Tagged with Feminism

Sexism in the UK

mkhoqt (2)There are a few of quick notes about the UN’s Rashida Manjoo’s claim that the UK is endemically sexist and that is is worse here than “other places”.

Firstly, it’s a bit of a shock, if I’m honest. I’ve written a fair few things about gender and sexism, and of course I’m aware of and appreciate the work feminist comrades have done tackling ‘everyday’ sexism. That said, while much still needs to be done I didn’t for one moment think that the UK’s sexism problem was worse than other developed nations. Okay, leaving out Nordic countries, is the UK worse than Italy, France, and the USA? If it is then things are grimmer than I thought. Continue reading →

A feminist in support of OMOV for Labour Students elections

Young Labour Labour Students Next GenerationThis weekend, I was a first-time delegate to the national council of Labour Students, an organisation I have been a member of for two years. One of the main debates of the weekend was moving to a system of “one member one vote” (OMOV) for Labour Students elections. It is my intention to report the facts as far as possible, whilst not neglecting my firmly-held beliefs that moving to OMOV would be highly beneficial to the organisation.

My first concern surrounding the issue of OMOV in Labour Students arose through the survey that was released in advance of the national council meeting. While this survey was open to all members and completely anonymous (+ brownie points), I couldn’t help but be somewhat dismayed that the survey was only open for five days, giving people a very short time in which to respond, and thus limiting the total number of responses that could be gathered. Continue reading →

Louise Mensch and Conservative Feminism

When I was an undergraduate I probably spent more time dosing up on heavy duty social theory than drinking until blindness set in. One module I took was on feminist social theory because, at that time, I was deeply concerned with questions around revolutionary subjectivity and the place socialism had in a fragmenting and media saturated society. Now, I wasn’t a complete stranger when it came to feminism. At A-Level I learned about your liberal, Marxist and radical feminism (thanks Haralambos!), and read a bit aroundThe Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism/Dual Systems Theory. So I thought I knew a thing or two. No. It turned out that good old Haralambos hadn’t told half the story. He, in fact, had completely skipped over the emergence since of postmodern feminisms and feminist standpoint. Continue reading →

French feminists join campaign against EU Fiscal Compact

French feminists have joined a growing campaign against a new EU treaty arguing that women would be in the frontline of a scary new world of ‘permanent austerity’ .

The Fiscal Compact, set to be tabled for a vote in the National Assembly in October,  would threaten women’s rights and ‘exacerbate gender inequalities’ as cuts are made to services for sexual and reproductive health, grants to organisations fighting violence against women, and maternity and abortion clinics closed, argue some forty leading French women activists in a joint statement. Continue reading →