Blog
Do you have to call yourself a feminist to support women’s rights?
What appealed to me about volunteering at One World Action was its vision of a just and equal world where the poorest citizens of the world can transform their lives for their own and their societies benefit and betterment. In short, being part of a campaigning organisation which is seeking to recognise the basic human rights of some of the worlds most hard up citizens and working towards the implementation of those rights. Read More »
Running for Rights
If I once thought that winning Celebrity Masterchef was a tough challenge, it was nothing compared to the training I had to put in to run the London Marathon this year. Early morning runs in all kinds of weather. Aches and pains in places I didn’t even know existed .... But, once I’d broken through these various pain barriers, I discovered a whole new enjoyment and sense of achievement can be gained from being part of such a big event with so many wonderful and inspiring people. Read More »
Rights for Afghan women - a price worth paying?
The award for the most controversial article of the week has to go to Mr James Fergusson for his piece questioning whether or not British soldiers should be fighting to secure the rights of Afghan women. His assertion that the justification for war in Afghanistan was never based solely on a crusade to safeguard women’s rights is solid. Whether you buy into the theory that war was waged to protect the west from the threat of al-Qaida, or you more readily believe conspiracy theories about securing gigantic oil pipelines, what is certain is that the plight of the country’s women was at the very periphery of NATO’s sightlines at the time of invasion. Read More »
A Blot on Humanity
Being of Bangladeshi origin, it is perhaps no surprise that since being at One World Action, I have taken a keen interest in the work being carried out in Bangladesh to promote the human rights of Dalit women.
The current situation faced by Dalits in South Asia is horrendous. These individuals, considered ‘untouchables' by many around them, are outside of the caste system. They are the very bottom of a ladder that, in the 21st Century, is supposed to be non-existent, and they are made to suffer for things they could never control - their family and origin. Read More »
Is this austerity journalism?
As I sit on the 18.45 to Portsmouth, I am growing increasingly infuriated by my evening paper. Because, situated right under an article about Cameron’s coalition-negotiation tactics and a piece about tory-rising-star Rory Stewart MP, is a story, not about Theresa May’s position as one of the most powerful women in UK politics, nor about her announcement this week that police chiefs may soon be elected, but about her…..jacket.
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The Heightened Reality of Our Power
The story and sentencing of stoning for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been all over the news, and with good reason. There’s confusion over the facts—did she commit adultery? Was she beaten into confessing it? Was she convicted of murder? And questions about the nature of the case itself—is she still going to be stoned? What exactly is happening with her case? As The Guardian published yesterday, Ashtiani’s stoning has been delayed, for the time being, but this leaves just questions about her future. Read More »
Women Seeking Refuge
In May of 2008, the Women’s Legal Aid Centre in Tanzania started a new programme focusing on legal aid. Our goal was simple—to help refugee women and children access justice. Our project assists these women and children in many ways, but we focus on providing empowerment to those who need it most.
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Migration and Globalisation: Women’s Rights at Risk?
Millions of fans will no doubt be avidly tuning in tonight to watch England thrash it out in the World Cup. But how many will make the uncomfortable link to the vast numbers of woman and girls trafficked to South Africa to accompany the boom in the tourist industry?
Human trafficking was just one of the myriad of thorny issues grappled with at the Women in Development Europe (WIDE) Conference on “Migration in the context of globalisation: women's rights at risk?”. With abuse and exploitation of women and men in all parts of the global migration system becoming increasingly evident, there was much to interrogate – from the trafficking of Thai blueberry pickers in Sweden, to the sexual violence suffered by women refugees in Tanzania, to the abuses faced by Burmese labour migrants in sweatshops on the Thai border.
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Reclaiming the F-word - Part II
In last week's blog, I told you that here at One World Action, we have been discussing how we can play our part in reclaiming feminism from the sensationalists who dismiss it as radical 'dogma'. And, as an organisation that sometimes works to support men as well as women, the process of this discussion had led to further questioning about what it is to be feminist, and in particular, what it means to be a feminist organisation.
So, with all of this internal soul-searching going on, it came as quite a relief this week when a very well-known quote caught my eye, bringing with it (for me at least), a new clarity to the debate. Nearly a century ago, the author Rebecca West said: 'I myself have never been able to find our precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express views that differentiate me from a doormat." Read More »
Reclaiming the F-word
Unfortunately, it seems that here in the UK, feminism has become a dirty word.
Those women in public life who do stick their head above the parapet and openly talk of their feminist beliefs are - at best – ridiculed in the mainstream media. At worst, they are demonised. Harriet Harman MP is a prime example. When she is being mildly mocked for her ‘politically correct’ views, the media have nicknamed her Harriet Harpersons. When they are going in for the kill, however, the language used takes a much darker tone and as the Observer claimed back in September 2009, few British politicians have been vilified like Harriet Harman.
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