Who made your clothes? That is the question we are raising for us all to consider. Was it workers paid at least the minimum wage in clean and decent conditions? Or was it people subject to modern slavery, paid a pittance, working in cramped and unhealthy conditions, living in fear for their livelihoods in insecure casual work? Could that happen even in Britain? Traidcraft Says that modern slavery is alive and well in the fashion industry. At least that’s what leading lights in the fashion industry themselves argued in 2019 in evidence to a Select Committee of MPs: the luxury goods brand Burberry said: “We take the view that the labour and environmental standards in certain countries are not sufficient for us to have confidence that our standards can be adhered to. Therefore, we have a strong policy around countries from which we will not source our finished products. These countries include; Bangladesh, Pakistan,

Cervical Screening Awareness Week 15-22 June 2020 – an important issue for all women   What is Cervical Screening Awareness Week? is an annual event which running from 15th to 21st June 2020. The week aims to once again highlight the importance of regular cervical screening for women’s health. Cervical cancer remains the most common form of cancer in women under 35, with two women in the UK day dying from the disease every day. What’s been the impact of lockdown on cervical screening? It has been confirmed in recent weeks that all types of cancer screening has taken a nose dive during Corona lockdown, leaving the NHS with a backlog of missed appointments and resulting in likely delays in the detection of cancers. However, this makes it more important than ever that women are encouraged to be proactive in seeking and responding to invites

A member tells her story of her experience of lockdown     How life has changed since March, I still feel like I am in the middle of a science fiction movie, the trouble is, I am not sure when it ends.   I normally travel to my daughter’s in Warwick on a Wednesday morning and return home on Friday evening.   I have two grandchildren in Warwick and have been helping them in this way over the last l7 years, since I retired from work, and they made the move to Warwick.   I love being a part of their lives, and have made friends in the area.   Of course, that all stopped with the lockdown. As I am 76, I thought it better to self-isolate, and I decided that I must keep busy and get on with some of the jobs around the house

International Women’s Day 2020 – blog on a survivor of sexual abuse One of our members attended a workshop with a survivor of sexual abuse in Rotherham. Here is her account Presentation by Sammy Woodhouse – Survivor of the Rotherham Child Sex Exploitation Scandal Sammy presented a very moving account of what had happened to her after she met her abuser. It was tough to listen to what had happened to this bright and articulate woman after she met ‘Ash’ at the age of 12. She related how she had come from a loving family and had support from her parents, despite running away constantly and becoming pregnant at 14. He parents tried to get the Police and social services involved. However, she was by then completely controlled by her abuser. He had forced her to commit armed robberies, so Sammy would not cooperate because

Empowering Girls in Nepal President Helen hosted a fabulous curry evening to raise funds for the new Soroptimists International Great Britain and Northern Ireland International Federation charity – ChoraChori, empowering girls in Nepal. Visit the Empowering Girls in Nepal website for more information. We all brought a contribution of delicious curry or accompaniments to share and made a donation to the charity. We raised £160, and members are enthusiastic to continue support to this cause. The Founder of the Charity, Philip Holmes, came to our dinner meeting on 28th January to talk to us about the charity and other ways we can help – here is an account by one of our members:   Blog from Dorothea Ross-Simpson On 28 January, our club welcomed Philip Holmes, the founder of ChoraChori to tell us about the work of the charity and what the Soroptimist support for some key

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence This is the second year we have done a big awareness raising campaign, and this year we worked with our local women’s refuge and support services Cheshire Without Abuse – a charity working in the Cheshire East area. It supports women, men and children whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse. We joined with women across the world to support this United Nations campaign to eliminate violence against women which is run annually from White ribbon Day November 25th and lasting 16 days to December 10th, which is Human Rights Day. This is also part of the #He4She campaign– We believe that men are part of the solution to tackle gender-based violence, so we asked local men who live in our community to act as allies and messengers to promote the campaign to create a gender equal

Our club theme this year is to promote awareness of mental health issues for women. We had an inspiring talk and discussion about the services offered by local mum’s charity Motherwell in Cheshire at our dinner meeting in September. Motherwell Cheshire has been empowering women on their mothering journey since 2015. Led by Kate Blakemore, a passionate women’s health advocate and counsellor, Motherwell is run by women, for women. We were also delighted to make a contribution to the Mental Health Conference organised by Motherwell to mark World Mental Health Day on 10th October. This was an opportunity to raise awareness of mental health issues faced by women and what we are doing locally to address these.   World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, is a day for us to unite in our efforts to improve the mental health of people around the world. As

  She By Katy Mann (Overall Winner)   The woman who has inspired me the most, is the one who stood beside me through thick and thin. No matter what has happened to me, she has always been there.   When I lost my three-month-old son Charlie to meningitis, she held me tightly in her arms as I cradled his body. She was a beacon of light during the depths of my grief and held the pieces of my broken heart together. She told me that his death wasn’t in vain. She urged me to ‘turn your loss into a positive and use it to help others’. She gently encouraged me to write about him, to share his story and try and save other lives by talking publicly about our traumatic experience.   She was the constant hum in my ear, whispering ‘you can do