Some ideas for discussion in our first meeting on 14th October

In preparation for Thursday's first Kentfeminista meeting we've started a couple of discussions on the facebook group that we can carry on in our meeting and I've posted them up on here so that anyone can comment.

It would be great if those of you from far flung places who can't make it could let us know what you're thinking about the big issues, and the slightly sillier ones, we're facing together!

Even better, if there's something you'd like to get other women's views on, you could start a discussion too - I decided to stop at two but there's so much to talk about...

In Sisterhood, Abi x

Feminista101

So, if we did have a feminista room 101 what would you be putting in it? Could be an item of clothing, a person, a movement, a writer, an institution, whatever makes your blood boil!

Bring ideas to the meeting but if you can't make it, let us know here what you think.

Personally, I think London Fashion week should go and sit on the naughty step until they've taken a class in what real women's bodies look like. I'd also like to see the back of George Osborne and his women hating budget cuts. I'd also like to make the case for heels, although I suspect I'm going to have a fight on my hands with that one...

Stop the Cuts

So, the cuts are going to hurt us much more than they are the men. Fawcett have put the difference at 72 to 28 per cent which I didn't want to believe until I read their report. Even Theresa May has complained to Osborne about the total lack of analysis of the gender impact of the cuts. What I thought we could start discussing is where we're already seeing evidence of cuts and the worries that we have about who they're going to affect.

One of my big personal worries is about the effect on the provision for new mums. When I had Lyra, I had daily visits from my midwife for 3 or 4 days after being discharged, followed by the arrival of a health visitor who came to my house at least half a dozen times and offered to come more. Now I know that new mums are lucky to get a single home visit after the birth. With the mounting pressures on young mums, this means that critical support is being removed from women at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Post natal depression is on the rise and this lack of support is putting mothers at an even greater risk of suffering from this horrible and alienating illness.