Is Labour losing the women's vote?

Whither Worcester Woman: Is Labour losing the women's vote?
When: Wednesday 7 March - 1800-1930
Where: Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Westminster

SPEAKER JUST CONFIRMED - Vera Baird MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs. Vera will be joined by: Julia Clarke, Head of Political Research at MORI; Meg Munn MP, Minister for Women; and Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist. Lorna Fitzsimons, Patron of Progress, will chair the meeting.

This Progress event will debate whether Labour is losing its appeal to female voters because of the challenge from David Cameron or whether it can be explained by their disengagement from the political process as a whole. Which policies should Labour adopt to win back women's support and how can the party change as a whole to attract more involvement from women?

Equal Opportunities Commission: An active past,a new future

Jenny Watson, Chair of the EOC, will speak on the EOC's work and the changes facing it, at a meeting organised by the South London Fawcett Group. Vivienne Hayes, Director of the Women's Resource Centre, will act as commentator. Floor then open for discussion.

Date: Monday, 26 March 2007Time: 6.30pm for 7pm

Place: Millicent Fawcett Hall, 29 Marsham Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3DW

Admission: Free, but please notify attendance to Susan Pares, Chair, South London Fawcett Group, 020 7498 1489 or spares@myway.com

Donations appreciated

Upcoming LSE Gender event

Centre for Civil Society (Department of Social Policy) and Gender Institute Public Lecture
Diversity, equality and empowerment: NGOs making a difference
Date: Monday 26 February 2007
Time: 6.30 - 8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Judith Brodie, Angela Sarkis, Marianna Tortell
Chair: Professor Jude Howell

This panel discussion explores the issue of gender equality, diversity and NGOs. Is there anything distinctive about the way NGOs approach this issue? Are NGOs more diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity and class compared to businesses or state agencies? What differences are there amongst NGOs in the extent to which they place gender issues on the agenda? And with more women taking up senior positions in NGOs what do they bring, as women, to these issues?

Judith Brodie is Director of the UK Group of Voluntary Service Overseas. Angela Sarkis CBE is National Secretary of the YMCA, and Marianna Tortell is Director of Training and Group Work at The NIA Project.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. More info here

Abortion Rights event

I will definitely be going to this. There's a lot of talk on the London Feminist Network about how this is the same day as a socialist feminism 'fightback' event. But for me this is a no-brainer ....

Abortion Rights Event (same day at Capital Woman)

Join us to launch the campaign for a modern abortion law
Saturday 3rd March

ASSEMBLE at 12.30 for a public launch event and press photo opportunity to spell out our message on the green outside the QEII Conference Centre, in front of the Houses of Parliament
QEII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary Westminster, London SW1

Please download the campaign flyer here and distribute widely to help mobilise for this extraordinary event.

It's time the pro-choice majority was heard!

40 years after the 1967 Abortion Act, it is time to celebrate the social, economic and educational advances that reproductive rights have allowed women, and the end to back-street abortion. Yet 40 years on, women in the UK still don’t have the right to make their own abortion decisions. Women are obstructed and delayed and current rights are repeatedly challenged. In this 40th anniversary year, Abortion Rights is coordinating a major push for a modern law. We are joined by MPs, Peers, doctors, nurses, sexual health organisations, trade unions, students and pro-choice supporters in calling for a law in line with majority public opinion.

It is time for:

• women, not doctors, to make the abortion decision in the first three months
• an end to unacceptable delays in service provision

• an end to attacks on current rights

Be there and make a difference!

Angela McRobbie to give talk at the LSE

I will be returning to the LSE, and specifically the GI, for this exciting lecture by Angela McRobbie. And my fab ex-supervisor is chairing it! I really liked Angela's comments last year in the British Journal of Sociology in regards to Judith Butler's latest book. Though I am noticing increased use of the phrase 'melancholia' in academia - Paul Gilroy used it in a talk at the LSE last year on Britain's 'post-colonial' melancholy surrounding race relations. A new academic trend?

Illegible Rage: reflections on young women's post feminist disorders

Professor Angela McRobbie, Goldsmiths College, will give a public lecture at LSE on Thursday 25 January. The lecture provides a new cultural and sociological analysis of patterns of activity such as eating disorders, low self esteem, binge drinking and self harm.

Professor McRobbie who has written many books and articles on young women and popular culture, will draw attention to the normalisation of such malaise, she will argue that overall this comprises a form of ‘gender melancholia’. With young women encouraged to repudiate feminism, and the values it entailed including solidarity and love between women, the loss of this force for change and critique gives way to self-beratement, and harsh self- judgement as women are once more ‘confined’, this time in a restricted space seemingly of their own making.

The lecture will draw on material from fashion magazines, popular culture, films and contemporary post-feminist art. Angela McRobbie is professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths College. Dr Rosalind Gill, LSE, will chair this event.

Illegible Rage: reflections on young women’s post feminist disorders is on Thursday 25 January 2007 at 6.30pm in the Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A. The event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. Visit the event link here