Evaluation

We calculate that approximately 1,200 attended Feminism in London 2010. This was made up of 968 people who were counted coming through the doors having registered as attendees in advance or on the day, plus approximately 50 speakers and facilitators, 60 volunteers and organising committee members, various press reporters, photographers and guests and another 100-odd people staffing the 38 stalls.

Of these, 427 filled in a feedback form, either on paper on the day or afterwards via an online survey. We also collected demographic data from the 1,093 people who registered in advance. This page provides an analysis of the demographic and general feedback. People were asked to rate the individual sessions and a summary of this information is included on other pages (such as the workshops page), when enough people provided feedback.

Age

Like in 2009, there were a wide range of ages, but the majority were under 35.

Age	Total
Under 18	26
18-24	300
25-34	401
35-44	149
45-54	88
55-64	62
65-74	35
75+	5
Not answered	27
Total	1093

Sex

Of the 1,093 people who registered in advance, 1,013 were women and 50 were men. 30 people preferred not to say.

Sex	Total
Female	1013
Male	50
Not answered	30
Total	1093

 

 

Ethnic grouping

Although people came from a wide range of ethnic groups, the majority of the attendees were white. It is clear that we need to work harder in reaching out to black women.

Ethnic group	Total
White	835
Dual heritage	70
Irish	36
Asian British	32
African	17
Any other Black British	13
Caribbean	9
Chinese	4
Prefer not to say	77
Total	1093

Sexual orientation

Although the largest group described itself as heterosexual, many described themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual. There were also a significant number who selected the “Other, please state” category and filled in a variety of answers, such as queer, women orientated, and “it’s complicated”.

Sexual orientation	Total
Heterosexual/straight	483
Gay woman/lesbian	124
Bisexual	101
Other	31
Gay man	3
Prefer not to say	351
Total	1093

…

How did you hear about Feminism in London 2010?

There were a wide number of ways that people heard about Feminism in London, but topping them all was word of mouth.

How did you hear about it?	Total
A friend or relative	305
London Feminist Network	240
Other feminist/women’s network/group	114
I came last year	85
Facebook	77
University feminist society/women’s group	36
Flyer/card	15
Link from feminist website or blog	15
Internet search	14
The Guardian	14
BBC documentary	10
Mumsnet	9
Twitter	3
Not answered	156
Total	1093

Registration

In 2010, for the first time we had a fully automated online registration system. This allowed people to book one workshop in advance and optionally to book lunch and places at the after party, and to pay using PayPal or debit or credit cards. This was generally popular but there were some random glitches and some people objected to paying online and thought it was biased against people who do not have bank accounts. However, we did respond to all enquiries and took manual payments when there was no other option.

Those who registered in advance did not need to register again on the day if they brought their booking confirmation email, either printed out or on their mobile phone. This was successful in that it greatly reduced the queues compared to 2009 but we still aim to do better next year.

How would you rate the day overall?

The overwhelming response to the question “How would you rate the day overall?” was positive, with only four people rating the event as “average” and no one as “fair” or “poor”. The number of responses to each category are shown in the chart on the left. The chart on the right shows the figures expressed as a percentage and compared with the responses to the same question last year. The overall satisfaction with the day was higher this year compared with 2009.

What was your favourite part of the day?

This was an open-ended question and there were a wide variety of answers. Here is a word cloud created at http://www.wordle.net/ from all the responses to this question. Wordle word clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. In this cloud, we have just used the 50 most frequently occurring words.

Here is a list of the most mentioned aspects of the day. Many people mentioned more than one thing, so the results add up to more than the 381 people who answered the question. Without any doubt, the highlight of the day was the Reports from the global women’s movement panel, but not far behind was the quality and diversity of the speakers and the range of topics covered and the general atmosphere of solidarity and being with so many feminists.

