Feminism

Feminism

• Abortion ban in Poland: the government is waging war on women

  

  The ruling against abortions in Poland is a monstrous assault on women which should be resisted as part of the wider fight against the populist right internationally, argues Reece Goscinski

• From Nixon to Trump: Lessons of the 1968 election

  

  As Trump looks to shore up populism for his re-election during the BLM upsurge, Sean Ledwith draws upon parallels with 1968

• Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel - book review

  

  Rachel Holmes’ monumental biography of Sylvia Pankhurst succeeds in capturing her energy and brilliance, and the relevance of her causes for today, finds Katherine Connelly

• Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time: books that made me a socialist

  

  A startling fusion of science fiction and feminism selected by Dave Randall    

• Film Review: Misbehaviour is misjudged

  

  Women's liberation struggles deserve to be made into films, but Misbehaviour is not one of them says Penny Hicks

• Little Women - film review

  

  Little Women is a successful film adaptation but haste and gloss obscure many of the central and distinctive elements of Alcott’s original story

• Rebels and Friends: a play by Jacqueline Mulhallen

  

  Drama, art and Irish history come together at Unite the Union’s headquarters, finds Ellen Graubart

• “Life-long member of the non-pretty working classes” - All Woman review

  

  In All Woman, Kathy Burke has tackled ‘beauty’ and ‘motherhood’ and next up is that big messy hot potato of ‘relationships’, writes Sofie Mason

• Keeping Faith - review

  

  The stereotype-busting lead character of BBC One's Keeping Faith is what makes the drama so compelling, writes Sofie Mason

• A Suffragette in America: Reflections on Prisoners, Pickets and Political Change - book review

  

  Katherine Connelly’s edition of previously unpublished writing by Sylvia Pankhurst shows her deepening socialist politics, finds Lindsey German

• A history of International Women's Day

  

  In this article, originally published in 1998, Lindsey German traces the history of International Women's Day - initially a celebration of the struggle of working women fighting back over suffrage and conditions at work

• Westminster's first woman, 100 years on

  

  Constance Markievicz was the first woman MP at Westminster - Jacqueline Mulhallen marks the centenary of her election

• Marxism and Feminism - Counterfire Media Podcast

  

  Feyzi Ismail talks to Hester Eisenstein on current trends in Feminism and Marxism, #MeToo, intersectionality and reformulating issues of class as central to feminist theory and practice in this episode of Counterfire Media's Podcast

• Informer review: more Islamophobia, or a complex study of the modern-day East End underworld?

  

  Despite its virtues, the BBC's Informer still resorts to lazy Islamophobic stereotypes, argues Sofie Mason

• Talk about equality is cheap, but paying women a decent wage is much too costly - weekly briefing

  

  Less glass ceilings and more grassroots is the key to reviving the role of women’s liberation in our struggle, argues Lindsey German 

• Ireland's opportunity for equality

  

  Friday's referendum is a vital step in the fight for women's equality in Ireland, argues Amy O'Donoghue

• Spanish women take to the streets to demand justice for women and an end to male violence

  

  The acquittal in Pamplona is not an isolated case. Women are taking to the streets and demanding justice, reports Steph Pike

• As a trans woman, this is the unity I want to see

  

  In the trans debate we need less heat and more light, argues Kristina Jayne Harrison

• Behind every ‘successful’ woman there’s another woman doing the work - weekly briefing

  

  Feminism is a double-edged sword for those fighting for women’s liberation, argues Lindsey German

• The return of idealism: identity and the politics of oppression

  

  The pervasion of identity politics limits our ability to truly liberate ourselves from oppression, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Marxism, Social Reproduction and Women’s Liberation with Lindsey German and Kate Connelly - video

  

  At an important Counterfire discussion, Lindsey German and Kate Connelly speak on women's oppression and how gender roles are played out within the structure of capitalism

• The 24 hour day: women, work and class

  

