Feminism for Change is a 6-week, women-only course, led by 2-3 facilitators from the charity Foundation for Change. Initially published in a magazine by Spitalfields Crypt Trust this article was written by one of our graduates Jess, and describes her experience of the course in 2023.

We explore, learn and are presented with all things influential to our lives as women - the herstory (history) of feminism, personal relationships with women, the patriarchy, oppression, violence towards women, consent, women in the media, how women are treated in healthcare - you get the gist. This is what, if you do the course, you will realise - that our whole existence of being a woman on this planet is somewhat, and often, dictated by unnameable powers outside of our control - just because of the sex we are.

Shocking things are delved into, tears are shed, anger is righteously expressed.

From my perspective, it is an essential course to be running. 

It is an eye-opening, mind-altering, female-uniting opportunity that I believe every woman deserves to give herself.

In essence, we are given the knowledge of the situations women find themselves in and ways to break out of them... whether they are via societal, marriage, work, education, health care, relationships or oppressive lives.

Any woman going into Feminism For Change with an open, willing and honest mind has the potential to gain new insight, life-changing perspectives, a chance to build relationships with other women on this same journey and unearth their view of how women in society are deemed and why we feel or act in certain ways. Plus the ability to question and join up the dots in their own personal lives around ways they have been treated because of their sex. Let alone be amongst the life-changing experience of surrounding themselves with empowered women - by this, I mean women being who they are and loving themselves for being who they are, and empowering other women to do the same.

To sum up…

Being a part of an all-female group discussing all things women can be incredibly life-changing. And for some, it’s the first time they’ve been in a female-only space with the intention of building positive relationships with other women. Feminism for Change can change the lives of women by exploring all things influential to us. It gives women the opportunity to uphold autonomy in their lives, where perhaps that wasn’t possible before.

And isn’t that what feminism is? I think so.

Jess

Artwork done by Jess