Williams makes criminal age call
for all sorts of reasons I'm not getting into the detail of this, although I always find it a relief on the rare occasions that the bigwigs of Organised Religion comment on matters of morality that are nothing to do with Religion's Sexual Obsessions.
I have been meaning to post for a while on the issue of jailing women.
Rowan told the Sunday Telegraph women with young children should only be jailed as a "very last resort".and I think this is almost certainly the correct wording. A few weeks ago I had reason to read the Corston Report, and most of it made total sense and is clearly an excellent report.
But one aspect jarred - the assumption that was written into it that 'woman' and 'mother' are interchangeable synonymous terms, when it is obvious from 2001 Census, from less official statistically valid data collection and from anecdotal observation that only a small proportion of women are mothers of children (I'm excluding mothers of adults).
I discovered a few weeks ago an appalling tale about a chap I know call Steve. I say 'know' but he is barely an acquaintance, albeit one I have been slightly acquainted with several years. He has a daughter who is 8; the girl's mother died about 7 years ago. Steve is a single parent. I encountered his daughter at a great-nephew's christening a few months back. That weekend, the daughter was staying with 'Aunt S and Uncle P', a couple who are close friends of Steve's and slight friends/good acquaintances of me. I didn't ask the reason why. Turns out Steve was in the nick on remand. I know Steve to be a decent and gentle bloke, although I don't know anything of his past. His case came to trial and he was found guilty of ABH and bound over. He had got involved in an altercation and had shoved the other bloke, who had fallen over and banged his head. Not big not clever but on a scale of heinousness, this barely registers. I don't feel afraid that Steve is at loose in my community. I am just shocked that he was banged up. So was the magistrate or judge or whatever, who declared it an outrage that he was imprisoned on remand. I know that Steve is a good father - I know that from observing him when his daughter was little. I know that from chatting with his daughter this spring (yes, I know her name, it's fairly unusual, no need to publish it here). I think Steve is a good bloke.
I find it appalling that Steve's responsibilities as a lone parent were not considered when he was remanded. This is nothing to do with childcare being a feminist issue, but being an issue for society. I have total respect for Sue and Phil for looking after the child; there again, I would hope all decent people would do the same. I know there are plenty of blokes banged up who don't give a damn for the children they so ignorantly or carelessly fathered, but there are plenty who do. And I think that any compassion (and bottom line pragmatism) that saves mothers from prison should also apply to fathers. As a feminist I have always argued that childcare is not a feminist issue, because it is irrelevant to the lives of most women and extremely important to that of many men. Also, I don't see why rules should be about 'child'care when an increasing number of people have responsibility for dependent adults or elderly parents etc. I think it is easier to arrange respite or foster care for children than it is for dependent adults with complex needs, and even though the majority of carers are (probably) women, it still isn't a feminist issue, but a problem for specific individuals and a challenge for society
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