciuleac Ioan, de 31 de ani, zis Dan, care avea domiciliul in Bucureşti. Ofiţerii de la Crimă Organizată din Bucureşti au descins la locuinţa acestuia, dar o persoană aflată în interior a refuzat să le deschidă uşa. Dupa obţinerea autorizaţiei de percheziţie, poliţiştii au intrat în forţă, reţinându-l pe suspect. Acesta are la activ mai multe furturi, înşelăciuni şi alte infracţiuni. Demn de remarcat este faptul că, de multe dintre pedepse a scăpat, ascunzându-se până la prescrierea faptelor. Sâmbătă, Buciuleac a fost prezentat Parchetului de pe lângă Tribunalul Timiş, cu propunere de arestare preventivă pe 30 de zile, sub acuzaţia de proxenetism în formă agravată. În cazul în care va fi găsit vinovat, el riscă o pedeapsă între 2 şi 7 ani de închisoare. (Dragoş Boţa) Activity 5 Read the text WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT From suffragettes to policewomen Born in Worthington in 1820, Elizabeth Greer was educated at the Female Seminary in Worthington where she later taught. In 1844, Elizabeth married Harvey Coit and moved to a house on 3rd street in Columbus where she eventually had eight children. An avid supporter of women's rights, Elizabeth Greer Coit became the first president of the Woman's Suffrage Association in Columbus. For many years, the Suffrage Association met in her home once a month to plan the advancement of women. A friend of such luminaries as Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Frances Willard, and Mary Livermore, Elizabeth opened her home to suffragists. Her husband and children sympathized with her work. A delegate to a state convention for women's suffrage that met in Columbus in 1884, she was also treasurer of the state association, attended their meetings, and served as an effective speaker on the suffrage lecture circuit in Columbus and neighboring towns when this cause was singularly unpopular. As a reward for her hard work, Elizabeth received much public opprobrium, spiteful personal remarks, and hateful letters. She bore it all with great patience. Once her eight-year-old daughter Belle ran home from school sobbing, "Mother, are you strong-minded and do you wear pants?" In response, Elizabeth calmly replied, "My dear, I hope I am strong-minded. I should be very sorry to have had children if I were feeble- minded." INFO BOX Suffragette A suffragette was a woman in Britain, Australia and the United States in the early 20th century who was a member of a group that demanded the right of women to vote and that increased awareness of the matter with a series of public protests. In one incident, the suffragette Emily Davidson threw herself under the King's horse at the Derby in 1913 in order to draw attention to the campaign. Suffragist A suffragist is someone who supports suffrage, esp. a supporter of the right of women to vote in the early 20th century. Suffrage The right to vote in an election, esp. for representatives in a parliament or similar organization. Examples There have only been Labour administrations for 20 out of the 72 years since universal male suffrage was introduced. Female suffrage was introduced in South Australia in 1894. Discuss the idea of emancipation, women’s rights and women’s liberation in the modern world. The text above contains a paradox: As a reward for her hard work, Elizabeth received much public opprobrium, spiteful personal remarks, and hateful letters. Activity 6 DEBATE: - In groups of three (a suffragette, a politician and a moderator) discuss Elizabeth’s case and try to find a solution. Activity 7 Read the text about the situation in Afghanistan Discuss with your partner what the status of refugees means and that of “internally displaced persons” (IDPs) This text was written before the intervention in Afghanistan in October 2001 SOME AFGHANS SURVIVE BY SELLING THEIR CHILDREN By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) - The deal was arranged even before the baby's birth. The price for the infant: enough to feed the family for another month In an extraordinary act of desperation, some Afghan parents say they've sold their children for about the price of a restaurant meal in the West — an amount that even in this impoverished country is not huge but can make the difference between life and death for the poorest of the poor. "Parting with my baby was hard. But watching my family die slowly of hunger is even worse," said Agha Mir, 25, who claimed he turned over his 4-day-old son in December to a relatively prosperous Afghan family for the equivalent of $60. The money, he said, paid for about a month's worth of food for his wife and six remaining children in the teeming Dashteh Arzana refugee camp outside the northern city of Mazar-e- Sharif. He said a middleman from the city's bazaar made the arrangements while his wife was pregnant. "And now the money is gone," moaned Mir's mother, Oyna Khal. "We're back to living on wild grass and carrots. Maybe we will have to sell another child." It is impossible to independently verify all the claims of baby selling or estimate the number of children sold. There is no record-keeping, and the transactions occur on the murky margins of society. But relief coordinators and others acknowledge the reports and note that setting a price for family members in Afghanistan is not taboo. Traditionally, dowries of several thousands of dollars — huge sums for Afghans — are paid for brides. Infants — especially boys for families with only girls — also apparently have commanded a good price in the past. "We get information about baby selling, but it's hard to say how widespread it is," said Mahboob Shareef, head of northern Afghanistan operations for UNICEF. "We knows this happens among the poorest of the poor." Mohammed Hashim can only walk a few paces before the pain becomes too much. Severe arthritis has left his joints swollen and misshapen. In mid-January, he set off by car from his villages in the Dar-e-Suf region south of Mazar-e-Sharif for a refugee camp along the main northern roadway. To pay for the journey, he said, he sold his 2-year-old son to a family in a neighboring village with only daughters. He received about $30. "I was alone. There was no other way," said Hashim, a 25-year-old widower whose wife died two years ago. "I miss my boy so much. I could only sell the little one. They didn't want the other." His remaining son, 9-year-old Sejawdin, is almost completely deaf. Faisal Mohammed, administrator of the central orphanage in Mazar-e-Sharif, said he came across a man in the city's bazaar begging someone to buy his 6-year-old daughter. "It struck me how bad our country has become when you can put your child for sale like a piece of fruit," Mohammed said. "We cannot deny that people are selling their children. After 23 years of war, people are left with nothing and, worst of all, no hope. They see no other options." In