Response mentioned	Total
Reports from the global women’s movement	85
Quality, diversity and range of speakers and topics	69
Solidarity, atmosphere, being with so many feminists	66
Helena Kennedy	31
Women in public life panel	25
Closing session	27
Networking, meeting other feminists	25
Anti-porn slideshow	24
Reproductive health is a feminist issue	23
Everything	22
The stalls	19
Finn Mackay	19
Marie-Claire Faray-Kele	18
Feminist parenting: Challenging misogyny in society	17
Natasha Walter	16
Ceri Goddard	13
Violence against women as a hate crime? workshop	12
Workshops	9
Ann Rossiter	9
Self defence workshop	7
Cynthia Cockburn	6
Naana Otoo-Oyortey	5
Total	550

Here is a pie chart showing the top ten most mentioned aspects:

Here is a selection of the open-ended responses:

• Olive, my daughter, loved the creche very much. I enjoyed the self defence workshop.
• Reproductive health moved me to tears.
• Seeing so many feminists in one place – it felt very welcoming and homely.
• The Pink Stinks session – impressive, inspiring and depressing in equal measure.
• Reports from the Global Women’s Movement was a highlight. But the best thing was learning, challenging my perceptions and broadening my horizons – utterly inspiring!
• Global issues session. Sharing perspecives – older and young women.
• The atmosphere was amazing – very exciting and moving to be among so many feminists.
• Violence against women as hate crime session because it was about a feminist response to current issues and because some of the speakers were so good.
• Learning from women globally (Congo, Iran…).
• Amazing range of women. Inspiring input.
• Baroness Helena Kennedy’s speech. AMAZING. The lady [Marie-Claire Faray-Kele] talking about the Congo. Wow! Had to hold back tears.
• Actually the whole day. Big thanks for organising it!
• Too hard to choose. Fantastic event. Thank you.
• Speakers talking about childbirth.
• The first speaker [Chitra Nagarajan] was really inspiring. I loved her! As was Helena Kennedy. I loved meeting everyone running the stalls and made a few contacts to help me with setting up my own feminist society at uni. I was pleased to see some guys here in addition to my boyfriend.
• Meeting like-minded women – making connections. Hearing such a variety of speakers – very informative. Global and UK main panel events were amazing to hear. 1000 feminists in one room. Most of all the Women of Colour workshop. Incredibly important and the reason I came.
• Hard to pinpoint one specific thing. The speakers were excellent. I especially enjoyed the talks by the woman from AIMS (sorry have forgotten her name) [Beverley Beech] re childbirth and midwifery and also by the Pink Stinks campaign. Also just being surrounded by huge numbers of people happy to describe themselves as feminists!
• Anti-porn session – lots of discussion.
• Meeting and hanging out with feminists of all ages. The tone of encouragement to become active.
• The exhibition on women’s achievements. The distribution of leaflets in front of M&S. Speeches on reproductive health.
• The workshop on violence against women. The sense of sisterhood that comes with 1000 feminists being in a room together.
• I really enjoyed the opening talks by Ceri Goddard and Helena Kennedy and the focus on looking at economic/policy issues and the role of institutions in feminist/gender equality. Also very interesting session on global issues. Cynthia was a great chair – very interesting comments.
• All the attactive women around me who are rad.
• Internalised oppressions workshop. Challenging, interesting, insightful and interactive.
• This was the first time I’d been in a large group of other feminists and meeting many other women with similar views. And the closing speech!
• Great variety in panel speakers – activists, academics, artists and members of specific disenfranchised groups.
• Being with feminists. My first time. What great people. Listening to inspiring speakers. Finding out about groups and what they’re doing.
