Declaring the Activism of Black Feminist Theory Convention

Funding from the Feminist Review Trust has enabled the grassroots feminist collective at Trafford Rape Crisis, Manchester to hold, ‘Declaring the Activism of Black Feminist Convention’ as a platform to launch their BME Women’s Service. The effects of racism, sexism are exhausting.  The ways in which Black women are physically, emotionally and sexually violated and survive need to be understood in relation to racism and other weights of oppression that press down.  Survivors of this racist patriarchy have specific issues that require particular knowledge and forms of action. 

The project will be implemented in the Porumamilla block of Cuddapah district in India. The project is to train 250 physically handicapped women in candle making and thence to provide a sustainable source of income for them. The project will both train them in candle making and offer literacy classes.

A project of action, research, writing and photography concerning women co-operating across conflict lines over a 15-year time span. Aims include uncovering continuity and change in ethno-national wars; better understanding the challenges inherent in cross-communal alliances; and making visible women’s contribution to the long-term struggle for democracy and peace.

The Trust is funding the purchase of equipment to support the development of the Caucasian Feminist Initiative. The project is designed to promote the newly established feminist centre in Georgia by organizing events such as workshops, film shows, art exhibitions, discussions, and talks that will open a new discourse between different generations of the feminist groups. The "Centre" aims to provide contacts and to create opportunities to exchange ideas and information, as well as provide mutual support. The Feminist Centre is located in Tbilisi, in the central part of the city, near the major universities. Over 2500 books on contemporary feminism and gender issues are available in the "Centre". Activists from the regions of Georgia can participate in discussions through Skype.

Over the next 6 months The Centre will organize:

This project will be implemented in Chemuduru Village of Badvel block, Kadapa District of A.P. India. 20 dalit women will be provided with a cow and the means to support it (including medical support). The cow will enable the women to generate an income by selling milk so contributing to their self-reliance. Overall the project aims to empower the dalit women and to eradicate the poverty and hunger from their lives.

Women in the prison system are invisible and ignored. To shed light on their situation Women in Prison are producing The State of the Women's Prison Estate, a report compiling and analysing information on each prison. This report will provide a vehicle for women to voice their experiences and provide evidence to inform debate and campaigns.

Women in prison have no vote and little opportunity to speak out about their conditions. The lack of attention paid to their situation adds to their marginalisation and disempowerment.

Women are just 5% of the prison population in England and Wales, as a minority within a marginalised community they are largely invisible and ignored. The Ministry of Justice releases data but this neither easily digestible nor broken down by specific prisons. The Prison Inspectorate visits each women's prison, but only once every 3 years or so. Where data is compiled or annual reports are produced, women's experiences are reduced to a few paragraphs and there is rarely any opportunity for women to have their say.

Therefore, whilst information is published, none of what is currently produced provides annual, accessible data that sheds light on women's experience of prison and analyses it from a feminist perspective. This is the gap this report will fill.

Women in Prison works to decrease the needless imprisonment of women and improve safety and respect for dignity in women's prisons by making people, particularly policy makers, more aware of what happens inside women's prisons. The evidence base the report will provide will underpin campaigning on this issue, offer a starting point for public debate, provide evidence to challenge threats to women's safety, dignity and equality and highlight good practice that can be replicated in other prisons.

The Feminist Review Thrust Grant will facilitate an oral history project of the survivors of Irish Magdalene Laundries who have made their homes in the UK. Ireland's Magdalene Laundries were residential, commercial and for-profit laundries operated in Catholic convents by four orders of nuns. Between 1922 and 1996, when the last institution closed, an as yet unknown number of Irish girls and women were incarcerated in ten Magdalene Laundries and forced to carry out unpaid labour under extremely harsh conditions. Girls and women were placed in the Magdalene Laundries because they were perceived to be 'promiscuous', or the cause of sexual 'temptation', some were unwed mothers, some were transferred from residential 'industrial schools' in the care of the Church and State, or were otherwise in vulnerable situations due to poverty. These women were denied freedom of movement, never paid for their labour, and often denied their given names. The daily routine in the Magdalene Laundries emphasised prayer, silence, and work.

