Gender, Race and Class

Different groups are contributing their experiences, ideas and enthusiasm to all of the workshops at Gender, Race, Class. Read here what you can expect at each session:

11.30am -1.00pm Session 1:

Reproductive Freedoms

We recognise that control of women is exerted by limiting our reproductive freedom and believe we should fight to ensure that every woman can choose whether or  not to have a child, free from legal, financial, political and social coercion. This workshop will look at the fight for abortion rights over the past year and ask where we go next. There will be a focus on practical planning around sex education, establishing a solidarity network for women from Ireland and Northern Ireland, the trade union campaign for choice and upcoming actions.

Challenging Domestic Violence

In this workshop we will have an open discussion in which we try to combine practical advice with an analysis of the imbalances of power in the home and in society at large. Looking particularly at the No Recourse for Public Funds campaign we will focus on the situation of groups of women now increasingly vulnerable and isolated, and will make the links between gender, class and race in domestic violence and how it is challenged.

Learning from Feminist History: The Night Cleaners Campaign 1970

As feminists we know that if we want to win in the future, we need to learn from the struggles of the past. This workshops looks at the campaign of 1970, when the women’s liberation movement was only just beginning, in which feminists and night cleaners joined together to fight for the rights of low paid women workers. We ask how we can learn from the successes and mistakes of the past to fight and win around similar issues today.

Penetrating Sex: A queer discussion on intimacy, relationships and sexual interaction

Certain forms of relationships and family types dominate with capitalist patriarchal society, and this workshop is an opportunity to explore why this is, what its relationship to capitalism and patriarchy is, what the alternatives are and how we feel about them.

This workshop will be about exploring some of the following questions and ideas:

• What makes a relationship sexual ?
• When a relationship is sexual does it make it more important/close/vulnerable/intimate than other relationships?
• Is monogamy a patriarchal relationship structure?
• Is there a difference between exclusivity and ownership in relationships?

2.00pm-3.30pm Session 2:

Prison Abolition - Building Links between Feminist Anti-Violence Work & Anti-Prison Work

Feminist activists have long been critical of the role of the state in perpetuating abuse and oppression against women.  But when it comes to domestic violence, child abuse, sexual harassment, rape and murder, many feminists still equate justice with state-sanctioned imprisonment, calling for higher conviction-rates, tougher sentences, and increased policing.  Yet, the prison system does not meet survivors needs and has utterly failed to protect women, queers, migrants, people of colour and poor communities from violence.  Exploring the tensions, challenges and possibilities of linking anti-violence and anti-prison activism, this workshop aims to identify feminist alternatives to prison that better address the goal of ending violence against women.

Community Organising

In what ways does poverty affect women? How do these issues influence how we organize? How can low income women use community organizing tactics to demand their rights and take anti poverty action?

Discuss the benefits and difficulties of community organising, share your thoughts and gain organizing skills in this practical workshop. The workshop will be run by members of the London Coalition Against Poverty, who have been using direct action casework to demand the rights of low income women and Disabled People’s Direct Action Network who are currently campaigning against Welfare Reform.
A woman’s place is in her union?

Why should we organise in our workplaces and communities as workers and as working-class women? What are trade unions? Most importantly what do we want trade unions to be - Bureaucratic organisations that offer cut-price insurance, there to protect workers from basic workplace exploitation or democratic collectives that can fight capitalist exploitation in society and internationally? Plus why and how can we challenge sexism in the trade unions.

This hands-on workshops will pose these and other questions and ask the participants to work out the answers!

Facilitators from the Rail Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) and the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU)

Trafficking, myths, morals and migrants

In light of the recent proposed legislation that seeks to further criminalise those working in the sex industry, this workshop will hear from three sex worker organisations (English Collective of Prostitutes, International Union of Sex Workers and the xtalk project) who will discuss ‘trafficking’ from a labour, migration and gender perspective and why feminists need to fight for sex worker rights.

3.45pm-5.00pm Session 3:

Women’s Self-defence workshop

A basic introduction to self-defence - for all women, all ages, all levels of fitness & ability - come and learn some practical techniques (both verbal & physical) to improve your life and safety.

Fighting benefit cuts

As the recession hit, the Government responded by bailing out banks with billions of taxpayers’ money. It then began to penalise benefits claimants, particularly attacking access to income support for single parents, which within three years will be eroded almost entirely away. We hear from community organisers taking direct action at benefit centres and discuss ways to challenge these attacks.

Globalising Solidarity: from London to Dhaka

This workshop will look at the struggles of women textile workers in Bangladesh against super-exploitation and for their right to organise. It will also examine the similarities and differences between their experience and those of women working in textile sweatshops in east London. Finally there will be a practical session to work out how we can make solidarity with both groups of workers.

Winning asylum and protection from rape and racist violence

In this workshop, activists from the All African Women’s Group and the Black Women’s Rape Action Project discuss their campaigns against an asylum system that consistently violates the basic human rights of all asylum-seekers beginning with those who are survivors of rape and other torture.  Charlotte Gage, from the Women’s Resource Centre will also discuss the WRC campaign against the closure of rape crisis centres.  This workshop aims to find practical ways of organising together against the divisions of race and class, with or without papers, so that women and girls get the safety and protection we are entitled to no matter where we are from.

5.15-6.30pm Action Planning

Bring all your inspiration and ideas for action from the day to this session! A chance to share ideas that came up in different workshops, and to plan for our next steps together in a fun, creative way.