Category Archives: political women

My review of Malgorzata Mirga-Tas; Romani textile artist and activist exhibition and book

Posted on May 11, 2025 by lipstick socialist

What is your image of a Romani woman? A woman selling the Big Issue? A group of young women wearing brightly coloured long dresses with babies begging on the street? Artist and activist Malgorzata Mirga-Tas in this exhibition at the … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-cuts, book review, education, feminism, human rights, labour history, Manchester, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history | Tagged art, books, Durham Teaching Assistants, Manchester, Why We March, Women's March | Leave a comment

My interview with Rose Hunter of the North Staffs Miners Wives Action Group

Posted on December 1, 2024 by lipstick socialist

After the end of the Miners’ Strike in 1985 Rose Hunter says: “Men lost their freedom; the women gained theirs.” Rose and her sisters in the North Staffs Miners Wives Action Group then embarked on forty years of raising issues … Continue reading →

Posted in art exhibition, biography, drama, education, feminism, human rights, Ireland, labour history, North of Ireland, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, women, Women Against Pit Closures, working class history | 4 Comments

My review of “Reasons to Rebel My Memories of the 1980s” by Sheila Rowbotham

Posted on October 29, 2024 by lipstick socialist

Reading Sheila Rowbotham’s latest memoir, I feel I am inside her head as we spin through the 1980s on a rollercoaster of emotions, feelings, and activities. Sheila is a socialist feminist, historian, activist, mother, partner, lover, comrade, friend… … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, book review, feminism, labour history, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, Women Against Pit Closures, working class history | Tagged book review, book-reviews, books, reviews, women | 1 Comment

My review of “No Going Back” 40 years of the North Staffordshire Miners’ Wives Action Group.

Posted on August 29, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In May 1993 as part of the Kate Magee Support Group I headed over to Stoke to meet up with the North Staffordshire Miners Wives Action Group. I arrived at Trentham colliery as Bridget Bell, Brenda Proctor and Gina Earle … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, Ireland, labour history, Lorenza Mazzetti, North of Ireland, novels, political women, Socialist Feminism, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Leave a comment

Margaret Mullarkey of Bolton Irish in Britain Representation Group; her life seen through the eyes of her children.

Posted on January 17, 2024 by lipstick socialist

In the history of the Irish in Britain Representation Group many women were active; but, as in other organisations, their role has been often marginalised and underestimated. One of those women was Margaret Mullarkey of Bolton IBRG. Sadly, she … Continue reading →

Posted in Catholicism, education, human rights, Lorenza Mazzetti, novels, political women, Uncategorized, women, young people | Tagged Annie Miller, Cuba, Edith Rigby, gallery oldham, Graham Greene, Half Timer, Jill Liddington, Joseph Garstang, Patti Mayor, Ruby Hart Phillips, Sarah Rainsford, Women's Sunday 21 June 1908, Womens Social and Political Union | Leave a comment

My review of “The Sky is Falling” by Lorenza Mazzetti

Posted on September 24, 2023 by lipstick socialist

Lorenza Mazzetti (1927-2020) was a writer, filmmaker, and theatre puppeteer who wrote this, her first novel, in 1962, published as II Cielo cade. It was only published in this country in 2022. “The Sky is Falling” is a fictionalised account … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Catholicism, Communism, drama, education, films, human rights, Lorenza Mazzetti, novels, political women, Uncategorized, women, young people | Tagged Annie Miller, Cuba, Edith Rigby, gallery oldham, Graham Greene, Half Timer, Jill Liddington, Joseph Garstang, Patti Mayor, Ruby Hart Phillips, Sarah Rainsford, Women's Sunday 21 June 1908, Womens Social and Political Union | 2 Comments

Kath Grant; Journalist and Trade Unionist

Posted on May 9, 2023 by lipstick socialist

Kath is from a Lancashire radical working-class tradition. Born in Rochdale in 1950, she spent her first five years living with her parents and grandfather in “The Mount”, the Irish area in the centre of the town. Her grandparents were … Continue reading →

Posted in human rights, labour history, Manchester, Middle East, North of Ireland, Northern ReSisters Conversations with Radical Women, political women, trade unions, Uncategorized, women, working class history, young people | Tagged Annie Miller, Cuba, Des warren, Edith Rigby, Eileen Turnbull, gallery oldham, Graham Greene, Half Timer, Jill Liddington, Joseph Garstang, Patti Mayor, Ruby Hart Phillips, Sarah Rainsford, Shrewsbury 24 campaign, Women's Sunday 21 June 1908, Womens Social and Political Union | 1 Comment

History of the Irish in Britain Representation Group Part nine: 1989

Posted on September 20, 2020 by lipstick socialist

Patrick Reynolds was one of the founders of IBRG and played a key role in its history. He is now writing up that history and putting it into the context of radical history in Britain and Ireland in the C20th. … Continue reading →