Many survivors who were released made their home in the UK, often fearing re-incarceration should they remain in Ireland; it is these women who will provide the testimonies as part of this project. The ultimate goal is to contribute to understanding the lives of women who lived in the Magdalene Institutions. There is currently no reliable information on even basic data such as how many women were committed to these institutions and how many survivors still remain in Ireland, the UK and in countries such as the USA. These UK survivor testimonies are a crucial part of a larger oral history which seeks to collect participants' and eye-witnesses' accounts of the Magdalene institutions in the Justice for Magdalenes' campaign to seek restorative justice for these institutionalised women from the Irish State and the Catholic Church.

The Community Fuel Briquette Project is an initiative of Rwenzori Women's Empowerment Centre for Community Development (RWECCD) that is intended to alleviate the suffering of many people, particularly women, in the Kasese district in western Uganda. Currently hundreds of women survive on gathering firewood for sale. A majority of these gather firewood from the nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park where they are often arrested and prosecuted by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). When sentenced, often to long prison terms, the families they head and their children are left destitute.

The goal of the project is to train 20 members of RWECCD (women) in the essential skill of producing biomass fuel briquettes. Fuel briquettes are biomass substances made out of raw materials including; rice husks, coffee husks, saw dust, G.nut husks and dry leaves. After these women have acquired skills in briquette production, they will pass these skills on to the rest of their community. In this way women will be not only enabled to earn money through selling briquettes but also less at risk of prosecution. And the demand on the resources of the forest will be reduced through fewer women scavenging for firewood.

The project's objectives are:

The Feminist Review Trust funds will be used to produce the training curriculum handbook; the Feminist Tech Exchange 'training of trainers' workshop; the practical training in the field, and the purchase a video projector to screen images and digital stories of survivors.

The project will train 25 trainers to reach out to 400 women and girl victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse in urban and rural areas.

The Skills and Tailoring Training for Women Project will focus on women in the slums of Karimnagar, India. 25 women will be trained in tailoring and embroidery skills hence enabling them to earn money and achieve some economic independence. The women will be taught how to mange their accounts, be supported in literacy development and give basic hygiene and sanitation education.

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) is a global women's network that advocates for the promotion of human rights and gender equality in Muslim countries and contexts, led and supported by women from those contexts.

WLUML develops and provides free e-publications to support women's struggles, carries out research, offers analytical responses on gender violations and presents solutions from within Muslim contexts.

The Feminist Review Trust award of £3500 will contribute primarily towards the production of Dossier 32: Sexuality in Muslim Contexts. The call for papers has been issued; the dossier will have a minimum of 10 articles. The likely e-publication date is early 2012. The grant may also be used towards the E-publications of: Making Gender Quotas Work for Women – Successful Steps for Effective Gender Quota use, an overview of global debates, use of quota's in prominent electoral systems and for Women's Charters – Strategic use in promoting women's rights.

Making Gender Quotas Work for Women and Women's Charters will form the basis of WLUML training for women advocating gender equality through more equal political representation of women and women's increased access to policy and decision-making positions.

WLUML has produced publications annually since 1986, a minimum of two publications a year. WLUML publications are available through the web shop or as free to download e-publications on the website www.wluml.org.

Fawcett's new programme of work focuses on advancing women's political rights and increasing the representation and influence of women in parliament.

The general election saw a paltry 2% increase in the number of women MPs and the appointment of just 4 women to a cabinet of 23, yet evidence suggests that the knowledge and experience brought by increased numbers of women MPs would benefit everyday women's lives, by ensuring that policy decisions are informed by their differing perspectives, concerns and needs.

The under-representation of women in parliament is a major democratic deficit. A gender-balanced parliament would be more representative of society and would therefore be more able to serve the diverse needs of both women and men.

The current priority given to political reform by the government presents Fawcett with an unmissable opportunity to increase women's political power and lobby for high impact action to be taken as part of a wider programme to change the shape and face of UK politics.

