The opinions expressed here represent the views of each woman. FiLiA does not necessarily endorse or support every woman's opinion, but we uphold women's rights to freedom of belief, thought and expression.
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FiLiA have written to Ofcom and the Guardian after the Guardian reported on Ofcom's so-called research into the ‘manosphere’ and misogyny. FiLiA have significant concerns about the impact this research could have on women and girls, and are asking Ofcom to recall it.
‘If only women’s experiences were taken as seriously as the unquestioned statements of 38 men.’
The FiLiA Campaigns and Policy team have been working to support women to contribute to the Government’s consultation on disability benefits reform. We wrote to Parliamentarians who are also working to support disabled people to share our work and some of the responses we've had, and invite them to support and work with us to stand up for disabled women and carers who could be devastated by the proposed reforms.
When we spoke to survivors as part of our Women First interviews, they told us how important it is that women are asked about moving on from prostitution. We recognise that supporting a woman to move on is complex; there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and it is important that there is support across a range of needs: health, financial, housing, trauma. However, a fundamental starting point is actually asking a woman about moving on
On Wednesday morning, in a packed courtroom at the Supreme Court in London, the judgment in the For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers (FWS2) case was handed down. The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex. Holding a GRC does not change sex for the purposes of the EA2010. The court ruling makes clear to all what ordinary women across the UK have been saying for years: the law protects single-sex spaces and services.
When we started work in Kakuma in 2020, refugees were provided with rice, soya beans, maize and oil; now they are given sogrum, a product most often used as animal feed in the UK.
After a sleepless night, and with the local UNHCR clinic refusing to help lesbian families, she sadly died the next morning.
FiLiA's detailed response to the Bertin Review published last week, in which we drew on the experiences shared by Women with direct experience of the industry, and we continue to push for them to be consulted in any further reviews. We welcome the Review and its recommendations and are reassured to see the Government recognise the urgent need to tackle the harms of pornography. However, we are clear there is no such thing as ‘safe’ pornography and more needs to be done to protect and support women and girls who are harmed by pornography.
As a national organisation working for women’s sex-based rights, we are writing to express our considerable anger and distress at the news that the National Police Chiefs’ Council is reviving the discredited guidance allowing male staff identifying as women to perform intimate searches on women. The fact that this would bring all police forces into line with the recently-declared policy of British Transport Police increases the fury among women concerned about women’s rights.
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. Mother Sentenced to Over Three Years in Spanish Prison After Escaping Domestic Violence
A U.S. mother of two has been sentenced to three years and three months in a Spanish prison after fleeing to the United States with her eldest daughter to escape domestic violence in Spain. Despite returning under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, she now faces an unjust conviction that violates fundamental human rights and international legal agreements.
On 20th January, Donald Trump took office as President of the USA. Almost immediately he suspended the US refugee resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration. Many of the refugees, who had been cleared to resettle in the U.S. after fleeing war or persecution in their home countries, already had plane tickets in hand when the suspension was announced.
We urge the England Cricket Board to withdraw the England team from the forthcoming match against Afghanistan on 26th February, which is scheduled as part of the International Cricket Council Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 tournament. To go ahead with this match, while the Afghanistan government further restricts women’s rights and the ability to have any social existence, implies that the Board and the team are unconcerned about the denial of the most basic human rights for female people.
Naomi Cunningham, Barrister, Outer Temple Chambers said:
‘Plaid Cymru’s tight-lipped and grudging concession implies that it thinks “the law as it stands” is unsatisfactory, and it is hoping for a change of law that will enable it to discriminate on grounds of “gender-critical” belief in future. Activists are free to work towards that change if they choose, but meanwhile political parties along with public authorities, service-providers and employers must all comply with the law as it is.’
On 29th January 2024 Lisa-Marie Taylor, CEO of FiLiA, attended an event organised by the local council and billed as one of a series, with the aim of ‘hearing your ideas’ to ‘create the positive change you would like to see’ in Brighton & Hove. What she witnessed during the course of the two-hour workshop left her shocked; silencing, intimidation and a lack of willingness to engage on what is one of the key topics within the VAWG sector currently.
We're delighted to publish our new FiLiA Activity Booklet filled with news about our work throughout the year and how this develops out of ideas that emerge through our conferences and our discussions with local Women – with thanks to all of them for working with us, and thanks to Sisters Trust for enabling the FiLiA Legacy Project to continue.
In March, five young women in Iran who posted a TikTok video of themselves dancing without wearing hijab were arrested and mistreated. In support of them and their brave sisters in revolution in Iran, on and around 29 April some of us will be dancing in Piccadilly Circus, and others will be dancing around the country and sending in our videos annotated with #Dance4Freedom.
Women will be dancing in solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in protest against the Islamic Regime where dancing is forbidden & brutally punished. One Law for All and Women’s Liberation Movement charity FiLiA are again joining forces as part of the Hair4Freedom campaign launched in November 2022. This time, we will #Dance4Freedom on International Dance Day, Saturday April 29th 2023. #Dance4Freedom aims to defend the woman’s revolution in Iran via protest dance. The dance-in will be 45 minutes (accessible moves will be included), symbolic of the time it took for morality police to call an ambulance after Mahsa Amini collapsed when in detention. Mahsa Jina Amini is a young Kurdish woman killed for a few strands of hair. Her death is the spark of the women-led revolution in Iran unfolding in Iran.
A mother who fled domestic violence with her daughter has been forced to hand her 2-year-old over to a father who has made death threats to both the mother and the child. He will take the child - who, until a few days ago, was still being breastfed - back to his own country on the other side of the world. This is the brutality of the Hague Convention. We have written to the Attorney-General to ask that he urgently intercede.
Maryam Namazie, spokesperson of One Law for All and Lisa-Marie Taylor, CEO of FiLiA are calling on women to join them in solidarity with Iran’s women’s revolution for a mass hair-cutting.
FiLiA along with 17 groups with concerns about the SNP’s controversial gender reforms has written to Scottish Labour and the Scottish Tories to ask them how they propose to address the issues. The groups include Women’s rights and LGB campaigners, clinicians and parents of children with gender dysphoria.
