Blog posts from October 2009
More on Equal Pay Day - A Tale of Two Cities
By Jess McCabe | 30 October 2009, 12:52
As Helen mentioned already, today is Equal Pay Day - the average pay gap between men and women is 17.1%, meaning that while men in work will be paid for the full year, women in work are effectively working…
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Friday 30th October is Equal Pay Day
By Helen G | 30 October 2009, 07:45
Friday 30th October is Equal Pay Day, a day of action lead by the Fawcett Society to draw attention to the fact that, on average, women’s full time mean hourly pay is 17.1% less than men’s. 30th October symbolically marks…
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Bermondsey suffragettes 100 years ago!
By Jess McCabe | 28 October 2009, 14:17
One hundred years ago today, two suffragettes poured ink and chemicals into two polling boxing during the Southwark by-election, reports London SE1, in a bid to disrupt an election in which women were not given the right to vote. But…
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Survey: Women, Rape and the Law
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 16:11
The Campaign to End Rape coalition is conducting a survey on women’s attitudes to and experiences of rape and the law: This questionnaire aims to collect some fresh information about what women think and know about rape. It is aimed…
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Crime fiction reviewer refusing to review any more books because of misogynist violence
By Jess McCabe | 27 October 2009, 15:14
Crime fiction writer and reviewer for the Literary Review is refusing to review any more crime novels because of the high levels of misogynist violence, the Guardian reports. Jessica Mann, an award-winning author who reviews crime fiction for the Literary…
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Mass Lobby of Parliament to End Violence Against Women
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 13:10
Amnesty International have organised a mass labby of parliament on Wednesday November 4th to push for a comprehensive end violence against women strategy: The UK Government is obliged to protect, respect and fulfil women’s human rights. As the 2010 general…
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World Wide Women Conference
By Laura Woodhouse | 27 October 2009, 10:26
On Saturday, I attended the World Wide Women conference in Sheffield, organised by Sheffield Fems and the Sheffield branch of WILPF (the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom). The day’s aim was to highlight some of the challenges facing…
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Disney Princesses
By Jess McCabe | 26 October 2009, 16:06
Via Sociological Images and Fiona A, this is quite an interesting (if not exhaustive) deconstruction of some of the issues with Disney princesses….
New feature: Gender in the playground
By Jess McCabe | 25 October 2009, 23:39
Primary schools are no utopia of skipping rope and gender blind comradery. Instead, girls are already learning to worry about their looks - and boys are learning male privilege, reports teacher Kate Townshend I am in the classroom tidying up…
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Internship opportunity at Refuge
By Jess McCabe | 25 October 2009, 23:22
Do you want to intern at Refuge? Well, there’s an opening - applications close tomorrow at 5pm though! Refuge has come a long way since we opened the world’s first refuge in West London in 1971. What started off as…
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Launch of the Transgender Resource and Empowerment Centre, Manchester, 7 November
By Helen G | 25 October 2009, 16:30
IMPORTANT NEWS FOR THE NW TRANS COMMUNITY Saturday November 7th 2009 You are invited to the launch of TREC - an innovative new Trans Resource & Empowerment Centre for all trans and gender variant people in the North West (&…
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Nancy Spero RIP
By Jess McCabe | 22 October 2009, 10:18
Feminist artist Nancy Spero has died. I’m not familiar with her work, but Adrian Searle writing in the Guardian says: There was a memorable series devoted to Antonin Artaud, which included the phrase: “Artaud I couldn’t have borne to know…
EHRC - Trans inequalities reviewed
By Helen G | 21 October 2009, 20:55
The Equality and Human Rights Commmission (EHRC) has published its Research Report 27: Trans Research Review, a review of evidence on the inequalities and high levels of discrimination faced by trans people in Britain. This includes such things as: attitudes…
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Can I just say…
By Lynne Miles | 21 October 2009, 18:53
… that this sounds like the best summer camp ever, and I’m so jealous that Kenzie got to go and I didn’t. There were movies in the evening, a choice of Fried Green Tomatoes and Joy Luck Club, and just…
Happy birthday to Ursula le Guin
By Jess McCabe | 21 October 2009, 16:10
Today is Ursula le Guin’s birthday, Ambling Along the Aqueduct reminds us. Le Guin is on the list of mindblowing science fiction by women & people of colour we linked to recently. You can read an interesting short story she…
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Consumer Direct - are we missing something?!
