‘Clinton is proving that feminist foreign policy is possible – and works’ so headlines an article in the Guardian in which Madeleine Bunting argues that Hilary Clinton is building her political foreign policy on a solid 1970s feminist mantra that ‘Transformation in the role of women is that last great impediment to universal progress.’ Clinton has proclaimed that ‘the rights of women and girls are now core to US foreign policy’ and Bunting draws attention to the 450 mentions of this ‘signature issue’ in the first five months of Clinton’s office. Clinton argues that ‘the empowerment, protect and protection of women and girls is vital to the long-term security of the US’. In a telling remark Bunting asks, imagine any politician saying something similar in the UK now. It is, indeed, unimaginable! Continue reading “Is feminism in the UK experiencing a double dip? Call for Action”
DIANA LEONARD: FEMINIST ACTIVIST, ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGIST AND EDUCATOR
Diana Mary Leonard, who has died aged 68 of endometrial cancer after a stubborn struggle, was a feisty and fiery feminist academic and activist. She was one of the originators of feminist sociology in the academy, organising the first British Sociological Association (BSA) conference on what was then known as sexual divisions in 1974. She never looked back from this early immersionin feminist politics and developed collaborative feminist practices in theorising, researching and political campaigning. A long and hard fight to get into and establish feminist scholarship, practices and pedagogies in the academy made her a strong and uncompromising leader of radical feminist activism and academic work in higher education. Diana was of a particular generation of activists who were first involved in the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was also a broad-ranging social scientist, having started in anthropology before moving on to sociology, as well as education from the late 1960s to the present, retiring from her post as Professor of Sociology of Education and Gender at the Institute of Education, University of London, three years ago. But she never actually retired and, with her emeritus status, and visiting professorship at the Centre for Higher Education Equity Research, University of Sussex, from 2008, she continued actively to engage with global feminist debates, theories and practices, having established a fearsome feminist agenda. This involvement ranged across continents from her early studies on French materialist feminism, to work in Canada and the USA, to Australia, Greece, Ireland, Israel and the Gender Equity Task Force in South Africa (1997), and at the Fatimah Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan (2005-7). Continue reading “DIANA LEONARD: FEMINIST ACTIVIST, ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGIST AND EDUCATOR”
Does Hit Girl Kick Ass?
Written by Jane Goldman and starring Aaron Johnson (a British actor known best for playing John Lennon in ‘Nowhere Boy’), Chole Moretz (last seen in the remake of the ‘Amityville Horror’) and Nicholas Cage, this movie was hailed simultaneously as
being ‘cynical, premeditated and mindbogglingly irresponsible’ (The Daily Mail) and, ‘a thoroughly outrageous, jaw-droppingly violent and very funny riff on the quasi-porn world of comic books’ (The Guardian). Wherever it went Kick Ass stirred emotions, fired debate and ultimately made a lot of money. The cause of the controversy? Hit Girl, an 11 year-old wise cracking, knife wielding, karate kicking female superhero-in-training. But is Hit Girl a Feminist icon for the 21st Century? Continue reading “Does Hit Girl Kick Ass?”
Slovak feminists are doing it for themselves
Earlier this week, while on a visit to Slovakia, I was able to visit ASPEKT, a feminist educational and publishing organization based in the capital, Bratislavia, Slovakia (the southern part of what was known as the former Czechoslovakia). Continue reading “Slovak feminists are doing it for themselves”
‘Rage of the Girl Rioters’?
Everyday there seems to be yet more depressing news for education in the UK. Yesterday saw more rushed ideological notions of bringing soldiers into the classrooms, destroying teacher education within Higher Education, and reconfiguring the national curriculum yet again.
Schoolchildren and students were also active in walking out of lessons, taking to the streets and occupying campuses. These actions are in response to massive hikes in tuition fees in Higher Education, and the abolishment of the Educational Maintenance Allowance in Further Education. Curiously, an article in the the Daily Mail has focused on the gendering of these protests, highlighting the actions of rioting girls. Perhaps we are seeing a new wave of youth and female led activism? I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts
Made in Dagenham: Made for Feminist Discussion in Schools?
This month has seen the release of the hotly debated film Made in Dagenham. This is a film which recalls the events surrounding the 1968 strike by the women sewing machinists at the Ford plant in Dagenham, London. The film was produced by Stephen Wooley and Elizabeth Karlsen in conjunction with BBC films and was directed by Nigel Cole (also known for his direction of the popular film ‘Calendar Girls’). At a recent London Feminist Network screening of the film, the film’s producers Wooley and Karlsen claim that the original idea for the film was first developed over four years ago. However, they explain that the film was unsuccessful in gaining funding at this time because there appeared to be very little interest in feminism or on issues relating to equal pay. Continue reading “Made in Dagenham: Made for Feminist Discussion in Schools?”
Grandma was a Suffragette: one woman’s part in the Votes for Women campaign
A presentation by Barbara Andrew, feminist, socialist, trade unionist, community activist and proud grand-daughter of Thirza Cove, militant London Suffragette Continue reading “Grandma was a Suffragette: one woman’s part in the Votes for Women campaign”
An Unusual Feminist Initiative
Bill Bryson, the current Chancellor at Durham University has raised £625000 through appeals to alumni- to fund 25 Afghan women to attend the university over next 5 years- the first starting this September. This partnership was made possible through Professor Hamidullah Amin, who is the chancellor of Kabul University and a former student at Durham University.
He has obviously been through hell and back to achieve this. Congrats to Durham Alumnae, more of this kind of thing please.