This page provides a brief summary of the workshops and panels held at Feminism in London 2010.
Reports from the global women’s movement
This panel looked at the women’s movement internationally. Its purpose was to link feminist activism in the United Kingdom with our sister movements across the world in order to shift and broaden our gaze to configure the terrain of what consists of feminist and activist, raise understanding and awareness as well as stand together in solidarity in our struggles.
By presenting the experiences and activism of struggles for the human rights of women, the panel addressed ‘full spectrum feminism,’ discussing different kinds and manifestations of patriarchy, poverty and exploitation from feminist perspectives. The speakers were:
- Dr Nadje Al-Ali
- Leila Alikarami
- Marie-Claire Faray-Kele
- Tsitsi Matekaire
- Katherine Ronderos
- Cynthia Cockburn (chair)
This session was one of the highlights of the day, with 85 people mentioning it as one of their favourite parts of the day and more than 97% of the 239 people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good. Here are two responses (that are typical of many) to the question “What was your favourite part of Feminism in London 2010?”
“Reports from the Global Women’s Movement – it was fantastic to hear about what’s happening in the global and international movement.”
“The passionate speaker from the Congo. Her passion for her subject was both refreshing and inspiring.”
Reproductive health is a feminist issue
Recent studies have shown that pregnancy and childbirth are the major cause of death of women in their reproductive years in Africa – where women have a 1 in 16 chance of dying from the complications of pregnancy and childbirth and 34 percent of all of these deaths are caused by unsafe abortions*. Many more of these deaths are the direct consequence of female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage, malnutrition and the lack of even the most basic midwifery care.
In industrialised countries there is an ever increasing trend for highly medicalized care – evidenced by the steadily increasing caesarian rates – in the UK from 12% in 1990 to 24% in 2008 with no improvement in outcomes for the baby* and greatly increased risks for the mother* – far past the 10 to 15% maximum rate recommended by the World Health Organization*.
This panel aimed to dispel some of the negative myths around childbirth and put a feminist perspective on the whole complex area of women’s reproductive health and related issues. We looked at the under-investment in maternity provision in this country, female genital mutilation and its consequences and the lack of abortion provision in Ireland in particular. We celebrated the power of women’s reproductive capacities and the power of women to survive, resist and support each other. The speakers were:
- Ann Rossiter
- Beverley Beech
- Naana Otoo-Oyortey, MBE
- Professor Lesley Page
- Yasmin Rehman (chair)
More than 93% of the 188 people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Unfortunately Wendy Savage, who was originally advertised as being on this panel, was not in fact able to attend Feminism in London 2010.
Feminist self-defence and assertiveness training
This workshop invited women to share their concerns about personal safety and aims to address these concerns. It looked at the concept of women’s self defence and why it is important. During the course of the workshop participants were shown a short video addressing issues around personal safety and were taught basic self defence moves. Participants also had the opportunity to start developing their own personal safety plan.
We ran this workshop in 2009 and it was very well received. In the evaluation, many women said it was one of the best parts of the day and described it as empowering.
This workshop was led by the London Centre for Personal Safety. This workshop was for women only*.
“The self-defence lesson was absolutely excellent and really useful.”
100% of people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good. In addition, 7 people said that it was their favourite or one of their favourite parts of the day. As this was a small workshop, this indicates that it was of a very high quality.
“It’s easy out here for a pimp” anti-porn slideshow
This workshop was based on a hard-hitting feminist anti-pornography slide show written and produced by Dr Rebecca Whisnant of the University of Dayton for Stop Porn Culture. The slide show provides a feminist analysis of the nature, impact and harms of the contemporary pornography industry and the pornification of the wider corporate media culture. It shows how, by selling a set of toxic and distorted messages about gender, power and sexuality, this culture is hurting all of us, but especially children and young people. It ends with suggestions for activism and ways to resist porn culture. The slideshow was followed by a discussion session.
This workshop was presented and facilitated by Rebecca Mott, Rebecca Mordan and Anna van Heeswijk.
“[My favourite part of the day was the] Anti-porn slideshow – it motivated me to use more of this in my work. It also challenged me to look/think and act again.”
“Rebecca Mott was a breath of fresh air.”
More than 91% of the 61 people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Young, old Feminists: Getting to know each other
This workshop started with sharing personal experiences and an exploration of our prejudices around age. We asked: How do we define an old and a young woman? What do we think when we see an old/young woman? What are the relationships between young and old in the family/work/social context? How does language affect these issues?
The workshop then looked at activism: Have our views and activities changed over the years? Are the issues and priorities for activism different in different age groups? Is there a need for older feminist groups?
