Rebel Women

What got you through lockdown? Was it the Zoom calls with your relatives, the What’s App groups for your street? For me it was being able to order copious amounts of craft materials through Amazon, to fill those endless hours at home with my daughter. So imagine what it was like in 1918 when they had none of these things? How did they ever get through it? Well the truth is a lot of them didn’t, be...

During lockdown Averil Pooten Watan organised pop up clinics for undocumented migrants, many of whom were working with older and other vulnerable people. She illustrates the huge impact community volunteers can have. By reaching out to the most marginalised, she not only saved lives, but stopped the spread of Covid-19. In this fifth series of Rebel Women, we’re resetting a little. Because the wome...

Chrys Christy works with community groups and the police in one of East London’s most deprived areas. When lockdown struck she had one major concern – how would people get food. She knew the community would need help. In this fifth series of Rebel Women, we’re resetting a little. Because the women we’re featuring this time were definitely not our usual “troublemakers”. Some of them may have been i...

In March 2020, Tracey Rogers was working at Leyton Sixth Form College. As they shut the college gates for the last time, Tracey decided she was going to spend her time in lockdown redecorating the house. Three years later the paints and wallpaper are still sitting in a cupboard unused. Although she never got the decorating done, she would go on to do something far more extraordinary, which changed...

Guen Murroni was a member of Sister’s Uncut, an organisation fighting cuts to domestic violence services. She was involved in media campaigns and direct actions to bring attention to the numbers of women who die every day at the hands of their partners. Then in March 2020, a conversation with one of the Sisters took her on a different journey. In this fifth series of Rebel Women, we’re resetting a...

During the 2020 Covid Crisis, Jennie Caminada was part of a group of ordinary people who saved lives. Yet none set foot in a hospital, and all but one were women. In this fifth series of Rebel Women, we’re resetting a little. Because the women we’re featuring this time were definitely not our usual “troublemakers”. Some of them may have been in their previous lives, but in the spring of 2020 they...

This is the final episode in this current series, and we’re trying something a little different. You may have heard some of your favourite podcasts doing live shows. This episode is our attempt at that although we did it a bit back to front. We ran the event – Where next for the women’s movement? - then decided to turn it into a podcast, so more people can hear it. We invited along two speakers –...

Sonali Bhattacharyya is an award winning play write and screen writer. She is also one of the most prolific activists I have ever met, working with everyone from grassroots groups like Don’t Pay, organisers of the energy bill strike; to co-Chair of Momentum, a movement building popular support for socialist ideas and policies. Her writing and her activism are linked through themes of anti-racism a...

Resistance was in Ziggy Melamed’s DNA, as both her parents were highly political. So it was no surprise she joined the Socialist Workers’ Party as a teenager. But she was restless, frustrated with the organisation's hierarchical structures. Then a protest in 1996 changed everything. In this fourth series of Rebel Women, we have partnered with the Museum of Youth Culture to bring you stories of reb...

In the depths the Winter of Discontent, as the Women’s Liberation movement was crumbling, Jane Conor and a group of idealistic young women brought Shocking Pink into the world; a feminist fanzine, with a neon glow, that would grab the attention of everyone, from the BBC to The Sun. In this fourth series of Rebel Women, we have partnered with the Museum of Youth Culture to bring you stories of rebe...

Ruth Gregory’s grandmother was a suffragette, and her parents early members of CND. In 1976 she would make her own mark on the world, as she joined the Rock Against Racism collective. Using music, the group would change the cultural landscape of Britain. In this fourth series of Rebel Women, we have partnered with the Museum of Youth Culture to bring you stories of rebellious of youth through the...

It was 1968 and Gill Scott was 13 years old. At home with her mum and dad in Stockport, she heard Enoch Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood speech. Her parents were appalled, and to Gill he seemed like the devil himself. It will be a moment that shapes her consciousness, taking her on a journey through the 70s and 80s fighting racism and inequality through solidarity movements. In this fourth series...

