FiLiA

Came Women and Girls Development Organisation (CAWOGIDO) is a community based diaspora organisation dedicated to improving the health and well-being of a variety of people from disadvantaged communities, Black and Minority Ethnic groups, develop their potential and mobilise them to engage effectively in community development and regeneration activities and build their capacities. For this podcast,...

Mandy Sanghera is an award winning philanthropist, a community consultant and global campaigner often referred to as a global catalyst.  As well as being an international human rights activist & motivational TEDx speaker from the UK,  Mandy has travelled all over the world, empowering & motivating others. With over three decades of experience, Mandy is an expert in various development-rela...

FiLiA has covered the case of a young British woman who reported being gang raped while staying at a resort in Cyprus. FiLiA called on the UK Government to take action: read our piece Cyprus: trial by porn culture In this podcast, FiLiA speaks with feminist activist Bracha Barad, who flew from Israel to Cyprus to show support for the victim. Bracha Barad is a Co-founder and Executive Director of K...

Mary-Ann Stephenson is the Director of the Women’s Budget Group, an independent network of academic researchers, policy experts and campaigners working for a caring economy that promotes women’s equality. She has worked for women’s equality and human rights for over twenty years as a campaigner, researcher and trainer. She was previously Director of the Fawcett Society and a Commissioner on the Wo...

Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes spoke at the FiLiA Conference in 2019: I am an activist, EFL teacher, sociologist, feminist Lesbian, writer and publisher. As a feminist Lesbian writer and reader, I practise Sym/biography and Flourishing (two concepts I have coined and developed throughout the years). As a publisher I give huge importance to the enmeshing of both concepts above in a wider system called Bib...

Jalna Hanmer is a Professor of Women’s Studies who has been influential in developing our theory and understanding of male violence against women and established early Women’s Studies courses at the University of Bradford.  In 1974 Jalna was involved in setting up the National Women’s Aid Federation (NWAF) and later the Women’s Aid Federation England (WAFE). She also was part of the organising gro...

Hala Aldosari , PhD, Saudi Arabia/USA, is a scholar-activist best known for advocating for women’s rights and protection from violence in Saudi Arabia. Her writing, speaking, and activism focuses on ending the country’s oppressive male-guardianship law and reforming family law. She was part of the protest to end the driving ban in Saudi Arabia; founded Aminah, an online resource center to promote...

Sian Norris is a feminist activist, writer, poet, journalist, copywriter and producer. She is the founder and director of the Bristol Women’s Literature festival. In her journalism she specialises in feminism, LGBT rights and the rise of the Far Right. For this podcast, Sian is joined in conversation by FiLiA volunteer Alice to discuss her work, including Sian’s piece Revealed: controversial plan...

Angela C. Wild is a lesbian feminist activist, writer, researcher and a political artist. Her work focuses on promoting uncompromising lesbian visibility, building lesbian culture, fighting for women-only-spaces as well as challenging compulsory heterosexuality, institutionalised femininity, motherhood and pornography. She is a founding member of Get The L Out lesbian activist group and author of...

Panel discussion on surrogacy - a human rights violation, recorded at the FiLiA Conference 2019. Do we need a feminist analysis of surrogacy? the law commission of England and Wales and the Scottish law commission have been conducting a public consultation on provisional proposals for reform of the laws governing surrogacy in the UK. the closing date for the consultation is October 11, 2019. after...

STILL WE RISE WAST roadshow - “Still WE Rise”- is written, performed by our members of WAST and directed by Magdaline Bartlette. The roadshow is made up of drama, song and poetry performances which show the reality through our own experiences of the trauma that we and so many other women seeking asylum have to face living under immigration rules in the UK. The roadshow also shows how together we c...

SOUTHALL BLACK SISTERS’ ‘BRADFORD CONNECTION’ AND THE POLITICS OF SIMULTANEOUS RESISTANCE: LESSONS FOR CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM Southall Black Sisters is 40 this year and FiLiA is organising its 6th feminist conference in Bradford. Against this backdrop, Pragna Patel, director of SBS, explores BME women’s experiences and political activism in the context of austerity, rising racism and religious fund...

