by Artemis

Women’s “co-living spaces” are proliferating in China. These include Keke’s Imaginative Space in Hangzhou, Her Space in the village of Xiuxi, and Half the Sky in Beijing. Women pay a small fee to share a cottage for a few days and socialize with other women. Participants find relief from rampant workplace sexual harassment and rigid family roles and expectations. They find empathy talking about shared problems and experiences with other women. Lilith Jiang, founder of Half the Sky, said, “Women are constantly told: ‘If you don’t get married, what will become of you when you get older?’ But long-term, all-female shared co-living spaces with elder care could be a solution.” She added, “by gathering together, women can discover new job opportunities and pass on valuable work experiences to each other.”

***

Canadian Women in Film Museum

In August, the Canadian Women in Film Museum in Cobourg, Ontario, celebrated the 51st anniversary of Studio D, the first and only publicly-funded feminist filmmaking studio. It was founded by the National Film Board (NFB) in 1974 but closed in 1997. It released over 220 films produced entirely by women, winning over 130 awards, including three Oscars. Director Beverly Shaffer said, “Initially, a lot of the women didn’t have film-making experience, but the film board was surprised and astonished there was a big audience for these films because of the issues and perspectives that they were showing.” Topics included abortion, motherhood, lesbian biographies, disability, pornography and nuclear war. The Museum screened a documentary about Studio D and Shaffer’s film, “I’ll Find a Way.” In 2024, the NFB uploaded 90 of its films to a new online channel.

***

Stop Surrogacy Spain

On Sept. 6, over 500 women marched silently in Madrid, Spain, demanding worldwide abolition of reproductive surrogacy. They dressed as “handmaids,” women forced to bear children for infertile women in the dystopian patriarchy of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Stopping in front of the Congress of Deputies, they chanted, “My body is not for sale. My womb is not for rent.” The march was organized by Las Criadas and 30 other feminist organizations belonging to the International Coalition for the Abolition of Surrogate Motherhood (ICASM). International treaties recognize surrogacy as violence against women and a violation of reproductive rights, but these are not enforced.

Although Spain banned it in 2006, nearly 4,000 babies have been acquired through surrogacy contracts since 2010. The ICASM demands Spain enforce penalties against anyone obtaining a child through commercial or altruistic surrogacy and anyone mediating this transaction. They want it recognized as “human trafficking for reproductive exploitation” within the Comprehensive Organic Law against Trafficking currently being drafted. The march’s press release describes the surrogacy industry’s attempts to expand by appealing to “compassion and hope” for infertile couples. The ICASM states it exploits the “worldwide feminization of poverty” and medical and emotional harm is inflicted on women treated as incubators. It states children are harmed because “a person cannot be the subject of an order or contract. Children are not bought, sold, or given away.”

***

Stand Up to Racism

On Sept.11, the British anti-fascist organization Stand Up to Racism launched the Women Against the Far-Right campaign. This took the form of an online rally and an open letter signed by women including politicians, activists, and entertainers. It stated, “We reject the far right’s racist lies about ‘protecting’ women and girls…They exploit violence against women to fuel hate and division…The truth is that sexual violence is endemic across society and far too often ignored by those in power. Public services for women, children, victims, and survivors have been cut to the bone, and too many cases are left without justice.” The Guardian newspaper reported that two out of every five people arrested in 2024’s right-wing riots against immigrants had previous arrests for domestic violence. The letter urged all communities to stand united against far-right agitators holding a march in London on Sept. 13.