We aim to raise awareness of the undemocratic nature of the current system and build mass support for reform. Engaging opinion formers in the media and wider society we will strengthen our call for policy change. We aim to change the way women politicians are portrayed in the media and will call for the current trend for trivialisation to be replaced with coverage that assesses political performance, rather than appearance.

We will build our political networks by seeking out opportunities to engage parliamentarians with our campaign. Using parliamentary forums, we aim to facilitate discussion among key politicians, civil servants and academics which will inform our work and policy recommendations.

We will lobby for positive action measures to be included in the House of Lords Reform Bill and conduct research into measures that work to support women in positions of power and influence, ensuring that good practice is recognised and shared with officials across all political levels.

The Lesbian Immigration Support Group is an independent member and volunteer led support group which exists to provide support for women based in Greater Manchester who are either seeking to claim asylum in the UK, or who are refugees, and who identify as having a same sex orientation.

Our aims are:

We meet on a monthly basis in Manchester as well as organising social events. Our group meetings provide a unique opportunity for members to meet and form friendships with other women who have a shared experience, and to talk openly about their sexuality without fear of persecution. Our members share, when they feel safe enough, the terrible experiences they have been through in their country of origin. Our members have all experienced trauma in their country of origin due to their sexuality including rape, imprisonment, forced marriage, domestic violence, physical assaults and torture. Now in England, members often suffer severe mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts - including those members who have been given leave to remain here.

The practical support offered includes finding 'lesbian friendly 'solicitors; accompanying members to solicitors appointments, immigration tribunals, Home Office interviews, appointments with MPs, etc; collecting signatories for anti-deportation petitions; and writing letters and statements to support members' asylum claims.

The Feminist Review Trust grant will pay for our core work for one year. It will also allow us the opportunity to develop our group and establish other income streams for us to become more self-sustaining.

Abortion Support Network (ASN) is a new, all volunteer organization which assists women travelling to the England in order to access a safe and legal abortion, which they are denied in their home countries. Many of these women travel from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Women travelling to England for abortions often face very difficult and stressful circumstances, financial hardship and are extremely isolated. They must pay privately for their procedure, as well as other expenses such as travel, childcare and time off work, meaning the overall costs of their journey and procedure can run into the hundreds or thousands of pounds. ASN is the only organization currently working to provide these women with practical assistance and confidential, non-judgemental information.

The individual circumstances of the women who turn to ASN for support vary greatly. Women ASN assisted in 2010 for example, included students, mothers, women surviving on benefits, teenagers, women facing severe foetal impairment, asylum seekers, married middle-aged women, and women who had experienced rape or domestic violence. ASN provides grants towards the cost of women's procedures, offers accommodation in the homes of volunteers to those women staying overnight, as well as practical information on providers and travel and an understanding person to speak with at the end of the phone.

The grant from the Feminist Review Trust will cover all of ASN's modest operating costs in 2011, allowing ASN to use 100% of its donations from the public to help women pay for their abortion procedures and travel. Additionally ASN will use 80% of the Trust's contribution to assist women in need with grants towards the cost of their abortion.

Homeworkers Worldwide (HWW) will coordinate a research project under the auspices of a new "Women and Work Network" being established in the North of England.

HWW works specifically with homebased workers. In addition it has built links with other groups working on related issues around women and informal or precarious work, such as BME groups, asylum seeker groups and trade unionists. They are currently establishing a local network to bring together those working on these issues to build a common platform for advocacy and lobbying.

The research project will explore women's informal and precarious work; obstacles to decent work and income; relationship to unpaid family work and ongoing changes in welfare reform and public service cuts and services.

The aim is to support homebased women in undertaking research and formulating a platform and strategy for advocacy. The research findings will be fed back into the network, in the form of a final report, and inform future work and priority-setting. The network will provide a route for women to take up their concerns in a collective and ongoing way.

This research examines the government's legislative programme to establish the aggregated effect of the constitutional and localism agendas on women's representation at strategic decision-making levels in England. Currently women are under-represented in parliament (22%), on local councils (31%) and in local leadership roles (14%), and the report on the research will also make recommendations for how new legislation could best be used to improve this position.

