- Conference
- 2011 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 21 October 2010
- Decision
- Carried
This conference is delighted to see the resurgence of a feminist movement that is gaining media attention and that is campaigning on a broad range of women’s issues. Young feminists are organising conferences and summer schools to raise awareness of feminist principles, and building coalitions to successfully campaign on specific and general issues. These groups are reclaiming the label of feminism: they are proudly identifying as feminists and they are wearing the T shirts too.
This conference has been proud to support groups such as Million Women Rise; Reclaim the Night; Rape Crisis; OBJECT; The Fawcett Society and Abortion Rights. All these women’s campaign groups identify as feminist, in that they are campaigning for equality between men and women.
Young feminists are campaigning on a variety of fronts, working collaboratively with groups and organisations to make progress, and to raise awareness of what is still to be done. These young feminists move forward to make history and this conference applauds the efforts of these feminist groups.
In 2010 the publication of new feminist books by UK women authors is an exciting development in raising awareness of the outstanding issues that have yet to be resolved for women in the UK and beyond. The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard, and Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement by Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune both make for interesting and informative reading on the challenges that women continue to face.
In addition to these new publications, the Internet has proved to be an important tool in engaging young women in feminist campaigning. Blogging, Twitter and other social network sites have facilitated a greater level of debate of feminist ideals and have also ensured that news and issues are reported and discussed outside of the mainstream media and organisations.
The creation of web portals to provide assistance to feminist campaigners is helpful, particularly with www.ukfeminista.org.uk supporting the creation of new local feminist groups and networks through providing support and campaigning guides and a place for groups to recruit women and promote their existence. Women’s self organisation has much to gain from working alongside these emerging groups on local campaigns and issues.
Feminism has long been viewed as a dirty word in the mainstream media; it has been portrayed as both unfashionable and irrelevant. In reality however there is much still to be done before women can say that the battle for equality is won, that men and women are viewed and treated as equals. UNISON and women’s self organisation has been at the forefront of many of these feminist campaigns and has a proud history of working towards real and substantive equality for women.
This conference believes that any woman who believes in equality between men and women is a feminist. Conference also believes that women’s self organisation is itself a feminist organisation within unison.
This conference therefore proudly affirms its continuing support for feminism. Further this conference instructs the National Women’s Committee to continue to work with all like-minded organisations in campaigning for real and substantive equality between men and women and against the public sector spending cuts announced in October 2010 which we know will have a detrimental effect on Women and their everyday lives.