By Jess McCabe | 21 October 2009, 11:15
Consumer Direct is a government-funded service set up to advise consumers of our rights. They liven up this process with a series of slapstick photos of people in consumer-disaster situations, such as this guy whose jumper seems to have shrunk,…
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Hollaback UK
By Laura Woodhouse | 21 October 2009, 09:41
We’re still getting regular comments on the street harassment post I wrote last year, so I was delighted to hear that a Hollaback UK site has just been started by Laura C: Inspired by HollaBack NYC, and a recent…
Working fathers want to spend more time with children.
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 October 2009, 16:12
A new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has found that working fathers feel similarly anxious about balancing their work and family life to working mothers, but are afraid of asking for more flexible hours: The report…
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JSA Rant
By Laura Woodhouse | 20 October 2009, 13:41
I’ve just got off the phone with a woman from the Dept of Work and Pensions regarding my Job Seekers’ Allowance (JSA) application. I phoned up four weeks ago and filled out all the details on the phone. I said…
Pink stinks!
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 October 2009, 16:04
Having visited Hamley’s for the first time this weekend and been confronted with separate, colour-coded floors for “boys’” and “girls’” toys - apparently boys don’t like arts and crafts or dressing up and nine-year-old girls need French manicures to look…
Murdered woman’s flat set alight; cis man arrested
By Helen G | 19 October 2009, 14:32
I know I’m a bit late with this one, but the media coverage - primarily in the Daily Mail, but also by BBC News - is, quite frankly, really starting to irritate me and I really have to rant a…
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Lap dancing reform.
By Laura Woodhouse | 19 October 2009, 11:25
Anti-objectification group, Object, have been campaigning for a change to the licensing laws surrounding strip clubs and lap dancing since April 2008. There has been a huge increase in the number of strip clubs in the UK since the introduction…
New anarcha feminist kollective - Edinburgh
By Catherine Redfern | 18 October 2009, 09:57
There’s a new anarcha feminist group being set up in Edinburgh! The group want to collaborate with other groups and feminists from around the UK. One of the first actions is a planned ‘femmestruation’ week for 13th-20th February 2010:…
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9 inspiring examples of women’s climate activism
By Jess McCabe | 16 October 2009, 14:58
Here is a list of nine fantastic and inspiring examples of feminist and women’s activism on climate change and environmental issues, put together in honour of Blog Action Day 2009. When I participated back in 2007, I set out why…
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Daily Mail Bingo
By Lynne Miles | 16 October 2009, 11:17
Check out this column…. Homophobia? …. check. Transphobia? …. check. Misogyny? … check. What a refreshing start to the day….
Vote for brilliant Haven Sexual Assault Referral Centre employee!
By Laura Woodhouse | 16 October 2009, 10:29
Harpreet Sihota, Asian Development Worker for the Whitechapel Sexual Assault Referral Centre, is one of five finalists in the Daily Mirror’s People’s Award, in recognition of her exceptional work with women who have been raped or sexually assaulted: The People’s…
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Round-Up
By Louise Livesey | 15 October 2009, 22:55
Here’s some things that have been interesting me over the past few days…. Further to previous coverage of the Roman Polanski (see here, here and here) I was interested to read this from Everyday Sociology about the difference in reporting…
Guest post: Girl Germs
By Jess McCabe | 15 October 2009, 10:23
Lydia Harris and Laura Wilson explain why they’re organising a zine, music and cake night in London this Saturday, and what to expect Girls Germs is a grrrl-tastic night of music, zines, cakes and dancing. Everybody who comes gets a…
It’s only 10.20 and already my brain hurts…
By Laura Woodhouse | 15 October 2009, 10:22
Check out this ridiculous quote from an article in today’s Guardian on financial firms’ use of brothels and lap dancing clubs: Nichola Pease, who runs the fund manager JO Hambro, told the committee that equality legislation in Britain was preventing…
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Guest Post: No to Eggsploitation!