There are at present a number of bills going through Parliament which will have a direct impact on the level and nature of women's representation in public life. These include:

In addition, there are other structural changes such as the abolition of Regional Development Agencies and the introduction of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) which will impact upon women's representation at the point at which key economic and social decisions about their lives are made.

This project will examine the aggregated effect of all these developments on women's representation and their access to decision-making at a number of levels, and will make recommendations for how the interests of women could best be protected and promoted within them.

The Young BME Women's Social Inclusion Project provides a safe environment for newly arrived women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) to receive accredited English language and life skills across Tower Hamlets. The vast majority of the target group do not work, have very limited English language skills, and little comprehension of life in the UK. Consequently many spend a considerable amount of time at home and are severely isolated.

The project enables newly arrived women to participate and socially engage with their new community, make better informed life choices and have greater control over their lives. By the end of the programme beneficiaries feel more integrated within British society, feel more confident speaking English at home and when accessing local services and are able to independently utilise local services.

The project accepts all women from outside of the EEA who have been in the UK for less than 18 months and have NRPF. This is the only project in east London that is specifically designed for this target group. Without this programme these women are unable to access an education or appropriate support system that addresses their needs until after their first year in the UK.

The Young BME Women's Social Inclusion Project provides a safe environment for newly arrived women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) to receive accredited English language and life skills across Tower Hamlets. The vast majority of the target group do not work, have very limited English language skills, and little comprehension of life in the UK. Consequently many spend a considerable amount of time at home and are severely isolated.

The project enables newly arrived women to participate and socially engage with their new community, make better informed life choices and have greater control over their lives. By the end of the programme beneficiaries feel more integrated within British society, feel more confident speaking English at home and when accessing local services and are able to independently utilise local services.

The project accepts all women from outside of the EEA who have been in the UK for less than 18 months and have NRPF. This is the only project in east London that is specifically designed for this target group. Without this programme these women are unable to access an education or appropriate support system that addresses their needs until after their first year in the UK.

SALUS Foundation will deveop intercative training for the 15-22 age group to raise awareness about problems of gender equality, HIV/STIs, stigma and discrimination; violence trafficking, hiuman rights and to encourage more young people to seek assistance from state and non-government social and medical institutions.

The project will provide a new interactive resource for educators working with this age group. An interactive exercise "When and how to say NO" will help to improve young women's self esteem and assertiveness. The game will be distributed among educators providing training on sexuality education, gender sensitive issues and the prevention of violence. The training will teach young how to take decisions in complicated life situations. The main activities being funded include:

Lesbians and Feminists for the Decriminalization of Abortion, has been working with the Network Against Unsafe Abortion in Argentina since April 2010. Network members are primarily in public community and primary health teams. The groups have been working in 4 municipalities to establish publicly available trained health care teams to prevent unsafe abortion in local communities and have been networking among community and health care professionals in the public system and through local social movements and organizations. In October this year they published a handbook on safe abortion with misoprostol.

The main objective of this project is to prevent unsafe abortion practices at the local level by improving: access to information about safe abortion with misoprostol; access to and use of misoprostol and other resources; how to spot complications, when to seek medical care, and the legal framework protecting women's rights in post-abortion care at the hospital.

To achieve this goal and with the support of the Feminist Review Trust support, the group will train 100 public community health workers in 2 municipalities, and engage with municipal government officials to make these services publicly available through the Network Against Unsafe Abortion in Argentina; the municipal health care system, and local social organizations

The project aims to initiate the "Internally Displaced Women's Collective" in Northern Sri Lanka. The main focus of the project is to work with a local women's group to create a shelter for women survivors of the ethnic conflict in the District of Kilinochchi.

The intention of this joint project is to assist internally displaced women in overcoming their trauma and rebuilding safety networks, social relations and economic resources. This includes women's personal security from violence or harm and access to the basic essentials of life and freedom from violations based on gender. As such, the project will help to enhance women's human rights in the region by promoting gender equality as well as women's dignity, personal (physical and economic) security. The project will assist women through the path of becoming economically self-sufficient by creating funds and giving meaningful assistance to build a safe shelter. This initial assistance will support the traditional saving system known as seettu for women to participate in income generation activities, which will provide jobs for their children and other relatives. And more importantly it will empower women, who have literally nothing left to live or look forward to being other than warranted salvation.