  Lindsey German argues for the development of a theory that can respond to changes in work organisation and the feminisation of the workforce

• Everyday sexism and the Daily Mail

  

  The Daily Mail's 'Legs-it' headline is anything but a bit of fun, writes Kara Bryan

• Marxism and Women's Liberation

  

  Judy Cox welcomes Marxism and Women’s Liberation as a timely and valuable discussion of the causes and consequences of women’s oppression

• Theatre review: Hedda Gabler

  

  Ibsen's play isn’t feminist, but the role is still one of the theatre’s most exciting female characters – brutal, mad and vengeful

• Escaping Bleak House: sex, class and power in neoliberal Britain

  

  In this major new analysis, Lindsey German looks at resistance to neoliberalism, oppression's relationship to class, and how new forms of organising and the united front are central to a socialist transformation of Britain

• Don't thank the EU for equal pay

  

  The principle of equal pay was won through struggle, writes Lindsey German

• Farage: sex, lies and Islamophobia

  

  Nigel Farage's latest outburst is part of a growing sexualisation of racism, argues Lindsey German

• Lean Out

  

  Foster’s Lean Out rejects the neoliberal feminism of the likes of Sheryl Sandberg and Clinton. Feminism must be about inequality, argues Lindsey German

• Women's liberation: we think it's time

  

  The anti-austerity movement is an opportunity to force women's liberation onto the political agenda says Yasmin Dahnoun

• What is it with some feminist Labour MPs?

  

  Jess Phillips and her colleagues are stooping to new lows by misusing feminism to attack Jeremy Corbyn argues Lindsey German

• Fat Activism: A Radical Social Movement

  

  Charlotte Cooper’s Fat Activism explores a long-standing social movement, revealing complex relationships with feminism, class and capitalism, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Jeremy Corbyn and women: a matter of policy not posts

  

  Media responses have pointed to the lack of women in the new shadow cabinet, but the policy response to austerity will have more impact on women's lives in the UK

• Jeremy Corbyn, feminism and the Labour leadership

  

  If the women candidates are unlikely to be successful in the Labour leadership election race it's down to politics not patriarchy argues Lindsey German

• Exquisite and hard hitting: 'Working from Home' by Julie McCalden

  

  Sue Tate reviews Working from Home by Julie McCalden at The Museum of Bath at Work

• Marxism and Feminism

  

  Marxism and Feminism explores the connections between capitalism and women’s oppression through a range of serious and perceptive arguments, finds Lindsey German

• Everyday sexism and capitalism

  

  With the feminist movement on the rise, Elaine Graham-Leigh appraises contrasting approaches to challenging sexism and the place of women in today’s system

• A Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century

  

  Five years ago Counterfire was launched as an organisation on International Women's Day 2010, with the publication of A Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century. It remains a timely analysis of the challenges that face us in the struggle for women's liberation

• Montreal Massacre, feminism and hate crimes against women

  

  Those who accuse feminists of 'hijacking' the memory of the Montreal Massacre, in which 14 women were killed, couldn't be more wrong, argues Canadian writer and broadcaster Toula Drimonis

• Witches and bitches: Hollywood's horrible misogyny

  

  Completing the Horror Cuts trilogy, Jack Brindelli explores the political implications of possession and witch films, and examines just how deep Hollywood's fear of empowered women goes

• A breath of fresh air

  

  Mark Perryman reviews an exceptionally strong list of autumn political reading

• Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Towards a Unitary Theory

  

  Lindsey German welcomes a new edition of a classic of Marxist Women’s Liberation theory, which opens up rich debates over the nature and origins of women’s oppression

• Yes to women's equality - Scottish Independence: A Feminist Response

  

  Lindsey German reviews 'Scottish Independence: A Feminist Response' by Cat Boyd and Jenny Morrison

• Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire

  

  The importance and coherence of Sylvia Pankhurst’s lifelong activism is revealed by Katherine Connelly’s grasp of her political commitments, making this book an important new account her life