By Guest Blogger | 15 October 2009, 10:00
The No to Eggsploitation campaigners argue that we need to protect women from the risks of egg donation. In July, Lisa Jardine, Chair of the Human Fertilization And Embryology Authority (HFEA), announced that the HFEA is likely to rescind the…
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New feature: Feminism in London 2009
By Jess McCabe | 14 October 2009, 15:38
Charlotte Cooper reports back from the capital’s second Feminism in London conference The Feminism in London conference, now in its second year, was an opportunity to bring together intergenerational, interfaith, black, white and minority ethnic women and men from various…
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New blog by feminists with disabilities.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 October 2009, 11:21
FWD/Forward (feminists with disabilities for a way forward) is a group blog written by a crew of (mostly US and Australian) feminists with disabilities who are interested in exploring the intersection between feminism and disability rights activism. Launched on October…
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Fashion world round-up.
By Laura Woodhouse | 14 October 2009, 10:37
The October issue of French Vogue, billed as a ‘Top Models Special’ features a blacked-up a white model in “ethnic” clothing and no black models: “It’s horrible, there’s nothing else to describe it,” says Nana A Tamakloe, founder of Confidence…
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Met may shut down human trafficking unit
By Jess McCabe | 13 October 2009, 17:51
The Metropolitan Police may shut its specialist unit to tackle human trafficking because of lack of funding. You might remember this is the second time that the unit has been threatened with closure due to funding issues; last time, it…
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Erasure of women from the arts
By Jess McCabe | 13 October 2009, 13:47
Bidisha has a good piece over on Comment is Free today about the way that work by male artists is overvalued and work by women artists is undervalued. Yet the support staff are usually all or almost all women. The…
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Calls to legalise prostitution during football World Cup in South Africa.
By Laura Woodhouse | 12 October 2009, 11:30
The Observer reports that prostitution may be made temporarily legal in South Africa during the football World Cup in 2010 in order to try and “limit HIV infection among millions of fans visiting the country for the tournament”. Nice to…
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Mass lobby of Parliament on No Recourse to Public Funds, Wednesday 4 November
By Jess McCabe | 12 October 2009, 09:10
No woman should be left without support and protection leaving a violent partner. Yet this is the reality for the women caught under the government’s “no recourse to public funding” rule, which serves its anti-immigration agenda by putting up barriers…
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Gude Cause
By Jess McCabe | 11 October 2009, 21:38
Yesterday was a major day for feminists; as well as the conference which some of us F-Worders attended, women took to the streets of Edinburgh for the Gude Cause - a re-enactment of a key procession in the story…
Feminism in London 2009
By Jess McCabe | 11 October 2009, 21:19
I’ve just posted my photos from Feminism in London 2009 on Flickr, check out the whole lot here. Charlotte Cooper also took some at the conference and our feminist tweet up afterwards at the pub too!…
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Marina Hyde on “Strictly Come Dancing” racism.
By Laura Woodhouse | 10 October 2009, 15:43
Just wanted to quickly highlight this excellent Comment is Free piece by Marina Hyde on the racism row that has erupted surrounding the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. One of the dancers, Anton Du Beke, told his partner she looked like…
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Swedish schoolchildren challenge Toys R Us gender stereotyping.
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 October 2009, 12:44
I’m sure we’ve discussed the horrible gender stereotyping in Toys R Us stores in the past on The F Word, and I was actually in there at the weekend, trying to contain my rage as I walked past pink ‘Girlz’…
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Feminism in London workshop.