Bringing you a special episode this week from my new podcast - You Haven't Heard The Half Of It. Looking at the hidden half of history with my co-host, Simon Cole from Hackney Tours. If you enjoy the episode, why not subscribe to that too where ever you get your podcasts. This episode looks at how history often casts Jews as a passive victim, whether it is the pogroms or the Holocaust. A brilliant...

I’m sure most of you know about the suffragettes: Emmeline Pankhurst, and her daughter Cristabel; their organisation, the Women’s Social and Political Union; chaining themselves to railings; smashing windows; the forced feeding. You probably were taught it in school. The problem is, it’s wrong. Ok, so those things all did happen, but it is a very narrow view of what the movement was, who the women...

In 1970, Women’s Liberation activists targeted the Miss World contest, propelling the movement on to the global stage. Among them was Jo Robinson, originally from Blackpool, now living in East London. This is her story of that infamous night. Yet that night was also famous for crowning the first ever black beauty queen. Since the 1950s, political radical, Claudia Jones had been using beauty pagean...

Zita grew up in South London, the child of an inter-racial relationship – dad was white and mum was black. Lessons in racial justice grew from watching and listening to her mother, whose passions and righteousness leaves you feeling a bit in awe. Welcome to Rebel Women, a podcast about history’s troublemakers. In this week’s episode we explore race and racism in the UK; the part women have played...

This is the third and final part of our series on the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. For this episode we’re focus ing on someone who wasn’t even there, yet was irrecoverably touch by it. A woman who 100% captures the spirit of the movement, taking the fight to a new generation. Sophie was born in 1968 in Orphington, on the south-east edge of Greater London. She grew up with a mother, who she...

It was 1983, and Shelia Freeman was about to be one of thousands of women to bring down the fences at the RAF Greenham Common. Rebel Women is a podcast about history's troublemakers. This is episode two in a three part series about the Greenham Common peace camp. If you’ve not heard our first episode, check that out now to understand the political context in which it emerged. Otherwise, stay with...

It was March 1982, and Ellen was about to go down to the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp for the first time, to protest at the RAF base storing US cruise missiles. Ellen describes it as a vigil of thousands, although news reports called it a blockade staged by 250 women, which resulted in 34 arrests. Whether or not the media and police deliberately downplayed what happened, it was a life changi...

This is Rebel Women for kids, a new podcast for … well kids. It's full of amazing stories of daring and adventure, and the best thing is that all these stories are completely true. And even though this is a podcast for you kids, we think your grown ups might quite enjoy it too. Not that long ago, women were expected the be maids or mothers and not much else. They didn’t always go to school, they w...

This is Rebel Women for kids, a new podcast for … well kids. It's full of amazing stories of daring and adventure, and the best thing is that all these stories are completely true. And even though this is a podcast for you kids, we think your grown ups might quite enjoy it too. It’s easy to take the NHS for granted, but not that long ago it didn’t exist. If you got sick you had to pay to see a doc...

This is Rebel Women for kids, a new podcast for … well kids. It's full of amazing stories of daring and adventure, and the best thing is that all these stories are completely true. And even though this is a podcast for you kids, we think your grown ups might quite enjoy it too. This podcast is designed to be used alongside our activity pack for 5-11 year olds, allowing them to explore history thro...

This is Rebel Women for kids, a new podcast for … well kids. It's full of amazing stories of daring and adventure, and the best thing is that all these stories are completely true. And even though this is a podcast for you kids, we think your grown ups might quite enjoy it too. This podcast is designed to be used alongside our activity pack for 5-11 year olds, allowing them to explore history thro...

Rebel Women is a podcast about history's troublemakers. This episode is the final instalment of our five-part series about the battle for equal pay; a journey that spans nearly 100 years, from the late 1880s to the 1970 Equal Pay Act. The 1960s was a decade unlike any other. Young people across the world were rising up - with opposition to the Vietnam War, the 1968–69 civil unrest in France, the U...

Rebel Women is a podcast about history's troublemakers. This episode is the fourth in our five-part series about the battle for equal pay; a journey that spans nearly 100 years, from the late 1880s to the 1970 Equal Pay Act. As the Second World War began, women rose up once again to do their bit. They went to factories producing munitions. They built ships and aeroplanes. In the auxiliary services...