Women's Fightback, Feminism

Domestic violence rooted in poverty and cuts

The Local Government Service Group Executive of the public services union Unison has proposed to its conference (16-17 June) to highlight the cuts for funding domestic violence services as a part of a broader campaign for local government funding.

Young men drifting to the right

Young men are drifting to the right on many issues, while young women move left. At least, that is what recent studies suggest. Polling data reported in The Economist from 20 countries indicates that twenty years ago there was little difference between the share of men and women aged 18-29 who described themselves as liberal rather than conservative, but now the gap has grown to 25 percentage points. In the UK, King’s College London’s Policy Institute and Global Institute for Women’s Leadership in partnership with Ipsos UK have found the gender split in views is starkest among the young when...

Socialist Feminist Book Clubs

SOUTH LONDON Sunday 14 April 7pm, Effra Social Club, Brixton. Never The Same Again, by Jean Stead A history of women in the miners' strike EVENTBRITE ONLINE Wednesday 17 April 7pm Never The Same Again, by Jean Stead EVENTBRITE ZOOM SHEFFIELD Monday 1 April 5.30pm, Showroom Cafe. How Not To Skip Class, by Tithi Bhattacharya How social reproductive theory can deepen our understanding of everyday life under capitalism. EVENTBRITE

"Pro-life" and the Manchester protests

Hundreds of students have joined protests against the establishment of a “pro-life” (anti-abortion-rights) society at Manchester University. The society was established in January, to “create a pro-life culture on campus, engage students on life issues and promote respect for the dignity of human life from conception.” A petition aimed at removing the society has over 18,000 signatures, with concerns raised about the original all-male committee making decisions regarding female bodies and medical rights. Students are right to protest anti-choice groups on campuses and student unions should do...

Rediscovering Dorothy Arzner

Dorothy Arzner is someone I had never heard of before, and maybe you haven’t either. Arzner was the only director of films in Hollywood under the studio system of the 1930s and 1940s and she made some pretty remarkable films in those years. Her work is currently being celebrated at the BFI in London and this week I got to see her last film, First comes courage . Here is how BFI described her: “Her films were multifaceted revisions of Hollywood norms, paying sharp attention to the intersection of women’s working and romantic lives. Her protagonists were snappy and headstrong, subverting...

Work and menopause

Menopause at work hit the headlines on 22 February as the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued new guidance on the issue. However, the guidance only affirmed what the law has been for the last fourteen years, and the fact that news coverage trumpeted it as a breakthrough can only mean that employers have not been following the law. The key point in the EHRC’s guidance is that severe menopause symptoms may well be classed as a disability under the 2010 Equality Act. That is not news to trade unionists who have been representing women who meet the Act’s definition of “disability” as a...

Union sets plan on sexual harassment

On 7 February, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) published the results of an independent inquiry which it commissioned into sexual harassment in the union, alongside an initial action plan signed off by the Executive Council. The headline finding is shocking: 30 per cent of FBU women members have experienced sexual harassment by fellow members in a union context. The inquiry surveyed all women and BME FBU members, as well as a random selection of white men. The work was supported by the FBU’s National Women’s Committee. The report was commissioned following a series of scandals in other unions. In...

Gender bias in Indian courts

In India millions of women’s lives are impacted by sexual violence. Gender inequality, poverty, and the criminal justice system all contribute to this issue. Gender and caste discrimination combine to make marginalized women most likely to be affected by sexual violence. The criminal justice system struggles to both try and convict perpetrators and odds are worse when crimes were reported by women. A study published in the American Political Science Review found that in India’s northern state of Haryana male complainants who register cases on behalf of their woman friends or relatives are less...

Unions should follow Royal College

Healthcare staff should not report suspected illegal abortions to the police as prosecutions are never in the public interest, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has said. The health unions should join the Royal College in issuing advice to health workers against reporting abortions to the police. Dr Ranee Thakar, the College’s president, said “outdated and antiquated” abortion laws meant women were “left vulnerable to criminal investigation.” The comments have provoked a backlash from anti-choice groups and have intensified attention on decriminalisation of abortion...

Yes, the day will come

Interesting, isn’t it, that the same thought is often conveyed in different languages, by oppressed people living through difficult times, across the world. Battling Apartheid, the South African poet, Mongane Wally Serote, put it most elegantly: It is a dry white season dark leaves don’t last, their brief lives dry out and with a broken heart they dive down gently headed for the earth not even bleeding. it is a dry white season brother… indeed, it is a dry white season, but seasons come to pass. The Irish have Tiocfaidh ár lá (Our day will come). Strange And Arash Azizi, who has written a...

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