By Laura Woodhouse | 9 October 2009, 10:19
I’m posting this on behalf of all the members of The F Word blog collective. UPDATE: The Feminism in London organisers have now contacted us to clarify that the workshop is open to trans women, contrary to what we were…
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Kate on Fourth Plinth in abortion access protest
By Jess McCabe | 8 October 2009, 11:09
F-Word contributor Kate Smurthwaite faked her way onto the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in a protest about lack of abortion access for Northern Irish women. Here’s the press release (and you can see photos here) PRESS RELEASE: Fake plinther…
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Guest Post: Disability Benefits Under Threat
By Guest Blogger | 7 October 2009, 19:38
Amy Clare writes on the news that the Tories have announced plans to get half a million people “off incapacity benefit” if they get into power and explains why this is a feminist issue. EDIT: She also gives details of…
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‘Hallowe’en on the moonlit waters of Little Venice’
By Jess McCabe | 6 October 2009, 16:14
I went to this last year on Hallowe’en with some friends, it was great, I absolutely recommend it: Date: Saturday 31st October 2009 This Hallowe’en sees the return of our hugely popular boat event, but for one night only so…
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Probation officer on how social services handle domestic violence
By Jess McCabe | 6 October 2009, 14:27
A disturbing quote about how social services handle cases of domestic violence, in a piece by a probation officer over at CommentisFree today: We regularly tell social services of children living in houses where we know there is domestic violence….
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Guest post: More attacks on mums
By Guest Blogger | 6 October 2009, 11:54
Amy Clare is exasberated by yet another piece of research and media reporting stigmatising mothers who work in paid employment (as well as child care) Another day, another piece of sexist research being loudly trumpeted in the media, with the…
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Guest post: How to respond to those viral ‘rape prevention’ emails
By Guest Blogger | 6 October 2009, 11:38
Katie Toms continues the theme of how to respond to viral emails urging women to be careful and stop themselves being raped/sexually assaulted, sharing with us the email she now sends in reply. Katie writes about music, books, art and…
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Petition calling for fair treatment of sexual assault victims in India.
By Laura Woodhouse | 6 October 2009, 09:23
British student Kaya Eldridge, who was unfairly cross-examined on her character and lifestyle in an Indian court room during the trial of a man who sexually assaulted her, contacted us to ask that we support her petition to ensure Indian…
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The Sun attempts to body-shame Mariah Carey with stupid slideshow
By Jess McCabe | 5 October 2009, 15:39
Via Tabloid Watch, comes this ridiculous story in The Sun, calling Mariah Carey “huge”. Yeah, really. They even put together a slideshow, with moment-by-moment snapshots of some dancers apparently “struggling” to lift her during a TV performance. Looking at…
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New review: The Raincoats play the National Portrait Gallery
By Jess McCabe | 5 October 2009, 11:11
The Raincoats are as vital as ever, argues Lydia Harris, who left their recent gig determined to join a grrrl band For just over three months, the National Portrait Gallery has been celebrating Gay Icons. This impressive exhibition features photographic…
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New review: Mysteries of the Iconographies
By Jess McCabe | 5 October 2009, 10:13
Artist Carolee Schneemann may be best-known for ‘Interior Scroll’, in which she read from a scroll she extracted from her vagina. But, at 70, her influence stretches far beyond that one famous performance piece. Kaite Welsh attended her recent lecture…
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New review: The Hour Past Midnight
By Jess McCabe | 5 October 2009, 09:08
Salma’s debut novel is a moving and beautifully-written must-read, says Sian Norris Salma, a renowned Tamil poet who has faced obscenity charges and violent threats in her homeland of India, has written what can only be described as an extraordinary…
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Body Image feminist action in San Francisco
By Catherine Redfern | 4 October 2009, 12:08
From About Face, a San Francisco based organisation that campaigns about body image: Don’t women deserve to feel fantastic when they look in a mirror? Wouldn’t it be lovely to remember that “Confidence is beauty” when you see your reflection?…
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New review: Edinburgh Ladyfest 2009
By Jess McCabe | 3 October 2009, 17:42
Wisrutta Atthakor reports back from Edinburgh’s second Ladyfest, a festival centring women’s art and music, replete with workshops, comedy and stand-up. Includes an interview with Zorras Ladyfest Edinburgh 2009, the second to be held in Edinburgh and hopefully not the…
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Menarchy
By Jess McCabe | 3 October 2009, 17:02
Menarchy - or menstrual anarchy - includes “simple efforts to speak openly about periods, radical affronts to negative attitudes and campaigns for more environmentally friendly sanitary products”, Kira Cochrane says in yesterday’s Guardian. She profiles some interesting examples of ‘menarchy’…
New Sarah Haskins
By Jess McCabe | 3 October 2009, 16:53
This week, Sarah Haskins makes fun of the way adverts sell stuff to men by saying that “hot chicks” will literally flock to the man wearing their deodorant/chewing their gum/etc….