This workshop was facilitated by Rina Rosselson and Shirley Meredeen. Here is their report:
“We were overwhelmed by the response to our workshop. There were over 50 participants with a wide spread of ages from 18 to 84 which, being rare, encouraged a stimulating range of communication and viewpoints. Among the participants were students of 18 through to a woman who had been a feminist for over 60 years and who had organised the very first Feminist Conference in 1970 at Ruskin College, Oxford.
The large number of participants limited the possibility of small group discussion. Nevertheless everyone appreciated the wide range of discussion topics to which all ages contributed in a fishbowl format. The discussion heightened awareness of the history of the movement and the need to work together at a local level to avoid isolation of both young and old.
Issues that were raised included the pressure of body image representation; the need for mutual respect between old and young feminists; the role of grandmothers; the split between grass roots feminism and theoretical academic feminism; the class tension within feminism and consequent misunderstandings; the impact of technology and communication techniques between old and young feminists. The discussion bubbled way between the different ages as the workshop reluctantly closed. We felt we had made a breakthrough.”
100% of people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Feminist parenting: Practical skills
Feminists work to change the world to make it a better place. Parents can contribute hugely to this by bringing up our children with the right attitudes, values and awareness of unfair discrimination and disadvantage. One of our biggest assets in this is the use we make of ourselves as role models, living as active, assertive, passionate women who enjoy life and live it to the full while hacking away at the discrimination we see.
At this workshop we discussed the gender discrimination issues that worry parents, including the separate effects on boys and girls. We analysed our normal approach to these and started to learn a better way.
Participants learned skills and resources they can use to challenge discrimination effectively while building close relationships with their children. They learned facts to trot out to support feminist points and participated in case studies about what you might do or say when key issues come up in different types of groups.
This workshop was facilitated by Jan Williams.
More than 94% of people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Feminist parenting: Challenging misogyny in society
The idea for this workshop came out of a trial of the “Feminist Parenting: Practical Skills” workshop. We got a sense from the feedback and post-workshop discussions that the participants were hungry for opportunities to explore and develop feminist approaches not only to relating to their children but also to relating to the wider world. For example, there was a desire to discuss approaches to schools channeling children into stereotypically gendered activities and the tensions that arise when the parents of their child’s best friend have a very different take on important issues.
This workshop was facilitated by Emma and Abi Moore, founders of PinkStinks.
More than 94% of 36 people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good. In addition, 17 people said that it was their favourite or one of their favourite parts of the day.
Violence against women as hate crime?
Over the past four decades, feminists have developed understandings of male violence which locate patriarchal power, inequality and woman-hatred at the heart of all forms of violence against women. Feminists make connections between individual acts of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence and femicide, the broader context of women’s ongoing inequality, and a culture which variously normalises, trivialises or glamorises violence against women.
How far have feminist analyses and understandings influenced mainstream debates and attitudes to violence against women? Within mainstream media, politics and the legal system, it seems that violence against women continues to be viewed primarily as a personal, individualised issue. Incidences of violence against women tend to be seen as either the actions of ‘monsters’, the result of unfortunate domestic disputes or indeed of negligence on the part of the woman herself. Media reports of violence against Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee women often combine racist discourses along with sexist stereotyping. Many forms of violence against women are normalised and remain unnamed.
This workshop examined how violence against women is currently framed and constructed within mainstream discourses, and explored the extent to which feminist insights have been brought to bear in transforming debates on violence against women. Focussing on what remains to be done, it asked in particular why violence against women is not currently recognised as a form of hate crime under UK law, and what implications a change in this law might have.
The workshop featured presentations from panellists followed by a facilitated discussion. The panelists were:
- Jill Radford
- Vera Baird
- Hilary McCollum
- Aisha Gill
- Pragna Patel
- Julia Long (chair)
This workshop was for women* only.
More than 91% of the 78 people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
A space to recover
This workshop provided a space for African, Asian, bi-racial, and indigeneous Latin American, Middle Eastern, Australian and Polynesian women to discuss the racism and sexism that we experience in our lives and the forms that patriarchy takes in our own communities. Recognising we live in structures of domination and oppression that are racist, neo-colonialist as well as being patriarchal, it aimed to offer a safe space where women are able to discuss and share experiences and thoughts in sisterhood and solidarity.
‘Understanding marginality as position and place of resistance is crucial for oppressed, exploited, colonised people…I want to say that these margins have been both sites of repression and sites of resistance… A message from that space in the margin that is a site of creativity and power, that inclusive space where we recover ourselves, where we move in solidarity to erase the category coloniser/ colonised.’ (bell hooks, ‘Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness’ in Yearning (1990), pp. 145-153)
This workshop was for women* of colour only. By women of colour we mean all black women in the political sense; that is, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean women and indigenous women from all non-European regions of the world, and women of dual heritage.