Funding for the Trust to Rights of Women will enable 15 women from small grassroots organisations throughout England and Wales to participate in the 35th Anniversary Conference on 22 June 2010. The conference will be an opportunity for dialogue within and between government and statutory sector and the community and voluntary sector on violence against women (VAW). The conference will also be a platform to put forward feminist analyses of international law and obligations incumbent upon the UK – an approach that many participants will not be familiar with. The engagement of smaller, grassroots women’s organisations with the experience they bring to this dialogue is vital to ensuring appropriate, sustainable approaches to addressing VAW.

Women’s organisations are increasingly under threat from funding cuts and changes to local funding for their services. With scarce resources channelled into providing direct services to vulnerable and disadvantaged women, grassroots and feminist organisations often do not have the capacity or finances to engage in conferences and events. ROW wants to ensure that women from smaller grass roots organisations from around England and Wales participate in the conference. They believe this is vital for two reasons: first, their presence will be essential in order to have a meaningful debate on the impact of national law and policy on individual women: and second, individual women from smaller and grassroots women’s organisations will benefit from increased awareness and capacity to engage in debates on international and domestic law affecting women, debates which can often be inaccessible and daunting. The conference will also give them an opportunity to develop their own understanding of the law and policy of VAW and how they can actively engage in policy and campaigning work using national and international frameworks.

The funds will support a youth training workshop which will form part of a group of activities during 6 days of ‘no violence against women’. The funds will support planning, production of materials, venue and transportation. The workshop will take place in Guguletu township. By hosting it in Guguletu the aim is to attract/target youth and young people from surrounding townships like Langa, Nyanga, New Cross Roads and Phillipi. The group feels it important that youth participate in initiatives by NGO’s, CBO’s and Government Departments that are in the long run going to benefit them. There will be 40 participants between the ages of 18-25 years including those who are currently attending school and those who are unemployed. Teen violence in the relationships of young people has been on the rise in  townships.

Young women and men will be educated and sensitized to prevailing issues of domestic violence in young relationships. As an organization that assists in the role out of Protection orders at the Phillipi court Ilitha Labantuh as been studying the large numbers of young women who have been applying for protection orders against their partners. They feel that it is important that the youth are equipped with skills to counsel each other and educate one another on their rights so that the cycle of domestic violence and abuse against women can be broken. Violence should not be viewed as a normal phenomenon.

Sylviapankhurst.com was developed in 2008. With an educational (and non-political) mission, this extensive site was created as an information resource for historians, students, researchers and anyone with an interest in women’s history or in 20th century history generally.

Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960) is a formerly neglected heroine who, after rising to prominence as a Suffragette, devoted her life to campaigning for a fairer society – with ideology long before her time. Abandoning a promising career as a painter and designer, Sylvia carved an extraordinary life for herself empowering and creating self-help opportunities for women, helping the poor, opposing political oppression and racism, challenging world leaders including Lenin, Mussolini and Churchill, and promoting peace – all the while inspiring a new awareness and campaigning spirit in people all over the world through her writings, speeches and political demonstrations.

Though until recently Sylvia has been less well-known than her mother Emmeline and sister Christabel, many have come to believe that Sylvia was the most interesting of the Pankhurst women and, arguably, the most effective.

As well as offering an overview of Sylvia Pankhurst’s life and times, Sylviapankhurst.com examines her influences and the impact of her work, from her importance as an artist and campaigner for the Suffragette movement through to her friendship with the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, whose invitation to spend her last years in Ethiopia she accepted.

The grant of £2,000 from the Trust will go towards the costs of a project to update the documentary film “A Place of Rage”. The film is a celebration of the contributions and achievements of prominent African American women and includes interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker. Within the context of civil rights, black power, lesbian and gay rights and the feminist movement, the trio reassess how women like Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Harner revolutionised American society and the world generally. The women interviewed in the film were instrumental in the US civil rights movement and their contributions impacted on equality developments and legislation across the world including here in the UK.

