Archives for Women in Politics

“United we shall stand; divided we shall fall” – Taking a feminist stand in Uganda’s Parliament

Given the struggle for equal access in most other spheres of public life, it only seems fair to have equal numbers of women and men in politics (or at least more than the current 22% of women sitting in the UK House of Commons). Fairness aside, judging the likely political impact of higher numbers of [...]

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The Republican Party: pro-life and anti-facts

In the days leading up to the Republican National Convention, the only Republican making news was Todd Akin, Missouri’s now infamous member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The offhand pedalling of unsubstantiated facts on a live broadcast was as alarming to the left as it was to the right; Democrats took the chance to [...]

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Collaborative round-up for anti-DSK blogs, media, videos, responses and thoughts

Perhaps this thread can be a resource to share responses to and coverage of the anti-DSK protest/movement that have been written elsewhere? (Not to prevent anyone from writing their own separate responses on GA) I feel that I am still recovering and trying to process what happened, it was so important to me, and I [...]

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Humanitas Visiting Professor in Women’s Rights 2011

Professor Nancy Fraser (Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics, The New School for Social Research, New York)
Lecture 1: ‘A Polanyian Feminism? Re-reading The Great Transformation in the 21st Century’ (5-6.30pm, 8 March 2011)
Karl Polanyi’s 1944 book ‘The Great Transformation’ rejected economism and instead analysed the previous crisis of capitalism [...]

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Women, Masculinism and Democracy

We are not simply in the “catch-up” period during which our society is adjusting to “gender neutral” forms of decision making and group structuring- rather the way we organise in itself is geared towards masculine traits, and women will not fully participate unless all women take on masculine traits, (ie Maggie Thatcher), which I do not believe is the path to liberation.

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‘Some cuts don’t heal’: what does feminism have to do with it?

Any campaign that existed before the anti-cuts movement gained widespread support could be accused of being opportunist, if it gears itself towards the anti-cuts agenda. And we are certainly seeing some opportunistic politics taking place from various movements. But this is emphatically not the case for feminism. It is not that we are jumping on [...]

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Female Dystopia: What would Britain look like if Women swapped places with Men?

Welcome to my imaginary world in which the genders swap. Women swap places with men; they behave the same way, they are viewed the same way, and they are treated the same way as men are today. Vice versa for the males. Note, I don’t mean are treated equally, I will come to that in [...]

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Women in Government – facts, figures and rationalising

How many women were in the last parliament? Since they were allowed to run? Why? A theory is floated and information shared…

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Organising Against the Tory Backlash

We recently learnt that Philippa Stroud, who lost out to Lib Dem Paul Burstow in Sutton & Cheam, has a deceptive amount of influence upon Tory policy. As head of the Centre for Social Justice, she has had a major role in formulating almost 70 of the Conservative Party’s policies. Stroud has openly admitted to her [...]

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IUG twinning motion – a cautionary tale against potential hypocrisy

Many of you will have seen or been part of the the current campaign against CUSU’s motion to twin itself with the Islamic University of Gaza. IUG has ties with Hamas (the terrorist group that has much more power in Gaza than the West Bank), and is known to uphold many of the most repugnant [...]

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