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In the majority of societies half our species (women) has been held in an inferior position to the other half (men). Why is this the case? The answer to this question should explain two things. It should explain why today with all our equal rights legislation women are still second class citizens, and secondly it should indicate the mechanisms and tactics we have to use to achieve womens' liberation.
It isn't sexism that holds us in the worse paid jobs but rather the economic reality of the capitalism system. To survive in the market place any company has to be competitive, to maximise profits. In todays society, creches and child-care are a luxury that the profit motive can rarely afford.
Sex, Class and the Queen of England
Violence and discrimination against women are still very real. Large numbers of women want to fight back. Aileen O'Carroll looks at some of the issues. Can women of all classes share a common goal? Should women organise separately? Is there a connection between fighting sexism and fighting capitalism?
Year of the Family - Parents, puritans and poverty
The increased violence in society and fears social decay have even liberal commentators calling for a to return to family values. Yet what does this really mean? What are those values? In this article Aileen O'Carroll will examine the role of the family and the reasoning behind the Back to Basics campaign.
No one should expect human sexual behaviour to be expressed in only one way. It's strange that while we accept diversity in tastes in food, music, book, films when it comes to sex we talk of rights, wrongs and norms.
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were a group of women anarchists who organised and fought both for women's liberation and an anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War. The work they did is truly inspirational.
Anarchists and the right to choose
We envisage an anarchist society as a society where people are free to make choices about their own lives. For women, this includes the decision whether or not to become pregnant, whether or not to remain pregnant, whether or not to have children.
New law aids pimps and protection rackets
Tagged on to the end of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 were further restrictions on prostitution. Under the new act, prostitutes are now liable to fines of up to £1,000 and up to six months in prison.
'Not Your Girl', a women's radio programme was taken off the air at Anna Livia FM by an all-male Board of Directors just before Christmas.
The international
'Anarchist Platform'We invite you to look at the 'Anarchist Platform' points and if you agree with them to subscribe to this international anarchist mailing list
Read the 'Anarchist Platform'
A Censorship law praised by feminists has been used to ban books by a leading anti-porn feminist.
The Spanish revolution of 1936 saw the emergence of an anarchist womens organisation with between 20,000 and 35,000 members.
Alice Nutter of Chumbawamba on the Spice Girls 'Girl Power'
A brief look at the life and writings of Emma Goldman
Louise Michel was a French anarchist women who fought in the Paris commune and after escaping the death penalty spent the rest of her live in the anarchist movement.
Obituary: A Rebel Spirit
Leah Feldman, who was cremated in London on January 7th, was one of the ordinary men and women who rarely get into history books but have been the backbone of the anarchist movement.
Divorce, undermining the family?
A pamphlet on the family under capitalism produced for the Irish divorce referenda
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The women who founded Mujeres Libres were all active within the anarchist movement, in the CNT or in the FIJL, however as women they were in a minority and found it difficult to incorporate more women into the activist core, either because of the sexism of the men, or because of the reluctance of the women or a combination of both
What initially drew Goldman to anarchism was the outcry that followed the Haymarket Square tragedy in 1886 in Chicago. Emma Goldman had followed the event intensely and on the day of the hanging she decided to become a revolutionary.
Basically we view feminism as a progressive movement but one which is capable of taking up confused and sometimes reactionary demands because it fails to locate the cause of womens oppression in the class nature of capitalist society.
I am going to look at the different traditions of political thought that have developed to critique this vision of women's role in society. There are broadly speaking, four theories; Liberal Feminism, Traditional Marxism, Radical Feminism and Socialist Feminism.
Why women are not yet liberated?
A lot of the institutionalised oppression that women such as my mother would have argued against in the 1960's has disappeared. Yet it is also obvious that women are still far from equal. For the majority of us, our right to choose the way of life we wish to lead is as limited as it has always been.
The Left and the Fight for Women's Liberation
The struggle for women's liberation has generally been bound up with other, wider social and economic changes. The first written evidence of equality with men being put seriously on the agenda was during the reformation starting in the sixteenth century.
The Catholic church in Ireland has always been massively supported by the State and allowed a huge say in the running of the country. This article will attempt to cover the facts of church power in Ireland and the long history of State support beginning hundreds of years be fore the establishment of the 26 county state
Divorce Victory: Clerical Power Weakened
The coming into effect last June of legislation which decriminalised certain male homosexual acts was the subject of much celebration in the gay community. For many it was felt the battle for equality had been won.
