Women's Fightback 18, August/September 2013

Solidarity is not just for men!

The concept of solidarity in the labour movement is still too often seen as a male preserve. It reflects the view in wider society of political authority as commonly male, and the exercising of political power as a male activity. This prevailing view is the norm in the media, in education, in sport and in wider civil society. Political sexism is backed up by, and from the same misogynist root as, heterosexism, from which also stem homophobia and transphobia. Yet the unity of the working class is necessary to challenge the bosses. Our movement has to be inclusive to be strong and therefore must...

The truth about violence against women

Trigger warning/content note: detailed discussion of rape and sexual violence. What are we saying when we talk about “violence against women”? Well, one thing we’re not saying, because we’re not actually talking about it, is male violence against women. The biblical story of Potiphar’s wife established the myth of the vengeance of “a woman scorned” and the damage she could do to a virtuous man in rigidly patriarchal culture. The spectre of false accusation was presented as being as bad, if not worse than, rape. That tradition continued into the middle ages and beyond. The following is a...

How to fight sexism

Challenging sexism as part of the fight to end women’s oppression should be a central part of the left’s activity, in the labour movement and in society. Unfortunately the problem of sexism is sometimes poorly understood and met with indifference or dismissal by labour movement activists and even socialists. When was the last time you saw the male general secretary of a UK trade union make a “barnstorming” speech about violence against women and sexual harassment in the workplace? Such issues are not considered central to the union organisation. Yet these are critically important social issues...

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