I highly recommend UKfeminsta as a great resource for all UK based feminists, with blogs, news, networking and more!

Sheffield Fems are hosting an evening of speeches followed by questions and answers with candidates from the 4 main parties on the place of women in society

The speakers are:
Jack Scott- Labour standing in Hallam
Nicola Bates- Conservative standing in Hallam
Paul Scriven- Lib Dem standing in Central
Jillian Creasy- Greens standing in Central

Patricia Daniels- Chair

Bring your questions about women to ask the candidates, or simply sit and listen and let this event help you to decide who gets your vote.

HustingsFlyer Please distribute this flyer anywhere suitable if you think you might know people who are interested in this event

Tuesday 23rd March,
Quaker Meeting House,
10 St James Street, Sheffield S1 2EW
Speeches from the candidates will begin at 7.15.
Free (donations on the door), Open To All
sheffieldfems@gmail.com
Jude Dodds 0114 266 0434

Next Tuesday we have a special event planned with the wonderful ladies of chartyourcycle.co.uk
Featuring Highly Unsanitary Comedy for menstruators and non-menstruators alike by Chella and Sarah there will be:
Sneak preview of the latest issue of Adventures in Menstruating zine
Deconstructions of feminine hygiene ads
Putting periods back into history
Comic poetry, zine readings and songs
Mooncup vs. Tampon
Menstrual superheros
and pads for men

Check out www.chartyourcycle.co.uk!

This is will be in the Sat Pal Ram room of the University of Sheffield Student’s Union but is open to ALL. Starting at 7.30pm.
We will also be asking for a small voluntary donation to help cover costs.

There is limited space so please let us know if you are definitely coming. Also non students coming need to give us their names in advance so we can put your name on the door of the Union so you can get in.

email sheffieldfems[at]gmail.com for more info etc.

Don’t miss this event!

Alex

-Alex

Women in Honduras protest against the military coup

“What kind of democracy are they talking about?    Democracy should involve the participation of the people.”

“We will not be silent! They will not silence us!”

 CAWN (the UK based Central American Women’s Network) highlights the fact that, as usual, media coverage of the continuing  crisis in Honduras omits both consideration of the impact of Micheletti’s military coup on women and the role of women in protesting against it. In fact, women have been in the forefront of the protest.

“As the threat of a coup loomed, women’s organisations sprang into action, organising marches, mobilising rural and urban women, writing and distributing bulletins, and sending information and eyewitness images around the world by email, blogs and social networking media. Since the mainstream news channels in Honduras are strictly controlled, these reports from women continue to provide crucial information by their immediacy and by giving a voice to ordinary people,” says Katherine Ronderas in a press recent release.

For more information on women in Honduras go to the CAWN website at http://www.cawn.org/html/Honduras.html

One of the songs in the show explains that the large number of orphans in Malawi is due to “the abuse of young women” – a problem endemic across Africa. Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues and the V-Day charity, has used her visit to central Africa  this summer (in contrast to sister American Madonna) to promote awareness in the West about this huge problem of violence against women. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ensler recorded testimony from a number of women’s rights activists, among them Jeanine Gabrielle Ngungu  who talks about the “planned vulnerability of women” in Congolese society, a vulnerability which has been exacerbated by the 10-year long conflict. Jeanine also refers to “the ambivalent solidarity of the international community” as regards providing any viable solution to these problems.  For example, rape attack has escalated under a US-backed military operation employing 1000s of poorly trained Congolese soldiers.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listens to a representative of displaced civilians at a UNHCR camp near Goma in eastern Congo.    

With Hillary Clinton also touring the region, Eve Ensler says “for maybe the first time in history a U.S. Secretary of State has made the systematic raping of women the reason to visit a country.” Clinton has also promised  $17 million as a starter to address violence against women in the Congo, to which Ensler responds: 

In Kenya the V-Day charity has funded safe houses for girls in danger of abuse, protecting them from female genital mutilation or from being forced into early marriage. It also provides the women working in the project with the opportunity to develop management and leadership skills, raising women’s profile nationally. This begins to tackle some of the root causes of gender-based violence. It’s a far cry from Madonna putting money into Malawian orphanages.

I do like her, but I don’t always like what she wears. Clearly, I support her wearing whatever the fuck she wants, and I’m definitely all for fat fashion that says “fuck you I refuse to hide myself and my body”, but most of what I’ve seen her in I wouldn’t wear myself. So I was looking forward to the collection with some trepidation.

I saw a press release in Grazia last week. I’ve ended up with a subscription to Grazia since another magazine folded and Grazia offered their magazine as a fill in for the remainder of my subscription. I don’t mind Grazia, and never have. It’s a fashion magazine yes, but there is also srs bsns journalism in there, and it’s less gossipy than a lot of women’s magazines. It’s a cheap enough and easy enough read, and I do like that they’re even covering Beth’s stuff.

The clothes… weren’t awful. Maybe not exactly what I’d choose but nice enough. My main problem was the price. I really liked the purple sequin top but at £65 there’s no way I could justify buying it. (Is it a top or a dress? Grazia says one and Look says another…)

I guess that’s where my fear lies – that the collection is aimed at women aged say 18-30 and I’m smack bang in the middle of that (I’m 25), and I do not have the disposable income* to drop that, and that if I don’t others don’t either, and therefore the collection will fail and Evans will say “There’s no point us doing anything like this because women don’t want it”. When in fact we DO want it, we ust can’t afford the bloody things.

*I’m unemployed right now but even employed I couldn’t spend that on ONE ITEM of clothing.

Having said all this, I love the two-tone shoes, although I’m unlikely to buy them because I have “straight-sized” feet and rarely buy shoes in Evans, and I really like the domino print leggings and am considering an outfit consisting of them, a knee length black pouffy skirt and a white top. I could rock that.

Deena at Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too (a blog I love and I adore how Deena dresses – she’s so stylish) wrote about the collection here. Charlotte at Obesity Timebomb attended the launch and wrote about it here. Beth looks amazing in the photos. I only hope that her collection can sell.