Margaret Owen, 89, began a hunger strike on November 16, 2021 to raise awareness to the imprisonment of Iranian-British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

In early April 2016, Nazanin visited Iran to introduce her one-year-old daughter to her parents. She was accused by the Iranian government of being spy and “plotting to topple the government.” On November 2017, then British Foreign Secretary at the time and current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, accused Zaghari-Ratcliffe of “training journalists” while on her trip. There is no evidence for any of the charges brought against her and she denies any wrongdoing. However, Boris Johnson’s comments were used by the Iranian government against her.

On 25 October 2021, Nazanin’s husband, Richard, started a hunger strike in front of the Foreign Office in London that went on for 21 days. Margaret Owen, along with other campaigners, is continuing the hunger strike in solidarity to keep up the pressure and the media attention on Nazanin’s case.

We are honoured to speak with the campaigner Zemzem Mohamed who is working to support women and children affected by the hidden humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Tigray region. This crisis is considered by many to be a genocide, in which Ethiopian authorities are accused of carrying out ethnic cleansing against minorities. Speaking to FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez, the discussion covers the rights of women and children in Tigray, the political background to the war currently unfolding, the role of the international community and what justice may look like from a feminist perspective. (Transcript available on filia.org.uk)

Professor Jo Phoenix, Chair in Criminology at The Open University, a Trustee of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and the Co-Convenor of the Gender Critical Research Network at the Open University, joins Raquel Rosario Sanchez to discuss the rights of women in prison, her decades-long work in Criminology and her personal experience being in the centre of the fight to uphold academic freedom. The transcript is available on filia.org.uk

Three women from three different Abrahamic religions talk with host Gita Sahgal about their experiences growing up in and leaving fundamentalist expressions of faith. Yasmine Mohammed, an ex-Muslim; Frimet Goldberger, formerly an ultra-Orthodox Jew; and Alice Greczyn, an ex-evangelical Christian, share how their different stories overlap with common bonds. Unpacking how religion perpetuates patriarchy offers listeners firsthand accounts of why so many girls and women are leaving toxic faith behind. Transcript available on filia.org.uk

In this episode, FiLiA volunteer Luba Fein meets Nicole, a sex trade survivor to discuss the University of Leicester’s recent publication, the “Student Sex Worker Policy and Toolkit” which details how best to support those who may turn to prostitution, online services and stripping. Transcript available on filia.org.uk

We are delighted to speak with a remarkable force of nature called Julie Macfarlane. A fierce advocate for survivors of sexual violence as well as survivors of institutional abuse, Dr Julie Macfarlane has spent her adult life teaching in law schools in four continents, researching and working on progressive causes that she feels passionately about. She is the author of Going Public: A Survivor’s Journey from Grief to Action which merges the worlds of personal and professional, activism and scholarship. Drawing upon decades of legal training, Macfarlane decodes the well-worn methods used by church, school, and state to silence survivors, from first reporting to cross-examination to non-disclosure agreements. At the same time, she lays bare the isolation and exhaustion of going public in her own life, as she takes her abuser to court, challenges her colleagues, and weathers a defamation lawsuit.

In this episode, Raquel Rosario Sanchez learns about the work of such a force of nature and Julie’s inspirational journey from survivor to activist game changer. (Transcript available on filia.org.uk)

Ann Henderson was the second female Rector at the University of Edinburgh. During her three-year tenure, she experienced sustained targeting by trans activist students and staff members, while receiving minimal institutional support. In this episode, she speaks about her background as a campaigner in the labour movement, her work in the railway industry and her experiences leaving her mark in academia. (Transcript available on filia.org.uk)

We speak to Gemma Aitchison from Yes Matters about the Yes Matters Commitment, an initiative to tackle rape culture in schools. Helping schools to show pupils and parents alike that they are taking rape culture seriously and that they are taking the well being, safety and social development of their child seriously, the project teaches educators about consent, respect, good mental health and emotional regulation skills.

Gemma also discusses why she created YES Matters UK, and about her work to challenge policies in Westminster and the European Parliament. An inspirational story of a working-class woman determined to change the world.

We talk to Halaleh Taheri, Founder & Executive Director of MEWSo, who is campaigning to ban Virginity testing and Hymenoplasty (hymen repair) and to expose it as the misogynistic practice that it is, which has no place in society today.

In this episode, Halaleh talks about her life as an activist, the brilliant work of MEWSo and explains more about the campaign and how you can help to end this abuse of young women and girls.

We listen to stories of survivors of prostitution/pornography, female sexual mutilation, rape... It is now time we confronted the reality of torture. Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald have compiled decades of activism against torture and testimonies of survivors in their forthcoming book Women Unsilenced: Our Refusal To Let Torturers-Traffickers Win.

In this episode of the FiLiA podcast, Yagmur Uygarkizi from Radical Girlsss speaks to Jeanne and Linda about feminist healing, 'the right to anger' and the power of laughter, and about their indefectible hope for change.