• A few thought provoking excellent speakers and the two main introductory speakers in the intro session. Helena Kennedy QC, the lady who became a mother as a teenager whose name [Lindsey Hills] I’m embarrased not to remember, the Irish pro choice feminist on reproductive health [Ann Rossiter], the main speaker [Rebecca Mott] in the anti-porn slide show.
• The stalls. I’m inspired to join in and help now!
• The gentle, strong, generous people I met today.
• The speakers were amazing. Deeply moving and inspiring, I was moved to tears at times.
• Hearing about lots of different feminist issues and the women working on them validating my angry feminism!
• Violence workshop really pushed my thinking.
• Hearing from quality speakers who were experts in their area and who offered fresh perspectives and inspiration.
• I enjoyed the variety of speakers and this year’s event, especially the Global Women’s Movement session which was inspiring! It seemed that there were sessions for a range of interests/experience.
• The opening speeches, just being all together in sisterhood.
• Self-defence lesson – absolutely excellent and really useful.
• Being around so many women and feeling inspired about feminism again.
• Being new to meeting with other feminists I really appreciated the opportunity to do this. And to be able to feel proud of being a feminist in a safe environment.
• It was an excellent conference, with excellent and varied speakers and on a different level I thought the workshop of Young, old feminists was well organised, interesting and valuable.
• The accessibility of the venue – that this conference EXISTS! The range of speakers. The nice venue. The stalls of different organisations.
• To find that my voice has a place amongst a choir, not just a solo protest. The fourth wave is brewing!
• Being surrounded by so many like-minded women facing the same challenges – inspiring and reassuring. Good to see so much activism.
• I thought the speakers talking about childbirth in Reproductive Health is a Feminist Issue brought to the audience’s attention an issue that is not discussed enough by feminists or with the general public. Really excellent.
• Hearing extremely intelligent, inspiring women (like Helena Kennedy and Rahila Gupta) speak and disagree with one another – the space for difference and sometimes conflicting voices was what made today a safe and energising environment for me.
• The second you walk into the hall and see the number of fabulous women who are here too – impressive numbers – good stuff.
• Morning workshop on older/younger feminists and the great atmosphere in the plenaries.
• Anti-porn slideshow – motivated me to use more of this in my work. Also challenged me to look/think and act again.
• Ann Rossiter – amazing! Total hero. Want to be as brilliant and fiery as she is when I’m pushing 70. Natasha Walter – inspiring! Fabulous tables, organisations represented, materials and books – all really enlightening and exciting.
• Inspiring speakers. Breadth of topics and speakers.
• 1000 women – this must be the first time in at least two decades that such a large gathering of feminists has happened. Thank you.
• The signer who signed for the trafficking film. She didn’t just sign – she danced with her heart and soul to the music. Beautiful. I did go and express my appreciation.
• Loved it all – very inspiring! And anger provoking!
• The experiential nature of the exploring internalised prejudice workshop; Finn’s rousing closing speech; the celidh at the after event!
• Experiencing – perhaps for the first time – what it was like to be not only the member of a minority group, but spending the entire day thinking about things from other people’s perspectives. As a man, so much of my daily life experience is straightforwardly about me; it was very refreshing to see what it’s like to think primarily about others, their experiences, their problems and their ideas.
• Just being in a room with men and women who are like-minded.  It was such a refreshing change.  The only word I can think of is INSPIRING.
• I have to say, I enjoyed the event very much – the speakers were fantastic, good variety of topics – specially enjoyed reports from the world afternoon session for diversity. I will definitely attend next year!

