Latest editorial
Women's rights campaigners in Westminster, London after taking part in a march from the Royal Courts of Justice calling for decriminalisation of abortion, June 17, 2023
BRITAIN, like all Europe, is in crisis. It suffers from grotesque inequality, long-term decline in working-class living standards and failing public services. These have delegitimised traditional ruling parties and fuel a rising far right.
This has profound implications for women’s rights. A “progressive” liberal ideology seeking to address problems — from climate change to social inequalities of sex and race — within the framework of globalised capitalism is in retreat. Unashamedly reactionary politics is replacing it: climate-denialist, racist, misogynist.
Women’s rights are under threat. So are the processes liberal states have used to measure social progress: the Trump administration’s war on “diversity, equality and inclusion” policies cascades down through US-owned transnational corporations and mobilises right-wing politicians worldwide.
Professor MARY DAVIS argues that feminism has been hollowed out by liberal co-option – and only a revival of socialist, class-based politics can restore International Working Women’s Day’s original, radical purpose
The legacy of socialist feminists such as Alexandra Kollontai challenges us today to confront an uncomfortable truth: framing prostitution as empowerment lets the abusers of the Epstein class off the hook, warns HELEN O’CONNOR
As Ash Regan’s Unbuyable Bill sparks debate in Scotland, the real issue remains unaddressed: a digitalised sex industry and a neoliberal economy that repackages exploitation as empowerment while leaving women’s material conditions unchanged, argues LAUREN HARPER
AMANDA J QUICK warns about the ever-expanding influence of the sex industry – and the harm it unleashes on both the women involved and society collectively, especially the young