FiLiA is a member of Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) In this podcast we find out more about WAVE's work. Sally Jackson interviews, Stephanie Futter Orel Executive Director WAVE, Branislava Aradjan Project and Youth ambassador Coordinator and Beverly Mtui, Communications Coordinator of WAVE WAVE is a network of over 170 European women’s NGOs working towards prevention and protection of women and children from violence. "We build the capacity of our members, advocate for better legislation, conduct research and raise awareness on violence against women and girls. Celebrating 30 years of a ..read more

In this episode Luba Fein, FiLiA volunteer, Alyssa Ahrabare, Advocacy Manager for European Network of Migrant Women and Hema Sibi, advocacy coordinator for The Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution discuss a huge legal victory in France. The European Court of Human Rights upholds France's right to ban the purchase of prostitution. France enforces a law that aims to abolish prostitution, while helping its victims exit. A group of individuals, supported by pro-prostitution organisations, appealed against this law to the ECHR. According to the appellants, this legislation radically damaged ..read more

"It is not our job to question individual choices of women in prostitution. We must examine the system and the context in which women's choices take place" Anna Zobnina In February 2024, Dunja Mijatović, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, published a statement entitled "Protecting the human rights of sex workers". It was a problematic statement that undermined the efforts of hundreds of feminist organisations and dozens of prostitution survivor organisations to eradicate the sex industry. In this podcast, Luba Fein, a FiLiA volunteer, discusses this statement and its ..read more

Tragically Chloe felt her only escape from the coercive and controlling behaviour she was subjected to was to end her own life. Her Mum Sharon wants the perpetrator held to account for her death and so is campaigning for a change in the law so that he could be charged with manslaughter by coercive or controlling behaviour. Hear about how they have developed their grassroot campaign and how you can help. Petition please sign and share: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/648948 Link to the report mentioned: vkpp.org.uk/publications/publications-and-reports/ Social Media: https://www.fa ..read more

"I just hope that in capturing these stories that we've done something to archive working class, women's experience and that it'll be there if people wanna watch it or read it. We've done our bit and we can use the methods to look at any issue we want" - Paula Boulton This podcast is about working class women and the theatre women make. It is  a discussion between playwright and theatre director Paula Boulton (67) and three members of her Corby Women's Theatre Group. Betty MacPherson (78) Danijela Bastajic (47) Dannie Smith (39) Questioned by interviewer Jo Campbell they explore the issu ..read more

Raquel Rosario Sanchez and Sarah Ditum discuss the tropes and stereotypes about women in the public eye and how they reflect on the wider struggles women face in society. Ditum's clever analysis dissects how patriarchy operates to ensure that women, including those who are extremely privileged, are used as examples to venerate and later on to destroy in order to appease a misogynist system. Buy Sarah Ditum's Toxic from the FiLiA Book Shop ..read more

This interview took place on January 25th 2024 and permission was given to share this week. "We don't want to live in this violence, in this conflict anymore. We want to end it. And as Yael always said, we shouldn't, you know, keep managing the conflict. We should resolve it. And this is why we are raising our voice and we want the international support for this [and we are raising] our voices to stop what is going on." Women have always been at the forefront of the peace movement. FiLiA reached out to two remarkable grassroots organisations, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, who are op ..read more

In this episode, Margaret Owen OBE founder of Widows for Peace (WPD) highlights the plight of the world’s dark secret of marginalised ‘invisible’ widows: a vast and growing number of women of all ages living in extreme poverty, forgotten, abused and neglected internationally, nationally at grassroots levels. Featuring: Lily Thapa, Founder of WHR/SWg (women for human rights single women's group), Nepal Jacqueline Musugani, Coordinator IFESIDI (women living in disastrous circumstances), East Congo Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, President of the National Council of Women in Ukraine Agaw Mabior, Founder, W ..read more

"It's not rocket science... you investigate the suspect, not the victim," – Harriet Wistrich. In this episode, Suzy Angus and Emma Bryson, survivors of sexual violence and founders of Speak Out Survivors, meet Dr Oona Brooks-Hay (Reader in Criminology at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow) and Harriet Wistrich (Director of the Centre for Women's Justice) to discuss the difficulties in Scotland for victims and survivors to access justice. In particular, related to the outdated legal requirement for 'corroboration', which under Scots law means that o ..read more

"One of the things I love about the feminist movement is that we're each other's catalysts. We are always pushing each other to go for our dreams and to maybe try that project that we're thinking of, make it a reality somehow." Dr Bec Wonders reports from FiLiA 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. Listen to interviews with an array of attendees and participants at the largest grassroots feminist conference in Europe. Over 1000 women, including 150 speakers from 32 different countries, gathered to talk about women’s rights, to reconnect and laugh with friends, to learn, listen and strategise for a femin ..read more