past generations, poor Afghan families would sometimes send children to live temporarily with better-off relatives. Now, it appears that system may be eroding because of the twin hardships of warfare and drought, Mohammed said. "We saw this happening during the Taliban time. Some people saw their children as a way to make quick money," he said. Eight months ago — while the Taliban was still in power — a pushcart porter and his wife said they sold their 4-day-old son to neighbors because they couldn't afford the medicine to treat the woman's postnatal bleeding and other medical complications. They received about $30, said the couple, who have six other children. "We used to go see the boy, but the family now has told us to stay away," said the mother, Dilaram, who like many Afghans goes by one name. "The money was soon gone. I am still sick and our child is gone forever." QUESTIONS: • How can war affect the lives of ordinary people? • Is selling children a solution for the Afghan’s future life? • Has selling their own children anything to do with the social condition of the Afghan woman? A young lady in Kosovo Activity 8 THE PROBLEM OF WHITE SLAVERY AT THE END OF THE SECOND MILLENNIUM - Listen to the tape. You will hear three prostitutes talking about their distressing lives. - Can you characterise the persons on the tape? - How do you see prostitution- as a job, a profession, a scandal for a civilised society? - Do you agree with any form of legalisation of prostitution in Romania? Give reasons for and against. Activity 9 Below you have a fragment of a letter.Who do you think has written this letter? What could you do in answer to the plea in the letter? Choose two class mates and devise a plan of action meant to counter the situation described in the letter. " . Help the girls from Ukraine. Their situation is hopeless. They need immediate help. They were taken in a deceiving manner to local bars to work as dancers, where they are forced into prostitution. The girls do not receive any money and the bar owner makes a tremendous profit on them. The corrupt local police help to establish these places and to avoid planned police raids. The girls' documents are taken away. They threaten and harass them. They have no way of escaping from this hell and almost all want to return home. During the day they keep them prisoners in a room, and at night force them to sleep with clients. In one such night, with one girl, the owner makes 200-300 German marks and for one hour- 100 marks. If the girl begins to protest, they get harassed, beaten and not given anything to eat. They have no place to look to for help. They are later resold to the Muslim part of Bosnia, from where there is no return forever. These people are without heart, horrible mafiosi, who work in close contact with the police. Often the girls commit suicide. In their name I turn to you to help them return home to Ukraine. My name I cannot give because I will be killed by the mafia if they find out about this letter. In the name of God and Truth help! Each woman has a right to life, has a right to manage herself and her body. She is not a white slave who can be discounted or killed. I hope for your help very much " Discuss with a partner the trends in criminal activity which make it very important that young women become police officers. A seminar on career development for policewomen was held in September 2001 in Holland . The philosophy emphasised during the seminar is written below. • Good human resource management guarantees the optimum use of human potential within the police. "Human Capital" (i.e. the qualities of men and women) should be developed to their fullest potential. The combination of both "male "and "female" characteristics improve the standards of policework overall. [...]... experiential learning for women police officers within Europe; • Organising a Bi-annual European Conference; • Organising specific seminars for both policewomen and -men to promote the exchange of good practice, information and learning; • Stimulating and supporting the establishment of national networks of policewomen • A database to achieve centralisation of comprehensive information and enable efficient... service - Equal treatment of women and men in the police Compare your ideas with your partner's Look at the objectives below What organisation do they belong to? Can you think of standards and processes you could employ to achieve the objectives ? • Exchange of knowledge, information and experiences within the European Police organisations; • Stimulating international research and training in order to...• The public is better able to identify with a police service in which women work side by side with men at every level and in every type of job; in effect, as a reflection of the society at large • The police, as enforcers of the law, should set an example as far as equal treatment of women and men is concerned Activity 10 Using the words in the box, enlarge... they cannot take an –ing verb Some examples are given in the box agree, aim, ask, decline, demand, fail, hesitate, hope, hurry, manage, offer, plan, prepare, refuse, want, wish EXAMPLES 1 The suspect agreed to accompany te police ofiicer to the station 2 The prisoner demanded to see a lawyer immediately 3 The police have managed to identify the suspects Some verbs take the –ing form of the verb, but... admit to have been in the building at the time 7 The officers could only watch the kidnapper leave with his hostages Exercise 3 REPHRASE using the correct form of the verb in capital letters and one of the patterns 1 Maybe this is the hotel we are looking for (APPEAR) 2 They said they would like me to come with them on the trip (INVITE) 3 I’m sorry I haven’t seen the movie (REGRET) 4 The police believed... buy c) him buying d) his buying e) to him to buy 8 He ……… that he had caught the huge fish himself a) made us to believe b) makes us believe c) made us believe d) made us believing 9 We waited for the taxi …… before saying goodbye a) coming b) to come c) come d) came 10 They noticed …… away from school a) him to run b) him run c) him running d) him ran ... The police believed he was the criminal because of the evidence (LEAD) 5 Does using the hotel sauna cost a lot? (PAY) 6 Coming first in the race meant we could buy a new car (ENABLE) 7 It is compulsory for all students to be present at lectures (REQUIRE) 8 She might fail her driving test again (RISK) 9 Susy succeeded in finishing the assignment in time (MANAGE) 10 Calling Bob is pointless, because his . UNIT 7 WOMEN – FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE Women are far less criminally inclined than men Activity 1 Before reading the text, discuss. for migration in Belgrade, which is opening a safe shelter for liberated women and children. “We are talking about thousands, not hundreds, of women and