Bringing disabled women together, mobilising
and sharing through lived experiences

Subscribe To Newsletter

Sisters of Frida at #WOWLdn

This year is amazing! so many of us will be at the WoW festival this weekend! do go along and support -if you can get a ticket!

Coming out as disabled: Body Image, labels and denial of disability

One in five of us is disabled – so why do we try to hide it from our friends? How do we ‘come out’ as disabled women?

Zara Todd

Venue Level 4 Blue Bar at Royal Festival Hall

Time 11:15am – 12:15pm

Date Saturday 12 March 2016

One in five of us is disabled – so why do we try to hide it from our friends? How do we ‘come out’ as disabled women? Four women tell their stories. Speakers include Deborah Williams, Diversity Manager BFI; Dieuwertje Dyi Huijg, Visiting Lecturer, Sociology at University of Westminster and Rebecca Bunce, human rights researcher and campaigner.

Chaired by Zara Todd, disability rights campaigner and activist.

In partnership with Sisters of Frida.

Others

Sexism Makes Us Sick Examining Woman’s health

Annabel Crowley

Venue St Paul’s Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall

Time3:45pm – 4:45pm

Date Saturday 12 March 2016

Examining women’s health Heart disease kills more women than men each year, fewer women than men survive a heart attack, so why do we hear so little about it? In mental health, women are more than twice likely than men to have depression and less likely to be taken seriously. How does gender affect physical and mental health care and what can we do to change the status quo? Speakers include Bridget Hargreaves, author of post natal depression memoir Fine Not Fine; Dr Victoria Showunmi, lecturer on migraines at the UCL Institute of Education.

Chaired by Annabel Crowley.

Toilets are a Feminist Issue

Sarah Rennie

Venue St Paul’s Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall

Time2:15pm – 3:15pm

Date Saturday 12 March 2016

Come and find out why you should give a shit about toilets. From women always having to queue, to the lack of toilet facilities in the developing world having a devastating effect on women’s safety, what can toilet provision tell us about gender equality? Come and join the grand doyenne of public toilets Prof. Clara Greed; award winning writer and feminist Beatrix Campbell; Changing Places campaigner and disabled feminist Sarah Rennie and periods activist and founder of #periodpostive Chella Quint to discuss. Beware – there may be toilet humour.

Chaired by New Statesman Deputy Editor, Helen Lewis.


Type of event: Talks and debates
Running Time: 60 mins

Chores Wars and Domestic Lives

Pauline Latchem (photo from Eleanor Lisney)

Venue The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall

Time1:15pm – 2:15pm

Date Sunday 13 March 2016

Studies show that women still do twice as many chores as male partners, even when they work full-time. From housework to ‘emotional labour’, is this one of the last frontiers of normalised gender inequality? And how can we level the playing field? Speakers include counseller and lifelong feminist Pauline Latchem, and teacher and writer Lola Okolosie.

Chaired by Laura Bates, founder Everyday Sexism Project.

Black Feminisms/Black Women Pop Culture

Becky Olaniyi

Venue Level 3 Foyer (Green Side) at Royal Festival Hall

Time4:00pm – 5:00pm

Date Sunday 13 March 2016

What does the portrayal of black women in popular culture tell us about race, sex and power? Join journalist and campaigner Reni Eddo Lodge, visual sociologist Emma Dabiri, activist Becky Olaniyi and playwrite Adura Onashile as they discuss the joys and challenges of being a black feminist.

Chaired by Senior Programmer, Contemporary Culture and journalist Hannah Azieb Pool

Rebecca and Zara at Youth Action Festival, Dec 2015

We were asked if Sisters of Frida works with young people and yes, we do. Becky Olaniyi was very much in the picture as part of the Steering Group until she rolled into university and have too much on with university work and getting used to campus life.

And we recently had a thank you note to Zara Todd for Rebecca’s and their workshop ‘Gender and Disability Discrimination’ at the Youth Action Festival

“... but I wanted to say a huge thank you for everything you did for the Youth Action Festival in December. I wanted to thank you and your colleague for giving up your Saturday and providing such a meaningful contribution to the day. We really could not have made the event the success it was without you.

Overall the event was a huge success. Please do have a look at the quotes from evaluation forms on the attached letter that give a flavour of what an incredible impact the day had on participants.

We also used the solutions that young people put forward during the day and the learning from the day to shape the policy and ideas for our Learn Without Fear UK campaign this year. You can see our campaign and policy content on our web pages and in articles in the press Daily Telegraph Wonder Women section, Metro.co.uk, Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping and the Daily Express.