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Trade Unions Reply to Women on TUC Motion 17
Trade Unions Reply to Women on TUC Motion 17

Union members have been writing to the unions to ask if they supported the recent TUC Motion 17 on the EHRC Code and Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act. FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network suggested five key questions women should ask their unions about this and their position on women's sex-based rights. We have now received responses sent by four unions: Unison, Unite, NEU and NASUWT which we publish here. We are also sharing some replies sent back to these unions by women who are unhappy with the answers they received.

BlogMiz JakubovicSex-based Rights, Government Policy, Lesbian Rights, Class Politics, trade unions
TUC Motion 17 and Women’s Rights
TUC Motion 17 and Women’s Rights

Union members have been writing to their general secretaries to ask them about their union’s position on the recent TUC Motion 17. Unions are starting to respond to these letters and we will be sharing their responses soon. However, women have told us they want to discuss the implications of this motion, and what it means for women’s rights, with other members of their unions and in their branches, so the FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network have produced this model motion for women to take to their branch meetings.

BlogMiz JakubovicSex-Based Rights, Government Policy, Lesbian Rights, Class Politics, trade unions
Take Action on TUC Motion 17!
Take Action on TUC Motion 17!

Delegates at the Trades Union Congress this week voted to support a motion committing the organisation (and by implication its affiliate unions) to campaign against the EHRC code, which provides guidance on the Equality Act for services, organisations and associations. The motion proposes a serious and substantial change to the legal rights of women and girls and yet no mention is made of this in the motion. The FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network has produced a short model letter for union members to send to General Secretaries, which asks five key questions. If you are a member of a union, please consider sending this letter to your General Secretary. Just copy and paste the text and send it to your General Secretary either by email or post.

BlogMiz JakubovicClass Politics, Government Policy, Lesbian Rights, Sex-Based Rights, trade unions
Debating the EHRC Code of Practice at This Year’s TUC Congress
Debating the EHRC Code of Practice at This Year’s TUC Congress

This year’s TUC Congress takes place in Brighton between 13-16th September. On the agenda is a motion submitted by the TUC LGBT+ Conference, opposing the EHRC Code of Practice. The motion raises important issues for the majority female membership of trade unions, and for lesbian and gay trade union members.  In this blog we present the motion, along with some questions that TUC delegates may wish to raise at their delegation meetings or in their local branches and regional/national assemblies.

BlogMiz JakubovicSex-Based Rights, Government Policy, Lesbian Rights, Class Politics, trade unions
FiLiA Calls on UNISON, USDAW, ASLEF and The Musicians’ Union to Change Stance on Labour Women’s Conference
FiLiA Calls on UNISON, USDAW, ASLEF and The Musicians’ Union to Change Stance on Labour Women’s Conference

Four unions are boycotting Labour Women's Conference because it is adhering to the law on women's spaces. The FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network has sent this letter to the General Secretaries of each union to express our incredulity at this stance. We are also publishing it here.

Blog, StatementsMiz JakubovicClass Politics, Sex-Based Rights, Lesbian Rights, Government Policy, trade unions
The EHRC Code of Practice Has Finally Been Laid
The EHRC Code of Practice Has Finally Been Laid

This is a significant legal and political moment: the Minister for Women and Equalities has laid guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about how organisations should apply the law under the Equality Act 2010, more than a year after the landmark Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.
Women can use this moment to organise, scrutinise and challenge institutions that continue to deny women their lawful single-sex spaces, services and associations.

StatementsMICHELLE KERWINGovernment Policy, Sex-Based Rights, Lesbian Rights
Joint Statement from Project Resist and FiLiA on ‘Earned Settlement’
Joint Statement from Project Resist and FiLiA on ‘Earned Settlement’

Following our co-produced response (alongside LISG and women in the FiLiA Women's Assembly) to the Government's consultation on the 'Earned Settlement’ policy, Project Resist and FiLiA have released a joint statement calling on the Government to reconsider the policy in its entirety. If enacted, it will have a terrifying impact on the poorest and most vulnerable migrants, particularly women. The political direction of travel could not be clearer, and we must resist. Read the statement and join our call here.