Are there any topics you would like to see included next year?

This was another open-ended question and here is another word cloud, created from the responses.

Here is a list of the most mentioned ideas and suggestions, grouped, sometimes rather arbitrarily. 314 people answered this question, but many people made more than one suggestion, so the numbers add up to more than the number of people who answered.

Response mentioned	Total
Clearer focus on campaigning issues / activism / direct action / practical things to do / political strategies, using existing legislation / transforming legal obligations into reality, crimes into convictions / respond to current events	34
Damaging effects of fashion and beauty industry / cosmetic surgery / body image / anorexia / objectification of women in the media / effect on girls, young people	26
Prostitution / porn / sex industry / trafficking of women into prostitution	26
More “how to” workshops, especially activism planning, starting and maintaining an activist group / how to plan for the long haul – feminism over 30-40 years / how to get your message, group, etc in the mainstream media / creative strategies for protest	21
Lesbian issues	20
Parenting / child raising issues / building equality in families / feminism and childhood / challenging traditional parenting roles / alternative role models for children / working with young people	17
How to build equal sexual relationships / sexual well being / positive sexuality / women’s enjoyment of sex / expressing sexuality safely	16
Global / international feminism (including European) and links with issues here	15
Feminism and capitalism / economic system / consumerism / political ideology / alternatives	15
Gender, sexuality and identity, guilt, queer politics	12
Confronting power, white privilege, racism, classism, ableism in feminist communities / intersectionality / making feminism inclusive / building sisterhood and solidarity across all the differences designed to divide us	12
Getting women into positions of power / representation of women in politics, business leadership, etc / practical advice about how to do it / women in politics generally / getting ahead at work (e.g. without resorting to traditional masculine strategies) / women entrepreneurs	12
How to engage more men into feminism and tackle masculinities, work together	11
Women in the media / feminism and the media / marginalisation of women in the music and film industries / the male gaze in TV / documentaries by women	11
Religion / Islam / Christian feminists / workshop for those with a religious belief / Islamophobia / threat to women posed by religious fundamentalism	9
Workshop about equality at work / dealing with sexism at work / in the classroom / discrimination and legal remedies / survival tactics in the workplace	9
Language and misogyny / challenging sexual stereotypes / bad science / biological determinism	9
Violence against women / how to end it / discussions about it / survivors speaking out	9
Environmentalism / eco-feminism	8
Challenging militarism / masculinity and violence / gender and war	7
How to discuss feminist issues / challenge sexist behaviours and assumptions in everyday life	7
Digital / cyber activism / impact of blogosphere / women and technology	7
Feminist history / history of the women’s liberation movement / learning from past waves	7
More debates, competing views, more discussion, smaller discussion groups, longer discussions	7
Women and trade unions, the pay gap	7
Feminism and disability	6
Impact of the spending cuts	6
Invite politicians – to answer questions and listen to us	6
Feminism as fight for gender equality (for men as well as women), equalising maternity / paternity leave (debate about) / challenging men’s reluctance to be carers of their children	6
Total	357

In addition, many people recommended speakers and facilitators for next year. Ann Rossiter, Sam Roddick, Barbara Ellen, Ariel Levy, Ingrid Betancourt, Naomi Woolf, Jay Griffiths, Sheila Jeffreys, Jackson Katz, Susan Faludi, Michael Kimmel, Gail Dines, Robert Jenson, Franki Armstrong, Julia Serano, Erica Burman, Sheila Rowbotham, Gail Chester, Andrea Dworkin, Cordelia Fine, Germaine Greer, Daphne Hampson, Deborah Cameron, Shami Chakrabati, Gina Rippon, Polly Toynbee, Adrienne Rich, Hariet Harman, Finn Mackay, Jasvinder Sanghera, Naomi Klein, Susie Orbach, Kat Banyard, Maximus Molyneux, Julia Lalla-Maharaj, Denise Marshall, Roger Inghams and Kate Millet were all mentioned. In addition, one person suggested having a singer as a speaker.

Here is a selection of the verbatim responses:

Do you have any other comments or suggestions?

This was the final open-ended question. This was answered by 260 people. Here is a word cloud of the responses.

The responses were mostly very positive, with many people wanting it to last longer next time. The most consistent criticism was that there was not enough time for discussion in the panel sessions – often because there were too many people on the panels and lax time keeping. We will definitely try to make sure we do better on this next year. Another widespread criticism was that it was not possible for everyone to attend one of the smaller workshops and so a lot of people could only attend the programme in the main hall. In this we were of course constricted by the workshops rooms that were available in the venue. We have managed to book more workshop rooms next year, but there will still be limitations.

The number of people calling for the event to be for women only from now on was roughly counterbalanced by people asking for more men to be present and for some male speakers.

Some practical things were mentioned – such as the sound quality not being good enough and the hall was too hot. Given that there were some problems with the lunches that were pre-booked, we were surprised that only seven people mentioned this. The lunches were provided by the venue and we will try to make sure that we don’t have a repeat of these problems next year.

Some people asked for things that actually were provided (like networking sessions for women who came alone, workshops for children exploring some feminist issues, and more information about the the programme and workshops at the time of booking). However, clearly we have failed to communicate clearly.

Here is a list of the most mentioned comments and a pie chart of the top things mentioned.

