FiLiA

Sarit Bloom is a member of the group Women Wage Peace (WWP), which started in November 2014 after Operation Protective Edge, also known as the 2014 Gaza war. WWP is the largest grassroots movement in Israel that strives to promote a political agreement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sarit explains the history of the group, their aims and why it is so vital to involve women in every a...

Merly Åsbogård is a wonderful feminist who will be speaking at the FiLiA conference in 2019. She describes herself like this: ”I administrate a support group online for women with experience of different kinds of abuse. “I'm the woman behind the account Viskans Viol on Instagram . The account is used to raise awareness of prostitution, men's violence against women and body positivity. I...

Julie Furlong is a lesbian feminist activist, who is part of a group of proud lesbian women organising the Lesbian Strength March in Leeds on 7th September . The day will include a march for lesbian women from 2pm, followed by a rally for lesbian women and all female supporters. She speaks to FiLiA volunteer Zoï Hélène in this podcast about topics including what lesbian feminism means, why support...

Zainab Ali Khan is a Gender & Research Specialist with 10 years of work experience in the Development and Corporate sectors of Pakistan. Her educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine in English Literature and a minor in Women’s Studies. Furthermore, she also holds a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto in Women and Gender Studies. Ms Ali Khan ex...

Jody Raphael is Senior Research Fellow, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Law Center, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois. She has been researching in the areas of prostitution and human trafficking since 2001 and is the author of four books on violence against women with particular emphasis on denial. In this interview, she discusses her article “Decriminalization of Prostitution: The...

Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger . She is the Spokesperson for Fitnah - Movement for Women's Liberation, Equal Rights Now , One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB). Maryam is an inveterate commentator and broadcaster on rights, cultural relativism, secularism, religion, political Islam and many other...

Louise Winstanley has been working with ABColombia since 2010. As Programme and Advocacy Manager, Louise’s role is to manage and co-ordinate the work of ABColombia - the joint advocacy project of five leading British and Irish organisations with programmes in Colombia: CAFOD, Christian Aid UKI, Oxfam GB, SCIAF and Trócaire. Amnesty International and PBI are observers. ABColombia members work with...

Eleanor Nwadinobi, MBBS, EMA, FAAC, Nigeria, is an independent gender, health, women’s rights, and women, peace, and security consultant. She has worked on a wide range of issues including child trafficking, girls education, peace building, and violence prevention with the African Union, ECOWAS, UNICEF, the World Bank and others. Eleanor oversaw the women, peace and security networks that conducte...

Karen Dobres, Equality FC Campaign Manager for Lewes Football Club, talks about why and how Lewes became the first football club in the world to achieve pay parity for its male and female players, and why - shockingly but brilliantly - it is still the ONLY club in the world to do it. Karen is interviewed by Jacqueline Winstanley, Global Disruptor, Founder, CEO Universal Inclusion and our FiLiA lea...

Bec Wonders is a PhD student at the Glasgow School of Art in secondwave feminist print culture and theory. She co-founded the Vancouver Women's Library and earned a Master of Publishing at the Simon Fraser University. She is interviewed by Heather Brunskell-Evans. Bec’s Website Twitter @wondersbec   Instagram @frauenkultur Take an ACTION: Support "Sister Library"- Physical Space For...

Dr Ava Kanyeredzi is a lecturer on the Forensic, Clinical and Community Psychology programmes at the University of East London. Her book Race Culture and Gender: Black Female Experiences of Violence and Abuse (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) presents an in-depth account of nine Black British women’s experiences of violence and abuse, and their feelings of being silenced as children, women, Black women a...

Megan Manson joined the National Secular Society in 2017 as a Campaigns Officer. The NSS campaigns for the separation of religion and state and equal respect for everyone's human rights, so no one is either advantaged or disadvantaged because of their beliefs. The NSS works in the UK and internationally to challenge religion's disproportionate influence on governments and in public life....

