Females from Israel, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England (along with a small group of male allies) attended the Contemporary Women’s Issues Workshop in England in November 2019 led by Diane Balser (International Liberation Reference Person for Women).

We were reminded that since the 1980s the global economic situation has had the effect of reducing women’s issues to individual “problems.” As a result, we can easily lose track of being a sisterhood in which we are collectively fighting to end women’s oppression.


We are being told that solutions to our problems lie in individual “choices.” We can choose products that will “empower” us. We can “choose” to wear what we like, alter our bodies as we like, identify as we like, and engage in behaviour that will make us feel better about ourselves (the promise of a consumer society). However, sexism and male domination are still rife—but seldom talked about. The exploitation of women (and men) continues in its viciousness with the systematic and increasingly “normal” mistreatment of women by men and of both women and men by the institutions of the oppressive society. (Men are caught up in this. For example, the sex industries use men’s sexual distresses to “market” the continued sexual exploitation of women.)

Diane encouraged us to work on what it had been like to be a girl and on what it had been like to be exploited as a female from the very beginning (including growing in the womb of a woman who was being oppressed and exploited by sexism). She invited us to notice that together we are a collective contradiction to the idea that we are alone in our struggles. In each demonstration Diane reminded the client that she had a “gang” and an “army” of women with her, that she was not struggling on her own [alone].

She mentioned that women have been having a hard time continuing to lead women’s support groups. This has been true of me, so I decided to come home and turn my weekly class, which is all female, into a women’s support group. We’ve had our first meeting. Each woman took time to discharge with the direction, “It’s great to be female.” We will also have at least one session each week focusing on sexism. This group will be my local “gang” as I try to keep my attention on ending sexism in both my life and in the wider world.

Love in sisterhood,