Socialist Womens Network
The Socialist Womens Network brings together women in the
party to meet and campaign together.
As well as organising women in the party it also campaigns publicly on relevant
issues.
Read about the Socialist Women's Network>>
Why do we still need feminism ?>>
Read Jo Harvie on why women only space is needed in socialist politics>>
Socialist women are also active in:
The Edinburgh Feminist Network
Women's Abortion Rights Scotland
End the war on women
Women have the right to live free from harm, violence and terror. We need to challenge those men who abuse, and encourage them to take responsibility for their actions and to stop the violence
Read Catriona Grant on the campaign against domestic abuse>>
Read Barbara Scott on Reclaim the Night>>
Read Rosie Kane on life in Scotland's only women's prison, Cornton Vale>>
Read Carolyn Leckie on women murdered in Ipswich>>
Prostitution is harmful
"The SSP is unequivocal in its condemnation of prostitution as a legitimate
activity. We see it as sexual abuse perpetrated, primarily on the vulnerable,
in exchange for payment. 95% of women working in street prostitution are
addicted to Class A drugs, the average age of entry into prostitution in
the UK is 14 and women engaged in prostitution are overwhelmingly likely
to be survivors of child abuse.
"The current strategy – where the act of prostitution is legal, however many of the aspects around it are illegal is simply not working. Cornton Vale regularly houses women who were unable to pay the fines associated with this activity, its twilight legal status means that physical violence within prostitution is endemic and with minimal recouse to formal justice procedures and the vunerable nature of those engaged in the industry mean that they are easy targets for extremely violent men – as events in Ipswich and earlier this year in Glasgow have demonstrated."
Mhairi McAlpine, Socialist Women's Network
Read SSP Briefing Paper on our policies in relation to prostitution>>
Read the background to the debate on prostitution in the SSP>>
Read Women's Network pamphlet on prostitution (PDF file)>>
Our bodies are our own
Forty years since the Abortion Act, and with the legal time limit for abortion
now the subject of furious debate across the media and in parliament, Anthea
Irwin explains why socialists defend a woman’s right to choose, and
why we still have a lot yet to win.
"October 2007 and March 2008 mark the 40th anniversary of the vote on and enactment of the bill, introduced by David Steel, that led to safe, legal abortion in the UK. While pro-choice voices continue to make the point that the 40-year-old legislation does not go far enough, those in opposition are seeking ways to overturn or at least undermine it"
Read 'Whose Choice ?', 40 years since the Abortion Act>>