Women’s liberation

Notes from the introduction to a workshop on 'What do we mean by socialist feminnism?' at Workers' Liberty Women's 'All The Rage' event on 28 February 2015.

1. Key ideas:

The house is getting dirty, she can't face it
The vacuum cleaner's burnt out, lying dead
She knows she'll have to save up to replace it
She wants a life of roses not just bread
And sucking up the dust from crusty carpets
Is never going to give her quite the pleasure
Of thumbing dusty pages at the markets
To clear the cranial cobwebs finding treasure

The final part of my report from the European Transport Workers' Federation's Women's Committee meeting held in Berlin on 12-13 October 2015.

Mid-term women's conference.

First part of a three-part report from the meeting of the Europen Transport Workers' Federation's Women's Committee in Berlin, 12-13 October 2015.

Women's health and safety at work

It wasn't like this 
When they first shared a kiss
Her heart aches it.
He tells her she's weak
She's a failure, a freak
- And she takes it.

He tells her to say
That all is ok 
So she fakes it.
He shouts in her face
So that she knows her place
- And she takes it.

Originally published on Workers' Liberty's website.

There was a discussion at Workers' Liberty's 'Ideas for Freedom' discussion weekend in 2006 about 'The Left and Cultural Relativism'. The two speakers were Janine Booth and Peter Tatchell. These are the notes from Janine's contribution.

She chatted online with her ex
- That's where she went wrong
- He showed her the error of her ways
Now she wears a long-sleeved dress

She spilt his drink and made a mess
- That was her big mistake
- She says she bumped into the door
You know how clumsy she gets

In 1848, in response to the 300-strong Convention for Woman's Rights in Seneca Falls (USA) and its Declaration of Sentiments, a Philadelphia newspaper urged the city's ladies not to join the new movement and become women but to stay as "wives, belles, virgins and mothers". Here's my poetic response:

You all must be Beach Body Ready!
Or you surely must wither in shame!
If your body is flawed or unsteady
Then you just have your own self to blame!

No, the beach has no space for relaxing!
It's a place for perfection parades!
You need slimming! And toning! And waxing!
We have products in buckets - and spades!