!!!!! FWR women of the year !!!!!

[ErrolTheDragon]

Belatedly - we've not had an FWR women of the year thread this year.

There are so many worthy of mention! I'm not planning on doing a spreadsheet to decide a 'winner' but if anyone else wants to please do.

So, to get the ball rolling with some obvious names...

Joanne Rowling - I think someone reckoned she's due a lifetime award but I'm pretty sure she's going to be doing more for women each year so that's premature.

Maya Forstater and Allison Bailey for their important legal battles.

Special MNer's award to @IamSarah for her bravery and persistence.

Good grief! I don't know how I missed this at the time!

Now I'm torn between Jeni Swayne and Elaine Miller!

Wales: Jeni
Scotland: Elaine

Sorted! 😎

Dr Hilary Cass?
IamSarah would get my vote!

There are so many but even just from Scotland -

Joanna Cherry, Johanne Lamont, Joan McAlpine, Ash Regan, Carol Mochan, Pam Gosal

The fabulous women of Murray Blackburn MacKenzie

Rhona Hotchkiss

JKR

Elaine Miller

The Scottish Feminists who sat through hours and hours of the GRR debate at Holyrood.

Ash Regan

And FWR posters, there are so many amazing posters but another nomination for Helleofabore - every post is spot on.

Seconded, Waitwhat!

I'm going to nominate Nicola Murray of Brodie's Trust. She was accused of a hate crime and interviewed by police after stating publicly that the charity she runs was only for women.
Brodie's Trust supports women who have suffered a miscarriage after domestic violence.

I'd like to nominate as a collective the Scottish women parliamentarians who did most/risked most to stop the GRRBill from becoming law. Ash Regan and Michelle Thomson from the SNP, who both spoke fabulously about why they were voting against their party line. Claire Baker and Carol Mochan, the only two Labour MSPs to vote against the Bill (and Claire had proposed a sensible amendment on waiting for the final report of the Cass Review before reducing the age for a GRC, which of course was voted down because hey, why wait for evidence when you can legislate based on ideology). Rachael Hamilton of the Scottish Conservatives who didn't go against party policy, but who did the lion's share of the work in opposing the Bill in committee stage, and arguing against it in the chamber, with her supporting sisters Pam Gosal and Tess White.

Can we add the amazing women who did the tribunal tweets?

Oh gosh yes, they did an epic job in so many cases. It helped bring the whole process of what's going on in the courts to the attention of so many people. They have played a truly invaluable part in the history of what will be written of this year.what

I felt so sorry for their fingers.

I think Reem Alsalem deserves a mention. I've never seen the issues articulated with such patience and composure.

All of the above, Amy Hamm in Canada (I hope for the best for her in the New Year).
FWR sheros @hellofabore, @tinselangel and the rest of you, wise, funny, silly, all the superlatives.

Second everyone mentioned.
And add Onjali Rauf - MBE!

Not forgetting the Westminster Parliamentarians who have represented women and their female constituents properly. They include Rosie Duffield, Joanna Cherry and Miriam Cates as well as Kemi Badenoch who has provided some impressive responses when required.

Helen Joyce. Really clear, articulate & humorous.

All the above.

You lovely lot.

and not yet mentioned, Karen Ingala Smith of the Femicide Census. Just reading her book “Defending Women’s Spaces” which was my Christmas present to me!

There are almost too many and the work is very widely spread, which seems to be all round a good sign.

I do think the women of Scotland who've been working so hard in such depressing circumstances must win as a collective though? But it's very hard to choose!!

There are so many this year, but for me it's the women of For Women Scotland. On and on they battle, never giving up, in the most depressing of circumstances. They have my utmost admiration.

It has to be JK Rowling for me.

As well as her charity work through Lumos, I still think of her gender critical emergence as a real turning point and remember almost crying in relief that someone famous and credible was saying this stuff out loud in "real life".

She could have just stayed quiet and enjoyed adulation from the masses, instead, she is now LOATHED on Reddit and elsewhere online. She knew what was coming and went for it anyway. She's beyond a hero to me.

Ash Regan for me. Holyrood is toxic and she’s put herself firmly in the firing line in relation to all her colleagues, not just those in her own party, which is bad enough.

Also all the trans widows, I’ve learned a lot this year about why ‘what people do behind closed doors is their business’ isn’t acceptable within feminism.

Has anyone mentioned Emma 'FondOfBeetles' Hilton yet - some sterling work on sex differences which I'm sure has informed some of the glimmers of return to sanity in various sports. It's been a long year, so much happening recently that it's easy to forget significant contributions earlier in the year.

Women of Iran

JK Rowling

KJ Keen

To Justine et al of mumsnet who must get a lot of hassle (both cyber and non cyber) for keeping these boards open.

Yes Justine and co must get on the list!

OK so i posted this on a different thread earlier having been inspired by the poem that that thread was about, but then I thought about all the different women being nominated on this thread and thought it quite fitting so I give you

WOMEN OF EXTREMES

From Barbie Girl to GI Joe we are woman
From high heels to rigger boots we are woman
From flat chested to buxom we are woman
From mother of six to barren with nil we are woman
From “3 days, very light” to “36 days now, still flooding” we are woman
From homeless with nothing to millionaires row we are woman
From far left to far right we are woman
From pro choice to pro life we are woman
From pick religion of choice to no God at all we are woman
From only does cock to only does cunt we are woman
From all walks of life and from all points of view we are woman
From time of conception to moment of death we are woman.

You wonderful women, every single one of you.

Right back to change names before I forget.