25th April 2020 - General update
The FiLiA team are still working hard, hoping that the #FiLiA2020 conference goes ahead. We’re in contact with our overseas speakers to keep updated on flight information … we are trying to remain optimistic.
We’ve recorded more podcasts including a discussion with Sarah Learmonth about the government consultation on pre-charge bail (extended deadline 29th May) and Simi Kamal talking about the Every Woman Treaty which now has signatures from 152 countries.
There’s also a fabulous introduction to FiLiA’s new spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sanchez. I first heard Raquel speak in the House of Lords in late 2018 organised by Woman’s Place UK. I was in awe of her eloquence and astute political mind so (of course) approached her and asked whether she would consider joining us at FiLiA. Raquel has spoken before about what she has been forced to endure at Bristol University, so it took a while before she was able to become part of the FiLiA team. We are delighted that she said yes!
And we’ve put up some conference recordings too:
Session: Surrogacy, a Human Rights Violation, with Julie Bindel, Sheela Saravanan, Renate Klein and Jennifer Lahl
Session: From Born in Your Own Body to Invention of the Transgender Child with Heather Brunskell-Evans, Charlie Evans and Susan Matthews
Session: Violence Against Lesbians with Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes, Hilary McCollum, Susan Hawthorne and Angela C Wild
Sunday Opening Speeches with Marie Lageurre, Jessica Taylor and Miss Yankey
Sunday Closing Speeches with the voices of many Women bringing the weekend to a close, led by Akima Thomas
We wish we could have recorded more at the conference, but as volunteers we have very limited capacity or funding. If you can help with recording / filming, please do let us know.
What else have we been up to? We are holding weekly online sessions with the team, where we check in, give updates and just be there for each other. We also hold Feminist Learning sessions where we invite a speaker in to present on a topic to the team. We’ve had a wide range of great speakers who have gifted their time to support our learning. Last week we arranged for abolitionist Feminist Inge Kleine to join us from Germany for a virtual session on the topic of prostitution. Many of the newer members were horrified when they heard about the realities of the sex trade, and understandably so. Read THIS blog to understand the physical harms of prostitution - it’s not a job like any other.
FiLiA has always taken an unapologetic abolitionist view of the sex industry. Many times we have been challenged, usually via long emails from academics or shouty students holding placards (incidentally the same student population which is targeted by lobbyists for the sex trade due to their age and relative poverty). Many times we have responded - our stance is not negotiable. We have Women within our team who have experience of the sex trade and we condemn all organisations who are using the CV-19 pandemic as an excuse to call for full legalisation - a pimps charter.
We’ve supported Southall Black Sisters call for the government to fund hotel accommodation for women escaping abuse. We co-signed three additional letters this week: one was addressed to Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss asking for her to build cross-party consensus on this area where clarity and respect is needed for all service users as well as front-line staff. Another was to the United Nations Secretary General calling on the UN to ensure that sex trafficked, prostituted and sexually exploited persons are also included in the UN’s response to COVID -19. And the final one was instigated by the Fawcett Society, joining over 60 charities who have come together to call for immediate action from the UK Government to support women and girls during the outbreak. #MakeWomenVisible
Here’s our statement on the Indefinite Postponement of the Reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
We were very pleased to hear that a community organisation working with Women asylum seekers and refugees were successful in a joint bid with FiLiA for emergency funds for their group.
We’ve seen more attacks on Women including Vancouver Rape Relief, Jessica Taylor and Sophie Walker. FiLiA sends our Solidarity to them and to all Women who speak up in the face of such aggression.
We’ve linked with an organisation ФЕМИЦИД in Russia - do read their in depth report on Femicide.
In 2019 the independent project femicid.net began to collect news about femicide and publish data in the public domain. It is not this fact that is strange but that no one had done this before.
We’ve been listening to a tonne of podcasts and webinars, thanks to R who is collating them for the team - thank you! The #CoronavirusConversations organised by Fawcett have been excellent - sign up for the next one being held on the 28th April. Another one I listened to was not so good - a bunch of faux socialists taking the position that the exploitation of poor Women within the systems of prostitution and surrogacy was work like any other - blithering nonsense spouted by those who refuse to acknowledge the inherent racism and sexism involved. How comforting it must be to have such a blind spot.
Do visit our Guest Blog page where you’ll find Women writing on topics as broad as The Titanic, FGM, Vancouver Rape Relief and a Lockdown Poem!
I’m sure that there is a lot more, but I’m off for my daily walk to the shops.
Sisterhood and Solidarity,
LM
Sign up to become a Friend of FiLiA if you can - we are all Volunteers and all contributions will go directly towards supporting Women to participate who otherwise would not be able to e.g. by funding the creche and speech to text at our annual conference. Thank you.