Women’s Rights

In our fourth workshop we explored women’s rights. We discussed the suffragette movement which began on Friday 9 October 1903 and the long fight for women to gain the vote. We went on to look at 1976’s strikers in saris led by Jayaben Desai, where a group of South Asian women who took to the streets to protest poor working conditions at the Grunwick film processing factory.

We then explored inequality between men and women today by looking at the gender pay gap, where women earn approximately 87 pence for every pound earned by men. The fight for equal pay is highlighted by the GMB union who are representing tens of thousands of predominantly female retail workers for equal pay in a campaign against Asda. The campaign is currently on the cusp of justice.

In class reading: Among Women by Marie Ponsot, A Suggested Campaign Song by Alice Duer Miller

For the men of the manosphere who spend their evenings watching nature documentaries

by Mira Mookerjee

As day gives way to dusk your eyes glisten,
A tab swapped with another as David Attenborough’s voice fills your room,
The natural green of your laptop screen reflects off your face,
But you do not focus on the documentary,
Instead, phone in hand, you scroll through Reddit,
Then flick back again to OnlyFans,
The white rhino is close to extinction,
An email notification alerts you to another failed job application,
And two blue ticks stare back at you from a message left on read, 
More than 150 million tonnes of plastic are drifting in the world’s oceans,
That familiar feeling travels up through your gut,
And sits spiralling in your chest,
But you are a man, and grief is not a luxury allowed to you,
So instead, you beat down your innocence, 
And bury it under a blanket of anger and ego,
As you cycle back to self-improvement videos, 
Ready to learn how to rebrand numbness for strength, 
And take without giving.

WHAT IS SUFFRAGE?;

by Angela Baker

I am the whale, the data-carrier,
The chartist, the fragile water carrier,
The robust Creature to carry the balance forwards,
To say what it is before we lose it,
To carry forwards the balance that is All woman.
I am accountable for her,….. her voice, her frame,
I am carrying the truth forwards,…..for everywoman
Who does not play the game. who speaks out-of-time,
Always` out of line`.

I am carrying that trust forwards,
I will stand by me, UPSTANDING!
I am the elephant-in-the-room,
I remember every modicum,
To excavate the ancestral truth of my blood-line,
To get to the bottom of my understanding……
not withstanding…… there is no win,..without raising voice.
We will stop at nothing,…THAT is our sacrificial choice.

Women don't give up the fight

by Jane Gregory

Women's rights have been a fight
A fight for the right to live our lives on a par with guys near and far
To have our say on polling day
It started way back when Mrs Pankhurst pled again and again

We are women were human to we pay our taxes just like you
We want to be heard feel our worth
Were not just here to clean and give birth

That was the start of being heard
Not just being some crazy bird
Undeterred we women still fight on
More than 100 years later were still slaying what's wrong

There are still lots of injustice around the world
Our women's rights are still being unfurled
Fighting for freedom to make a decision to own a passport without restriction
To be born into a world as a baby girl
To be left intact not have my genitalia hacked

To live without fear is what I hold dear for all women
For equal pay and equal say
Bringing it back home, the real backbone is standing up for what's right
Women don't give up the fight