Our project will release the film as a DVD to ensure wider access. We will add new material from updated interviews with Alice Walker and Angela Davis. Sadly, June Jordan passed away in 2002. However, some unused/unseen footage of June Jordan which was filmed before her death will be added to the DVD extras . This release with updated interviews will ensure that the valuable contributions made by three of the most inspirational Black women of our time are recorded for educational, political and historical purposes.

To support the a publication of a book in three languages (Arabic, Hebrew and English) which will summarises and processes the data and knowledge accumulated during the 16th Feminist Convention which took  place in Nazareth, 20-21-22 November 2008.

Historically, feminist conventions have always been instrumental in the development and growth of the feminist movement in Israel. This was the place where Palestinian, Mizrahi (Oriental Jewish) and lesbian women challenged the "mainstream" feminism and gradually turned the movement into an inclusive and courageous movement, across the borders of race, nationality, ethnicity and sexuality between all women in Israel.

The 16th Feminist Convention brought together feminist and women's organizations and activist women and transgender persons for 3 days of intensive feminist in-depth dialogue and politics, information exchange, sharing of professional experience and coalition-building opportunities. The Convention focused on six major themes: (1) Accessibility to Social, Financial and Legal Resources; (2) Health, Body and Sexuality; (3) The Occupation of Palestine, Women and Peace; (4) Democracy and Citizenship; (5) Politics of Identity; (6) Lesbian Feminism.

The reason we see the 16th Feminist Convention as a potentially imperative contribution to the advancement of women's rights is the new direction we wish to steer, by openly linking women's rights, civil rights and democracy, militarism and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. By raising the commitment of Israeli women's organizations to openly advocate for peace and human rights we will be able to contribute directly and significantly to women's rights in Israel and the region.

"Secrets" is a self-organized project initiated by 6+ in collaboration with eight Palestinian women artists.

Over the course of two years, "Secrets" has become a series of cultural and social exchanges, workshops, several publications, and an exhibition which has travelled in the Occupied Territories of Palestine and onto the United States.  Most importantly, this project is an attempt to develop cooperation across enormous geographic and cultural distance, and to build solidarities in recognition of our deep interconnectedness.

The Respect My Choice Campaign shares real stories from real people about abortion in Trinidad and Tobago. The campaign for abortion law reform in this Commonwealth Caribbean nation has been empirical and research-driven. ASPIRE has asked the people and politicians of T&T to confront the fact that unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal morbidity. Every year 3000 to 4000 of women are treated at public hospitals as a direct result.

But the predominance of sexist attitudes to women’s roles and responsibilities and a corresponding lack of empathy for their challenges remain at the root of resistance to law review. The Respect My Choice Campaign seeks to do what statistics can’t:… to generate compassion and inspire a search for common ground.
 
Through radio and newspaper placements we will invite people to our website (www.aspire.org.tt) where they can read the women’s detailed stories and contribute to a forum in which experiences and ideas may be shared.

• Improve access to bail for all immigration detainees
• Lobby for detention to be subject to regular independent, automatic judicial review
• Work towards an end to arbitrary detention in the UK
• End the detention of families with children

The x:talk project involves the development, co-ordination and delivery of free English classes for workers in the sex industry in London.

It is a conscious effort to make contact with migrant sex worker communities, offer a practical and needed service currently only provided for on a commercial basis and ultimately attempt to build political alliances and strengthen migrant sex worker networks.

One of the main motivations behind the project is to put into action critiques of the current “trafficking” politics and debates. Under a racist and anti-feminist rhetoric of protection, the discourse and policies of trafficking that see women as victims of organised crime or of cruel men produces abuse, deportation, criminalisation and exploitation of migrants, in the sex industry in particular, and of sex workers in general. It also creates divisions between migrants’ and sex workers’ forms of resistance. Putting at the centre the dimension of autonomy of people moving across borders, and of people of every gender employing their resources in the sex industry, language emerges as being one of the crucial elements to directly challenge and change conditions of work and life, to come together, and to organise.

