A Woman's Place is in the press

Venue TBA (central London), Thursday 9th November, Doors open @ 19:00.

We will email all ticket holders with venue details on the morning of the event. Thank you for your understanding. The venue is fully accessible

A Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) is pleased to be hosting A Woman's Place is in the Press. Join us to hear from a panel of expert journalists who clearly advocate for the sex-based rights of women. Each embody the spirit of resistance, representing the interests of women at a time when many seek to silence feminist voices. Hear about the obstacles they have overcome, the obstacles still in our path and how can we make sure women's interests are represented in the press. Their accounts of standing firm and making women’s concerns heard will have particular resonance as we enter a general election year.

WPUK has been hosting sold-out public meetings at venues around the country since 2017. In that time, we have seen policymakers begin to realise the importance of preserving sex-based rights. This evening will be an occasion for reflecting on, and celebrating, the role that female journalists have played in leading the fightback against a sustained attack on women’s rights.

 Samira Ahmed  (chair) is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who presents the BBC’s flagship arts show, Front Row, on Radio 4, where she regularly interviews leading writers, actors and directors; and also scrutinises BBC journalism and editorial decision making on behalf of viewers and listeners, on her Newswatch programme on BBC1. She won a landmark sex discrimination employment tribunal against the BBC for equal pay on Newswatch.

In 2023, she made headlines around the world for uncovering the earliest complete concert recording of the Beatles performing in the UK, at Stowe School in 1963 and helped secure its acquisition by the British Library for the nation. 

Her many documentaries explore the intersection of popular culture, science, politics, and social change. They include I Dressed Ziggy Stardust, Laura Ingalls’ America, John Ruskin’s Eurythmic Girls, HG Wells and the H Bomb, The Fundamentalist Queen about Elizabeth Cromwell (wife of Oliver Cromwell) and Disgusted, Mary Whitehouse, for which she spent months studying the diaries of the famous morality campaigner.

Julie Bindel is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and researcher. She has been active in the global campaign to end violence towards women and children since 1979, co-founded Justice for Women in 1990 and the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize in 1998. She writes regularly for The Observer, Spectator, Telegraph and Unherd, and is the author of over 30 book chapters and reports. Her previous books include Straight Expectations (shortlisted for the Polari Prize), The Pimping of Prostitution and Feminism for Women. Julie co-founded The Lesbian Project.

Susan Dalgety is a writer, campaigner and grandmother of four. She is a columnist for The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News, and was previously a Labour councillor and head of press for Jack McConnell during his term as First Minister of Scotland. She is a trustee for two charities in sub-Saharan Africa. She manages a scholarship scheme for vulnerable girls living in rural Malawi so they can complete their secondary education.

Helen Lewis is a staff writer at the Atlantic, host of the BBC’s The New Gurus, and a regular on the Private Eye podcast, Page 94. Her first book is Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights and her newsletter is at https://helenlewis.substack.com/.

Susanna Rustin is a leader writer at the Guardian, where she writes mostly on social affairs and the environment. She has also worked as an editor on the opinion and books desks. Her book about the history of British feminism will be published next year. 

Sonia Sodha is chief leader writer and columnist at the Observer. She also makes documentaries on economic and social issues for Radio 4 and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4 as a political commentator. Prior to her career in journalism, Sonia spent ten years working in policy and politics, initially for the think tanks IPPR and Demos, where she led programmes of work on education and social policy, then as a senior policy adviser to Ed Miliband when he was leader of the Labour party, and then in a series of strategic roles for charities including Which?, the Dartington Social Research Unit and Generation Change. She is a trustee of the Trust for London (and chairs one of its two grant-making committees) and the Indigo Trust.

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