Fifty years ago in 1973, the case of Roe vs Wade established that women in the United States had a constitutional right to an abortion. On 24 June 2022, the US Supreme Court of 9 judges voted to overturn this ruling. The implications of this are huge, not only for 36 million American women who are immediately affected, but for women everywhere including the United Kingdom.The embers of the debate about the ownership and politicisation of women’s bodies have re-ignited and there is no room for complacency in even the most stable of liberal democracies. It’s vital for women to look carefully at what is happening, and to take action. The ruling means that individual states in the US are now able to ban abortion. ‘Trigger laws’ for an automatic ban have already been passed in thirteen states, some of them making abortion illegal even in the event of rape or incest. Throughout America the response to the ruling has been swift, angry and fearful. Protests and demonstrations have been ...

Reasons to be cheerful? Really? REALLY? Reasons to be cheerful, when the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are polishing their saddles and the price of cat food is higher than a bottle of wine? Honestly, can anyone find much to be cheerful about in these dismal, dark and chaotic days? The newspapers are mean-spirited and joyless, the departure lounges of airports and the platforms of railway stations are crowded with lost souls, and you’d be hard-pushed to find any playful smiles on the petrol station forecourts. But it’s June, the sun is shining, the fledglings have left their nests, the peonies are exploding into colour and there is a treasure trove of material for comedians and satirists. Things might seem relentlessly awful, and we can’t obliterate that, but let’s change our gaze and find some little nuggets of cheer that women can bring us.  SO MANY POSSIBILITIES…. What follows is a random selection of reasons to be cheerful, suggested by feminist friends, colleagues and MK Fawc...

  ‘WHEN THE MEN ARE SILENT IT IS OUR DUTY TO RAISE OUR VOICES ON BEHALF OF OUR IDEALS’     Clara Zetkin At the polling station On Thursday May 5 th of this year at 6.15am, Nancy (not her real name) arrived at a local community centre, punched in the key-safe code and prepared for a long day ahead. As presiding officer of a polling station she would stay there, together with a poll clerk, until well after 10pm. Local elections were taking place across much of the UK and there were similar scenes throughout the country. Nancy and her colleague were required to wear neutral colours that would not signify any political allegiance. They were not able to use phones, except for emergencies or official communications, and they had brought refreshments to last the whole day. Fortunately, this community centre had the luxury of a small kitchen and a kettle, so it was an improvement on a previous venue – a freezing cold village church. By 7am, information posters were in place, the...

  Let's hear it for ungrateful women! The slightest suggestion that a woman is not grateful enough is pounced upon, highlighted and twittered about in the media with relish. We can find examples everywhere, and particularly in politics, sport and the media. Recent high-profile attacks have been made on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe for quietly disagreeing with her husband in a press conference,  pointing out that it had taken five foreign secretaries and six years of unjust imprisonment before she was released. No matter said the critics. She was ungrateful, she was rude, she should be sent back. Dina Nayeri, an Iranian refugee who has American citizenship, has spoken of ‘gratitude politics’, where refugees are expected to wear a grateful face. But, she warns, they shouldn’t be too successful or assertive, because then they become labelled as ‘greedy interlopers’. Women in sport are constantly getting it in the neck. Megan Rapinoe, the strong, gay captain of the US Soccer Team, wa...

From the front line Our lives are punctuated by daily reports from news correspondents risking their lives to show the barbarity of war.  The words and images come now from Ukraine, reminiscent of the 1940s and countless other wars, the nightmares of Bosnia, Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan. They are horrible, visceral and powerful. At times we can’t bear to look. Many of the correspondents are women. Lise Doucet, Lindsey Hilsum, Orla Guerin, Alex Crawford and others, following the footsteps of Lee Miller, Martha Gellhorn, Kate Adie and Marie Colvin. Some, like Marie Colvin, died, others have been injured and traumatised. They report back faithfully and they speak with compassion and coherence. Never too emotional, they cut through to the brutality and senselessness of conflict. They are crucial witnesses, unflinching in their reports, urgent, but calm and focused. Doing their job and earning our admiration. Resilience and defiance Today’s haunting images show lines and lines o...

  Celebrating  International Women’s Day  2022 Clarissa Scott Delany was 26 when she died in 1927. An African American poet, essayist and social worker, she was associated with the Harlem Renaissance Movement and the Women’s City Club of New York.*  Her poem, ‘Joy’, is simple and powerful, and describes how she pushes herself to laugh and sing her way out of despair. Too long have I walked a desolate way Too long stumbled through a maze Bewildered Is this how we feel as we come out of the pandemic and see what’s going on in the world? Unsure, anxious, and often horrified by terrible news. As women are being hurt, constrained and oppressed in so many ways, do we need to begin the struggle all over again? Why is it so difficult and what can we do? There’s no doubt that things are grim at the moment; but we can find joyful and celebratory moments. There are opportunities to grasp, to hold on to and to remind us of why we are feminists. One of those moments is coming up ...

It came as a bit of a shock at our recent Fawcett group meeting when we realised that we hadn’t had a face to face meeting for two years. Several new members, a few large cats and one or two inquisitive toddlers have all joined us on screen during our Zoom sessions, where we’ve admired hairstyles, woolly jumpers, coffee mugs and levels of dexterity with the chat button. But now, the possibility of meeting full sized human beings again is a real treat to look forward to. However, as we make our plans to move back into the three dimensional world, it’s quite satisfying to see how much we’ve managed to achieve through those fuzzy screens and ‘you’re on mute’ moments. Obstacles, including serious illness, home schooling, house moves, massive workloads and dodgy internet connections, have all conspired to get in our way, but persistence and bloody-mindedness have paid off. Here’s a quick roundup of our actions last year. In March, fuelled by optimism and nervous energy, but calmly steered b...