What are the top three issues that feminists should unite to conquer?

[ControversialFerret]

Asking for genuine thoughts and feedback. Disclaimer - not a journo but this is linked to some work I'm doing in the background on a voluntary basis. I'm not sharing further details (for obvious reasons!) but if anyone has concerns or questions, please PM me.

Feminism is so fragmented in terms of grass roots organisation - group A disagrees with group B and so on. However we know there will always be differences of opinion in activism and causes.

But if you had the chance to unify every feminist (and ally) in the UK behind three key causes/topics, what would they be and why?

a) basic sanitation and clean water worldwide (the lack of it is a crying shame, and it hits women and girls harder because they are the ones to miss education to fetch it, and have more children than they might otherwise choose, simply to increase the chances of one or more making it to adulthood)
b) equality in humanitarian action (shocking to hear charity 'insiders' saying it could take years/decades just to rid the international aid sector of the flagrant abuses, let alone get to within spitting distance of equality)
c) universal education

Female infanticide and sex choice pre birth (not based on potential sex-based inherited diseases but on the nonsense ‘value’ of male children).

Women’s rights based on sex based characteristics.

Education - girls and also while communities where women and girls are disadvantaged on the basis of their sex.

equality in humanitarian action (shocking to hear charity 'insiders' saying it could take years/decades just to rid the international aid sector of the flagrant abuses, let alone get to within spitting distance of equality)

It's awful. All of the revelations about Oxfam have been very 'who guards the guards'? Let's not get started on the NSPCC...

Free childcare.
Having children is not a woman's responsibility , or it shouldn't be. Children are a result of MEN AND WOMEN, but it's seen as a lifestyle choice by some, and a lifestyle choice that always costs mothers more than it costs fathers. End that I say.

Tougher penalties for rapists. Needs to be overhauled. Needs to be some penalty in cases where the police don't think they can bring a case.

Free childcare

Is this the biggest barrier to women being able to work - and soar in their careers when they do return rather than being sidelined? Genuine question (I have no kids). I've managed people of both sexes who are parents and it's always been women who seem to - disproportionately - bear the brunt of school holidays, illness, dentist appointments and so on.

1. The right to legal recognition of the female biological sex class.
2. The reinstatement of every right once afforded to the female biological sex class, which has, since 2004, been supplanted by the right of men to the legal fiction of being included inappropriately in that group. Including, but not limited to, the inalienable right for females to differentiate themselves from males.
3. The dissolution of the false premise that to be of the biological sex female equates to possessing a 'gender identity' of female. The dissolution of 'gender identity' in law entirely, in fact.

No matter what else is on this thread, none of the women-centred causes will be possible to invoke, without a recognition of female to base them upon.

Without recognition of who is in the category female, there are no specific female rights or causes to fight for.

Free, safe healthcare. Including access to contraception, abortion rights and care during pregnancy until after birth.

Cultural and legal protection from rape and sexual assault.

Cultural and legal protection from violence.

Education. Women & girls to be literate and numerate.

Free childcare

Is this the biggest barrier to women being able to work

Possibly, but also the proportion of unpaid work that women do in the home. As long as men refuse to do their share of the shit work, women will struggle to achieve equality in the workplace.

@Barracker - do you mind if I paraphrase what you've said? I have a meeting this week with an amazing feminist warrior lady and I think this argument articulates everything that we're currently struggling with!

Pay equality.

The payment of child maintenance to be enforced properly.

End prejudice and discrimination against single mothers.

What barracked said and abortion/contraception which is free, safe and on demand,

The payment of child maintenance to be enforced properly.

How would we do it? Again, genuine question. I think it's a bloody brilliant (and necessary) idea, but how do you think we should enforce it?

1. The right to legal recognition of the female biological sex class and the mandatory enforcement of all single sex spaces with NO exceptions.
2. A complete overhaul of the way rape cases are investigated, processed, and prosecuted. Rape is basically legal in this country, it's completely disgraceful.
3. A serious and concerted effort to liberate women from prostitution, including a guaranteed minimum income for all, an overhaul of the benefits system, a practical exit strategy for prostituted women, and a widespread social/educational campaign about the harm of prostitution to women (and society as a whole)

In the UK my top 3 would be.