Guest post: More on Polanski
By Guest Blogger | 2 October 2009, 10:56
Guest post by Rosamund Urwin, journalist - for more on Polanski’s arrest see Laura and Louise’s posts It has been with horror that I have read most of the newspaper coverage of Roman Polanski’s arrest. It is bad enough, if…
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New play based on interviews with women trafficked to the UK
By Jess McCabe | 2 October 2009, 10:37
it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now is a new play by Lucy Kirkwood, which is based on in-depth interviews with women trafficked into prostitution in the UK who have spent time in…
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Guest post: Reclaim the Night Leeds
By Guest Blogger | 1 October 2009, 22:36
This guest post is by Leanne Sutheran, on behalf of the Reclaim the Night Leeds Steering Group Sisters, you are all warmly invited to join with the women of Leeds as they march to Reclaim the Night on Saturday 28…
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Guest post: Feminism in London 2009
By Guest Blogger | 1 October 2009, 15:21
Less than two weeks to go until Feminism in London 2009, Yasmin Eshref talks through what the event is about and what to expect. This year, Saturday 10 October is a very special day. London’s Conway Hall will play home…
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September feature/review comments up now!
By Jess McCabe | 1 October 2009, 13:37
Our round up of comments on features and reviews from September is up now! This month, Melanie’s review arguing Stieg Larrson’s bestsellers are in fact misogynist and exploitative, not, as advertised, feminist, draws some interesting comments. Likewise Caitlin’s Twilight-inspired feminist…
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Photos from Asian women’s climate quilt parade at UN talks
By Jess McCabe | 1 October 2009, 10:43
People’s Action on Climate Change have posted a gallery of fantastic photos from the Asian Women’s Quilt Parade that took place today at the UN climate talks in Bangkok. More about the project from the press release: Asian grassroots…
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The “things I’ve been meaning to blog but job applications got in the way” round-up.
By Laura Woodhouse | 1 October 2009, 10:09
Firstly we have this widely reported study, which concluded that children with working mothers have less healthy lifestyles than those with stay-at-home mothers. Yes, researchers actually designed a study seemingly* based on the infuriating and discriminatory idea that only working…
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New review: How to survive and thrive as a creative professional for hire
By Jess McCabe | 1 October 2009, 09:19
Red Chidgey reviews a step-by-step guide to going freelance Hands up if you’re an office outsider. Tell-tale signs include: a rotating handful of ‘work clothes’ to feign respectability, perpetual feelings of wishing you were anywhere else, the sure-fire ability to…
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UK Supreme Court starts work…
By Louise Livesey | 1 October 2009, 08:21
And guess how many are women? Yep tokenism is alive and well - the only woman on the panel of twelve judges (although one seat is unfilled) is Brenda Hale (Baroness Hale of Richmond) who was also the first (and…
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