The x:talk project is being organised by a network of sex workers, sex workers rights', and migrants' rights activists, and is supported by the International Union of Sex Workers (GMB/IUSW).

Access to birth control and the legalisation of abortion have transformed women’s lives and are central to women’s equality and freedom. Yet, under the 1967 Abortion Act, which governs access to abortion in Britain, women do not have the ‘right to choose’ per se, they still need the agreement of two doctors before they access the procedure. In addition, many women still face unnecessary obstacles and unequal access, including obstructive GPs, long NHS delays or hundreds of pounds in independent sector fees – one in four have to pay for terminations. Abortion is still denied to women in Northern Ireland.

In spite of these restrictions, the anti-choice lobby is promoting a relentlessly sensationalist and misleading focus on the upper limit in a campaign to confuse public and political opinion on a woman’s right to choose and win support for the chipping away of legal rights.

In fact, later abortions are extremely rare - less than two per cent are carried out between 20 and 24 weeks. Women who need to make the late abortion decision do not do so on a whim but face exceptional and distressing circumstances - e.g. some women fail to diagnose the pregnancy until late, some are victims of domestic violence, others have been delayed in the system by an obstructive GPs - whatever the reason, each woman must be trusted to make the best decision and, to do so, she needs the protection of the law.

Abortion Rights, the national pro-choice campaign (formed from the merger of the National Abortion Campaign and the Abortion Law Reform Association) is leading the campaign to defend the time limit. It launched a major postcard campaign at a packed public meeting in the House of Lords at the end of October 2005, which brought together a broad alliance of pro-choice activists. All those who support a woman’s right to choose are encouraged to contact Abortion Rights and get involved in the campaign.

www.abortionrights.org.uk

The Lilith Project was established in 2002 as a pan-London, 2nd  tier Violence Against Women (VAW) agency managed by Eaves Housing for Women. The project’s remit is to raise awareness of VAW, capacity build within the VAW sector, lobby government, share best practice and develop as a centre of expertise around VAW issues. In 2004, Lilith conducted a survey of the mixed sex hostels in London and their policies and procedures on violence against women. The information received was analysed in terms of specific issues such as self-harm, sexual violence, harassment, prostitution, domestic violence, and eating disorders.

From this, a report has been produced which explores women’s homelessness, the responses of hostels to the gender specific issue of violence and recommendations for best practice in supporting women in the hostel sector.

The seminar day will launch the report and the significant findings, and on each issue provide a briefing on how to support women who have experienced violence, how the manifestations of this (such as self harm) can be addressed on practical and emotional level, and how to make mixed sex homelessness provision appropriate for women.

These briefings at the event will be embedded in the work of Eaves Housing for Women, who have 30 years experience of providing high quality supported accommodation for women who have survived violence and have complex needs. Partner agencies that Lilith collaborates with, who have expertise in the areas of self harm, mental health and other issues identified as training needs will be invited to deliver sessions and provide information that attendees can take away and cascade throughout their organisations.

The grant will be used to finance a self-produced booklet, detailing the experiences of working class British South Asian Muslim women in higher education (HE). The booklet is free for all (including postage and packaging), and to publicise the research I will present the findings at schools, colleges, youth clubs and other institutions.

This project is primarily aimed at South Asian Muslim women considering HE. The booklet disseminates some findings of research I undertook for my PhD, which involved interviews and focus group discussions with South Asian Muslim women at university. The women I spoke to are all from working class backgrounds, and are the first generation in their families to attend university. The booklet demystifies the university experience by providing first hand accounts from the women I interviewed. Particular themes covered are: university life; student loans and fees; plans for after graduation, and experiences of ethnicity, faith, gender and class at university. The booklet will also be of interest to students from other ethnic and religious backgrounds.

It is also designed as an information resource for educationalists working with South Asian Muslim women, such as teachers, careers advisors and youth workers. Dominant discourses perpetuate negative stereotypes of South Asian Muslim women as uneducated, meek or oppressed, or most recently, as fundamentalist. By encouraging greater understanding about South Asian Muslim women’s experiences at university, educationalists will be better able to advise, offer information and tackle exclusions.