Note: the questions and answers for this podcast had to be recorded separately as we were unable to continue the conversation over the internet due to Rojava being an active war zone. FiLiA is grateful to the  Women Defend Rojava team for speaking with us. About Women Defend Rojava, in their own words from their homepage : “We, the women of Kongra Star , began the campaign Women Defend Rojava to c...

Huschke Mau is a German woman who was in prostitution for a long time.  She´s a writer, an activist and doing her PhD. Her biography in her own words: -           Was born -           Experienced heavy violence in childhood -           Ran away at 17 -           Has been in prostitution for many years -           Survived rape, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide attempts -           ...

HOUZAN MAHMOUD  is feminist activist, public lecturer and co-founder of Culture Project ,  a project formed to raise awareness about feminism and gender in Kurdistan and diaspora.  She is also editorial board member of Culture Magazine, a quarterly publication published in Kurdistan/Iraq. She has an MA in Gender Studies from SOAS, London University. She was born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1973 and curr...

Vandana Aparanti is an anti-caste activist and expert in the field of oppressed caste women’s rights. She is co-founder and the Chair of STOP gender based caste oppression , one of the only women’s organisation raising awareness about caste discrimination in India and the UK. Vandana has been into active campaigning to bring caste legislation into British law, participating in protests and events...

Ms. Lahl is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press , the San Francisco Chronicle ,...

Fiona Broadfoot is a sex trade survivor, having been trafficked into prostitution at the age of 15. Fiona spent 11 years entrenched in the violent world of prostitution. she has since worked to raise awareness of the harm it causes to young people and their families. She was a close friend and fellow campaigner of Irene Ivison, the founder of PACE (formerly known as CROP), and was instrumental in...

An award-winning freelance journalist, Louise specialises in education and social affairs. She has written extensively on domestic abuse, the effects of poverty on children’s education and child protection. She has a particular interest in family courts and the care system, and is a member of The Transparency Project which aims to promote greater understanding of family law.   In 2017, Louise was...

Nicole Jacobs has been named as government’s designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner. Nicole has been the CEO of charity Standing Together Against Domestic Violence for the last 6 years and has more than 25 years’ experience supporting women subjected to abuse.  During her career, Nicole has worked in a number of roles, including a frontline practitioner, in senior operational and management roles,...

This podcast contains sensitive information, which some listeners may find distressing. FiLiA is honoured and humbled to be able to share this important, brave and honest conversation with Rina. She introduces herself like this: “I am Rina. I am a public speaker, advocate and campaigner for Domestic and Honour Abuse and the impact abuse has on our mental health. Having been on the receiving end of...

FiLiA is honoured and humbled to be able to share this important, brave and honest conversation with Nancy. She introduces herself like this: “Hi, my name is Nancy I am 63 years old and I've been abused since I was 8 years old. I have gone through many bad times, until I found out that there were people that could help and believe in me. I am now 3 years free of any abuse xxx” Contact informa...

Daniela Nadj, LLB, LLM, PhD is a graduate of Queen Mary, University of London, Cornell University and the University of Westminster. She has been a lecturer in Public Law at Queen Mary. Daniela’s research interests are in the fields of international criminal law and human rights, feminist legal theory and housing. She is the author of the recently published book Women, Wartime Sexual Violence and...

Ailbhe Smyth has been active in LGB&TIQ, feminist and radical politics for many years. She was head of Women’s Studies at UCD from 1990 until 2006 when she left the university to work in the community sector. She was centrally involved in Ireland’s successful Marriage Equality campaign in 2015. A co-founder and Convenor of the Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment, she co-directed the victorio...

Dr Renate Klein is a Swiss-Australian biologist and social scientist. She has been a feminist health activist and academic since the 1980s and was a founder of FINRRAGE (Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering). She is the (co)author and  (co)editor of 15 books on radical feminist theory and critiques of biotechnological procedures. Her most recent book...