Women's Fightback, Feminism

"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...

We believe in joint struggle, an interview with Rula Daood

Rula Daood is National Co-Director of Standing Together, a grassroots movement mobilising Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice: standing-together.org Rula spoke to Kelly Rogers. Rula Daood’s first foray into political activism took place in a bakery in the southern coastal city of Ashdod during the 2014 Israel-Gaza war. As the air raid siren sounded, she found herself surrounded by strangers. Picking up a copy of the Israeli daily Haaretz , she began to read an article about the situation facing children in Gaza. One of the...

Women and the miners' strike 1984-5

The 1984-5 miners’ strike is a moment ripe with lessons and with stories that are devastating and inspiring in equal measure. Among them is the incredible story of the coalfield women. The women’s support movement whirred into action only a few short weeks after the strike began on 6 March 1984. Support groups were set up in every coalfield by local women, predominantly the wives, sisters and daughters of miners. They would keep the strike going for 12 long months. Class In Never the Same Again , published in 1987, Jean Stead wrote about the traditional values held by those in the mining...

Lessons from Mexico

Verónica Cruz Sánchez is the founder of Las Libres, an organisation based in Guanajuato, Mexico, which campaigns for universal access to free, safe and legal abortion. Since 2021, and the repeal of Roe v Wade, Las Libres have been supporting women in the US to access abortions as well. Verónica spoke to Camila Vergara. What is Las Libres? Las Libres is a feminist organisation in Guanajuato, Mexico, that I and other feminists founded 23 years ago. In 2000, the state decided to criminalise abortion even in cases of rape, the only legal exception previously. There were big mobilisations against...

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