Response mentioned	Total
Loved it/thank you/well done/great/wonderful	63
Fewer speakers on panels, stricter timing and more Q&A	35
More workshops/more places and space in workshops	22
Extend it to two (or more days)	19
More practical ideas about what we can do (activism, resolutions, etc.)	13
More breaks so more time for stalls, etc.	10
More opportunities for networking (e.g. a place for women who come alone to meet at lunchtime)	7
More small group discussions (even in the main hall)	7
Lunch was poor	7
More diversity of speakers and attendees	6
Great venue/location	6
Longer day so everything less rushed	6
More signage, better map	5
The stalls area was too cramped	5
More men	5
Promote the event more widely	4
Put the presentations on the website	4
Fact sheets to take away (e.g. 10 things you can do)	4
The main hall was too hot	4
Make it for women only	4
Make the sound quality better in the main hall	4
Total	240

Here is a selection of the responses:

• Thank you for a fabulous conference! There was so much going on it was shame not to be able to attend more workshops!! Could you stretch to two days?? Reproductive health panel had a great film and speakers. The internalised prejudice workshop overran by 30 minutes and was too long. Loved Natasha Walter and Finn Mackay.
• Fewer speakers and more in depth discussion. Pink Stinks was great because we got the chance to really focus.
• I think people got lost in the building easily! More signposts would be good to the workshop rooms.
• I wish the workshops wouldn’t coincide and they could accommodate more people somehow! Overall, this was a wonderfully organised conference, very encouraging.
• The stalls area was a bit cramped for space and it was difficult at peak times (lunch, pre-conference) to access organisation’s tables. Wonderful selection of organisations on stalls.
• A huge thank you to you all!
• A cloak room? Ways of gathering info about attendees – ways to link up – ideas for actions?
• It would be good to have some clear suggestions or signposts for what attendees can get involved in themselves. It’s very moving and invigorating to hear the speakers and it would be good to have some guidance on how to get involved.
• I wish speed feministing had been more clearly marked. I didn’t notice it on the map till I was sitting in the main hall and I am sad to have missed it.
• Anti-porn workshop was very basic – could have discussed more about what could be done, would have been interesting to start with Rebecca’s story, more discussion time/questions. Generally more discussion/debate needed overall. A lot of subjects covered only touched on the basics. Stuff most feminists would already be aware of.
• I didn’t manage to find enough time to visit all the stalls so maybe event could run slightly later with longer breaks or lunch break? In the global women’s movement session, speakers talked about their partner organisations – it would be great to hear from a rep from a partner organisation too if possible next year.
• Main hall was far too hot. There should have screen displaying a Twitter feed. More staff in cafe at lunchtime to reduce queues. But these are minor quibbles and mostly excellent!
• A bigger venue – it felt very cramped in the halls and corridors. Lunch poorly organised.
• Very, very well organised and good venue. Liked the space for stalls and the cafe, etc. for networking.
• I would like it to be a woman only space. I didn’t register initially but I want to say how grateful I am to Anna and all the women who made this conference so inspiring and for all their hard work.
• This was an inspiring and informative day. Thank you.
• A two day conference so that the workshops could be longer and more interactive. Something up North! Feminism in Birmingham or Manchester. Speakers I would love to hear: Sheila Jeffreys, Jackson Katz, Susan Faludi, Michael Kimmel Gail Dines and Robert Jenson. Porn, prostitution, challenging masculinity.
• A one-day event on women and violence against women. How to have more options for harnessing this energy. REALLY well organised. Congratulations.
• Just loved it; I always feel lonely after such events, as it’s so great to be with so many brilliant feminists/people that see sense!
• Much more time needed! Wanted to go on for longer! Maybe a weekend?
• Must find a way of getting all us to ACT for all women. We are many, we need organising now.
• Excellent. My first feminist conference/event but not going to be my last after such an inspirational beginning.
• I think that smaller workshops are key. Some of the issues are so emotionally charged that you really NEED a long, inclusive discussion after. I felt like the anti-porn slides contained a lot of normative assumptions about what “good” or “healthy” sex is. Thank you Finn!
• Few black women – we need to reach out more. Well done all of you. It was my second year in attendance and growing numbers!
• I loved today but there was a lot of being talked “at”. Thank you very much.