1 Improve the conviction rates for rape and abuse, I think I read on here that the rate for rape convictions was 1.7% so almost legal.

2 Stop diagnosing (mostly) women with a serious trauma history with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or the even more dehumanising term Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) and then deny them treatment based on this label. Recognise they are suffering the normal after effects of trauma and support them accordingly. Complex PTSD has no proper treatment guidelines in this country and was only recognised as a valid disorder by the WHO in June 2018.

www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/complex-ptsd/

This is what can happen, where a woman with the BPD label is not properly supported.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-45117163

3 Fighting to maintain the rights of biological women and girls based on sex and not gender. This includes single sex toilets, changing rooms, prisons, hospitals and refuges. Some trans identifying people are not even bothered to change their outward appearance any more so you have fully intact men with beards claiming to be female and demanding access to female space.

1. Prostitution.
2. Killing/aborting babies purely because they are female.
3. Ring fencing women only spaces and rights so they are for women only.

In America if you don't pay your child maintenance they can take your car I think.

Stop diagnosing (mostly) women with a serious trauma history with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or the even more dehumanising term Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) and then deny them treatment based on this label.

Oh yes, 1000x this one! My friends bipolar disorder went undiagnosed for years because her psychiatrists refused to accept that she didn't have borderline/eupd. And her treatment by almost every service on the basis of that diagnosis was unbelievable.

1. The pornification of sexuality, and the pressure on young women to behave in a way expected from pornography - which is associated with the normalisation of stereotypically ‘feminine’ behaviour.

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1. The breaking down of women’s sex based rights- single sex spaces, sports, prisons, etc- in order to allow men to access them, and the loss of our rights to single sex privacy, dignity, and boundaries.

1. The burden of unpaid domestic work done by women- the fact that in most relationships, as well as working in paid employment, we’re still expected to bear the brunt of cleaning, childcare, domestic organisation and emotional labour.

Obviously these reflect the Western experience.

1. Surrogacy;

2. Forced adoption ( by which I mean focusing on removing batterers from the home rather than the kids; financially and emotionally supporting mothers with baby/ child removal being an absolute last resort)

3. Ending pornography

I think if this is UK only, then it has to be doing something about the scale of violence, including sexual violence, against women and girls. It's just a huge problem, and not an easy one to tackle. You'd need a complete overhaul of the justice system for a start.

Obviously related to that is what Barracker says about recognition of women as a sex class. You can't tackle the first problem while undermining women's safety by allowing men into women's spaces.

The third would be something to do with guaranteeing women's economic independence so that women with children don't become financial dependent on a partner who may be abusive or, if they're single mothers, reliant on handouts for the state. It's that lack of economic independence that makes so many women's lives utterly miserable.

If it's UK only, then the first aim should be to be the (metaphorical, Clintonesque) Boss, and to use the resources of this rich and powerful country to make a difference to reduce global inequalities.

Because the rich should shoulder the burden, and the powerful should show leadership, otherwise the inequalities on the planet go unchallenged and therefore unsolved.

(Referring to the UK, rather than worldwide)

1. Woman’s healthcare to be taken seriously and improved, it is massively behind other sections and woman are left to ‘deal with it’ when comparable situations would be dealt with pretty swiftly.

1. Improve conviction rates for rapists and abusers as well as hidden abusers. Coersive control only recently was even accepted as a crime and even now the conviction rates are awful for something that has such devastation effects.
2. Better financial support for woman. Universal credit et all is affecting woman more than anyone. High childcare costs with little assistance in getting back into the workforce is driving woman out and leaving them destitute.

I. The retention of sex based rights (see Barrackers post)

1. Pornography and the increasingly sexualised world young girls are having to navigate growing up. I believe this is the cause of a lot of mental health issues in teenage girls.

1. Surrogacy. It's very clear that this is the next assault on women in the UK. There is a considerable lobby at work (with some crossover to those who want to remove sex based rights) to move towards a commercialised model of surrogacy similar to the US. In line with many European countries I would like surrogacy banned outright.