What is happening in Iran is the frontline of feminism right now: the simple expression of desire for equality, for dignity, for life without fear. And as such, it touches us all. Say it with me:   Woman. Life. Freedom Kamin Mohammadi COURAGE Since mid-September when Mahsa Amini was arrested and killed, waves of protest have continued throughout Iran, with few signs of slowing down. In their passionate call for change, schoolgirls and young women are being joined by young men and groups of workers. ‘Get lost, Raisi’ they have shouted at their president (a man recently seen shaking hands with the great and the good at the UN summit). Their extraordinary courage is something we can only aspire to. What has it been like to live, knowing that the morality police, directed by a violent authoritarian state, might arrest you for wearing nail varnish? To be aware that a few strands of hair escaping from your hijab can bring about a beating, or worse? What must it be like now, in the autumn

  2022 Early September At the beginning of this month there was a palpable air of panic. Headlines on energy prices and the cost of living competed with the news of catastrophic floods in Pakistan and the war in Ukraine. In Britain politicians were tearing pieces out of each other in a leadership election, Parliament wasn’t functioning, the heatwave had caused havoc with the harvest, there were multiple strikes and civil liberties were at risk. Mid September And now? For some days the country has been on hold. Immaculate organisation, solemn ceremony, gleaming uniforms and medieval language are on screens everywhere. The backdrop to our lives has changed. People are classified as ‘mourners’ and ‘well-wishers . Their opinions are channelled through a respectful media, punctuated occasionally by moments of protest.There are sombre speeches about duty, heavy responsibility and service. How do we navigate this? Everything has changed and nothing has changed. After the ceremony, the mourni

  From Marie Antoinette to The Handmaid’s Tale by way of the Suffragettes We can expect a tough year ahead. The cost of living, the assault on reproductive rights, online abuse, crop failure, male violence against women, the menopause, gender equality in sport……….the list is endless. But, because it’s August and we have all been lying about helplessly panting in the heat, here’s an opportunity to escape from from the lunacies of the patriarchy and consider the increasingly popular and interesting phenomenon that is COSPLAY. It’s an ugly word, a portmanteau of ‘costume’ and ‘play’. It emerged from Japan in the 1980s and has usually been linked to Comic-Con events. These are highly popular comic book conventions, where dressing up as your favourite superhero has long been a thing. More recently the word has crept into the mainstream media, often within a political context. Really though, it’s something that women (and men) have done for ever. When Elizabeth 1 gave her speech at Tilbury,

  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 supp

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 Fawcett

  ‘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 security tags

  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, was lam