StatementsMiz JakubovicGlobal, Government Policy, Anti-racism, Lesbian Rights
Older Lesbians
Older Lesbians

When women age we become increasingly invisible in our culture, and this applies even more so to lesbians. This was a short speech given as part of the lesbian stream of workshops and events at FiLiA 2025. It speaks about our identities as older lesbians, some of the issues we are confronted by and the importance of lesbian community and of consciousness-raising groups as a way of exploring the issues of old age and the sisterhood we need to support one another through the difficulties and the joys.

BlogMICHELLE KERWINLesbian Rights
For Women Scotland Supreme Court Victory
For Women Scotland Supreme Court Victory

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.

StatementsMiz JakubovicSex-Based Rights, Lesbian Rights, Justice and the Law, Feminist History, Government Policy
Kakuma Update
Kakuma Update

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.

StatementsFiLiALesbian Rights, Violence Against Women
Fighting for the Forgotten Women in the UK's Asylum System: Accelerate Action Because They Cannot Wait Any Longer
Fighting for the Forgotten Women in the UK's Asylum System: Accelerate Action Because They Cannot Wait Any Longer

One of the most terrifying experiences women face is the Home Office Reporting System. For years, I had to report in person every single week, knowing that, at any moment, I could be detained.

The impact on mental health is devastating. The days before reporting are filled with anxiety, not knowing if you will come back, not knowing if that would be your day to disappear into detention.

The fear is relentless. Reporting is framed as a welfare check, but we must call it what it truly is: state-sanctioned psychological warfare. These women already live under strict controls, in National Asylum Support Service accommodation, barely surviving on limited financial support. The Home Office knows exactly where they are. So why force them to report? To keep them in fear.

BlogFiLiAGlobal, Anti-racism, Sex-Based Rights, Lesbian Rights
Kakuma Update
Kakuma Update

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.

StatementsFiLiAViolence Against Women, Lesbian Rights, Global
Women in Motion
Women in Motion

How does one start with women in motion and end up with a women's movement? I want to share one of my last bike trips with the audience. I'm a woman on the go, meeting women along the way. I want to share how biking helps me on a daily basis. For me, biking is not only a means of transport, but a way of liberation, giving me a sense of freedom. It is also about women taking up public space and connecting together. I've noticed that the women I meet on the road are often isolated, with a need and a desire to connect with other women. I'd like us to be able to meet up on the same road, women on bikes, and share a stretch of the road together, an episode in our lives. A women's cycling movement! I want women who read my piece to find inspiration, if not join the movement to help them break any of the patriarchal chains that oppress us.

BlogFiLiAAnti-racism, EcoFeminism, Lesbian Rights
Remember Sanctuary-Seeking Women On Lesbian Visibility Day
Remember Sanctuary-Seeking Women On Lesbian Visibility Day

The women of Lesbian Immigration Support Group should be front and centre of the UK’s Lesbian Visibility Day. But instead we’ll have endless listicles about rich celebrities and posts waxing lyrical about historical white women. The irony of Lesbian Visibility Day is that we centre those who had visibility anyway; women whose status, wealth, and privilege protect them from the discrimination.

BlogFiLiALesbian Rights
FiLiA Interview: Janice Raymond
FiLiA Interview: Janice Raymond

In this piece, FiLiA interviews leading feminist thinker, Janice Raymond, about her work on transgender issues and her new book Doublethink, which illuminates the “doublethink” of a transgender movement that is able to define men as women, women as men, he as she, dissent as heresy, science as sham, and critics as fascists.

BlogFiLiASex-Based Rights, Global, Sexual Exploitation Industries, Violence Against Women, Lesbian Rights, Reproductive Rights
One Year of Labrys Lit
One Year of Labrys Lit

On this Lesbian Visibility Day, we share an account of one member's motivation to be in Labrys Lit, FiLiA’s lesbian book group. It recounts the joy and exploration shared in the group and gives a taste of the variety of books and discussions that go on there.

BlogFiLiALesbian Rights