Kiri Tunks is a teacher, trade unionist, socialist feminist and one of the co-founders of Woman’s Place UK (WPUK). This grass-roots women’s rights campaign group started with 5 demands: Respectful and evidence-based discussion about the impact of the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act to be allowed to take place and for women’s voices to be heard. The principle of women-only spaces to...

Khadija Khan is a feminist, independent journalist and commentator. She is originally from Pakistan, but left the country after she criticised religious fundamentalism. Khadija now lives in Germany. Her work focuses on women's rights and secular critiques of Islam. She is joined in an important two-part series of conversations by Sadia Hameed: ex-Muslim, anti-theist and secular women's r...

Meghan Murphy is a freelance journalist and writer, who uncompromisingly highlights women’s rights issues. She is the founder and editor of Feminist Current, Canada’s leading feminist website. Meghan is visiting the United Kingdom in May 2019, where she will be appearing at a number of events. She speaks to FiLiA’s Heather Brunskell-Evans about  international issues facing feminists,  silencing, s...

Mine Atli: Lawyer and activist from THE ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN TO SUPPORT LIVING, or KAYAD as its known in Cyprus, speaks with FiLiA volunteer Sally Jackson.  KAYAD was established in 1998 with the aim of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and contributing to gender equality by strengthening the profile of women in the community.  As the first and only of its kind in the northern...

UPDATE 26th May 2019 “I end my hunger strike but continue my fight against isolation” Leyla Güven Article in the Morning Star HERE Sabiha Temizkan is the daughter of Leyla Güven. Leyla is a Kurdish member of parliament from the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Turkey and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress. Leyla has been on hunger strike since November 8th 2018 to protest the conditions of is...

Dr Sasha Rakoff is the CEO of Not Buying It, a UK-based feminist group who challenge the sexual exploitation of porn and the sex trade. She is joined by Sally Jackson from FiLiA in a discussion on strip clubs, including the recent exposure by Not Buying It of the sexual acts expected of performers at Spearmint Rhino in Sheffield. Sasha explains why the lap dancing industry is a problem for all wom...

Khadija Khan is a feminist, independent journalist and commentator. She is originally from Pakistan, but left the country after she criticised religious fundamentalism. Khadija now lives in Germany. Her work focuses on women's rights and secular critiques of Islam. She is joined in an important two-part series of conversations by Sadia Hameed: ex-Muslim, anti-theist and secular women's r...

Sheila Jeffreys became a feminist activist in 1973, and a lesbian feminist in 1977. She is the author of 10 books on the history and politics of sexuality, and is a Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She has been involved in many groups and campaigns against male violence towards women. Sheila's most recent book is Lesbian Revolu...

Kendra Houseman is a survivor of child sexual exploitation and gangs. As a child, she always used to think that adults couldn’t see her. Kendra now works with children and young people at risk of child sexual exploitation and gangs, and trains and educates practitioners around the subject. She promotes greater awareness of the issues with her campaign #ICU, and was a key speaker for International...

Hibo Wardere is a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) who spends her time working to ensure that no other girl will be subjected to the pain and long term physical and emotional damage it causes. She works in the UK and all over the world advising governments and teaching schools and health professionals about FGM. In Somalia, where Hibo was born, 98% of women have been cut; it is most com...

Carol J. Adams is an American activist and author who has written extensively on the sexual politics of meat. Here she discusses how a culture of meat-eating and the objectification of women as flesh to be consumed are intimately connected. She argues that veganism and the dismantling of misogny go hand-in-hand. 

Sodfa Daaji is a Tunisian-Italian feminist engaged in Europe and Africa. Here she interestingly draws out the connections as well as differences between European and African cultures, traditions, and religions, and their effects on the achievements of women’s rights across both continents. 

Elizabeth Gordon is an artist and a campaigner against Non State Torture.  She advocates for non state torture to be named and recognised for what it is, so that the voices of survivors have the words to name the violence they suffered.  She campaigns for a human rights based approach to supporting survivors. She is interviewed here by Julian Norman.   Find out more artprintspace.net   PERSONS AGA...