This workshop was facilitated by Chitra Nagarajan and Charmaine Elliott.
More than 91% of people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Feminist primer
This workshop provided an introduction to feminist herstory, philosophy and analysis. It came out of requests by attendees of Feminism in London in 2009 to have a session aimed at providing those new to feminism with information about the background of the movement. However, given the diversity and breadth of the feminist movement, this workshop does not attempt to provide a ‘this is feminism’ session. Rather it provided a series of snapshots of feminist activism and theory, ensuring that the voices, thoughts and experiences of black and working class women are integral and central to the discussion, to show that, in contrast to popular perception, women from these backgrounds are also feminist subjects, key to the struggle in its origins and inception, as well as in activism and developments today.
“The Feminist Primer workshop was very interesting, particularly hearing other people’s opinions and discussing topics.”
This workshop was led by Heidi Mirza.
More than 85% of people who rated this session in their feedback, said that it was excellent or good.
Exploring our internalised prejudice
This workshop comes from the analysis that none of us are ideal human beings free from prejudice. Living in and under patriarchal, racist, classist and heteronormative societies and institutions cannot fail to have an impact on our inner lives. We are all produced by the outcome of social processes and are all implicated. The key is not to deny that such biases exist within our thoughts, but rather to identify and work to counteract them within ourselves. This session aims to help attendees with this process and give tools to counteract prejudices that have been internalised over years and decades.
This workshop was led by the FolesHillfields Vision Project.
This workshop was for women only*.
Men confronting privilege, contributing to change
This workshop provided a space for profeminist men to explore what it means to be part of the privileged group in a sexist world and to look at what men can do to fight for a more equal society and to support the women’s movement.
This workshop was facilitated by the London Profeminist Men’s Group.
This workshop was for men only*.
Under pressure: An interactive play
This workshop was an interactive play looking at relationships, family, and the challenges and pressures we face in modern day life. It was a fun, engaging, unique theatrical experience. You watch a play and then take control of the characters.
Ruby’s 15 and thinks her older brother Danny is pretty cool, she’s always looked up to him….until recently. Everything seems to be changing, school, family, friendships, the way the world sees her, why can’t everything just go back to how it was? Why is life so hard? Why is she so angry? And why doesn’t Danny understand?
You create the theatre from your seat telling the actors/characters what to do and what to say allowing us to create a discussion and share our ideas and opinions about what it means to be a young person in todays world.
This workshop was presented and run by Rebecca Finlay Hall of the Olive Branch Theatre, together with actors Sheine Alexander and David Stothard. All those helping with this session are CRB-checked.
This workshop was for 12 to 18 year olds only (girls and boys).
Dealing with the pressure: A space to reflect, create and express
In this workshop we looked at how we think the media portrays women (and men) and make poems or picture poems by collaging images and / or words from magazines and newspapers. Working in small groups, an important part will be discussing what is important to each of us. We also thought about how we talk about feminism to friends who aren’t feminist, or whose views are unknown to us. Our finished poems and picture poems were displayed to the rest of the conference to let them see how young people in the movement feel about the image of women (and men) today.
This workshop was facilitated by Anne Welsh and Anna Gomberg assisted by Anna Travers.
This workshop was for 12 to 18 year olds only (both girls and boys).
‘Mirror Mirror’ drama workshop for 7-11 year olds
This was a drama workshop that looked at the issue of self-image and the part that media images play in informing our self perception.
Participants:
- Tackled their feelings surrounding various media images
- Considered their possible influence
- Explored self-image in a safe environment
- Investigated the question ‘What is beauty?’
- Supported each other
This workshop was not drama-therapy but was designed to be a springboard to further discussion, but most of all it was about having fun and appreciating ourselves and others for who we are.
“My daughter really enjoyed both parts of the day but particularly this workshop in the afternoon- she loved the high energy of it. [...] I really appreciate that she’s both, hearing this stuff from others not just me, and, it was delivered in such a fun way. It helped bring the private world of home and the public world of school and her friends together for an afternoon.”
All the children in the 7-11 year olds activity room had the opportunity to participate in this workshop.
This workshop was led by Wendy Richardson.
Creative workshop for 7-11 year olds
In this workshop we explored self-image and identity through making collages of one person we would like to be, and another person we wouldn’t. We’ll discuss our images in small groups before presenting them to the rest of the workshop. This provided a fun and secure environment for children to explore the idea of role models and the media.
All the children in the 7-11 year olds activity room had the opportunity to participate in this workshop.
This workshop was led by Rachel Saldanha.
* Some workshops were for women or men only. Trans women were welcome at these women-only workshops and trans men were welcome at the men-only workshop.