• Very good and great to be/feel part of a movement.
• More calls to action. Many issues were raised by groups/individuals who are working to tackle them. The event could have leveraged the goodwill of attendees more and told them how to help. A theme for the event and a passing of resolutions. Including politicians and those who can affect change but are currently reluctant. Bring in varying points of view and get people arguing. More use of media, social media, etc. to promote the event and post-event actions.
• Really powerful stuff. Thanks.
• Fantastic. I have never been before but I shall be coming again – these are mainstream issues
• Your volunteers are amazing, really helpful and well informed. Some speakers were amazing, some not so.
• Amazing good organisation. Excellent venue.
• Would have loved to be able to attend two workshops and interact more. Being a feminist can be lonely.
• I’d like report backs from workshops during or after the conference; i.e. say what pointer/comments were raised without saying who said what (i.e. privacy issues).
• Thank you all very much for the enormous amount of hard work you put into making it an extremely successful day.
• Well done to all who organised this event – wonderful – well organised and wommanish centred. VAW workshop room was too small with no time for debate. Global panel had a good mix of global women.
• Great tshirts on sale. Can bags be printed and sold? If you hold the next conference here – excellent venue – PLEASE open some windows in the main hall. I’d like to see the conference printed as a book to go into libraries/schools etc. The opening and closing speakers. I’d like to hand out copies to other women’s groups who do not want to know about “feminism”. Five great speakers in the opening session – thank you. Four great speakers in the closing session – thank you. Overall, Excellent plus ****.
• So wonderful to be with like minded people. There is some hope yet!
• Thank you for a great day, it’s so reassuring to come to an event with a thousand people who share my most fundamental belief.
• More workshops to choose from would be great and I would also be really keen to have some skill-sharing workshops on practical issues around organising e.g. facilitating campaigns, media (i.e. how to get publicity for your direct actions without putting people at risk of getting arrested!) blogging. More space for debate/Q&A. 2 days next time? Maybe one day more issue based/theoretical/one day on “how to” workshops for activists and organisers.
• There were aspects of the reproductive health session which I was uncomfortable with. The focus on choice re home/hospital birth focussed on home birth at the exclusion of reform of existing hospital birth experience.
• Think about engaging help and support of older women and men who more and more are looking after grandchildren. It was good to see men here. I am so pleased to see a resurgence of feminism in the light of the awful media context women exist in now.
• Everything was very inspiring, it’s the first time I realised how big the feminist network is. Thank you to everyone who organised today. I would love to hear Sheila Rowbotham speak.
• Thank you for organising and for making the event trans inclusive and open to men.
• All good, but would be great to have more space to talk, meet other women in a more informal way – just a room would be great! And please, please, please put all the speeches from today onto the website so we can share them with others.
• The 7-11 year olds’ activity room was excellent. My daughter wants to come back next year.
• Didn’t find map very clear. Kept going round in squares.
• Really liked the venue – fab! And convenient for non-Londoners to get to.
• More interaction and more creative outlets from attendees. Could we all contribute to a mural for example. More time for questions in sessions. Can we get papers from each talk online afterwards.
• Thanks – it was re-energising, affirming and inspiring!
• I and some friends would love to see FiL being a 2 day event or even 3! I know it costs but I think it will give people a chance to take in more, meet other feminists and take part in more workshops. I’m quite happy to fork out myself to help make it happen !!!
• THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.  The organisers of the conference did such a good job and I know it must have been hard work.  My husband went with me and he said it was great to meet other men who feel the same because he sometimes is made to feel a freak.
• Nope – I would be delighted with just the same next year!

Conclusion

We are grateful to everyone who took the time to fill out an evaluation form. Thank you for all the ideas for next year’s programme, the validation of all the work that went into organising the 2010 event and the practical suggestions for how we can make things better next time. We will bear all these things in mind as we plan Feminism in London 2011.