The piece I wrote for Cause and Effect looks at the Suffragettes, women of colour, working-class women, voting, and the links and tensions between them all. It’s called ‘100 Years of Conversation’ because I really wanted to emphasise the timeframe that 14-18 NOW focuses on; 100 years is such a long time to have the same discussions, but it also isn’t very long at all.
So many of the tensions we’ve had in the feminist movement are repeats of the tensions women have had in the past, but unfortunately, we’re yet to find real solutions. Working class women (and the inequality they face specifically because they are both women and working class) have historically been rejected by the middle-class women who tend to position themselves at the front of the feminist movement. It was amazing to me to see the parallels between working-class women who left Suffrage organisations in the early 1900s because they felt like they were being ignored and the women of today who say similar.
I mostly wanted to write the piece because of how frustrated I’ve felt (as both a woman and a very loud, proud feminist), with the feminists of both the past and the present, as well as myself. Saying that I’m quietly hoping that I won’t feel as frustrated with the feminists of the future.
Bridget Minamore
Bridget Minamore is a writer from and based in south-east London, who has written with the National Theatre’s New Views programme, and the Royal Opera House. As a poet, she has read her work nationally and internationally, from Cheltenham Lit Fest and the Southbank Centre to literary festivals in Rome, Vancouver and Kraków.
She has been commissioned by Historic England, the Tate Modern, Nike, and ESPN, and in 2013 was shortlisted to be London’s first Young Poet Laureate. In 2015 she was chosen as one of The Hospital Club’s Emerging Creatives, as well as one of Speaking Volumes’ 40 Stars of Black British Literature. Having been placed third in the Roundhouse Poetry Slam in 2009, she recently became the youngest person, and the first woman to be the lead tutor for the Roundhouse Poetry Collective.
She speaks regularly on radio and at panels and events. Her 2017 BBC R4 documentary Lines of Resistance—on the poetic history of women of colour’s writing—was a Radio Times pick of the week.
Passionate about women’s rights and international politics, Bridget has worked with Write Here Write Now, a DfID sponsored online global youth forum. She was also the creative coordinator for My Body Back, a charity that aims to empower survivors of sexual violence, and was involved with Plan UK’s Day of the Girl mentoring scheme. Bridget is also part of the creative team behind Brainchild Festival, has worked with British African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi, and has an English degree from University College London.
As a journalist and critic, Bridget has written for publications like The Guardian, Pitchfork, and The Stage, about theatre and music, as well as London, pop culture, race, class, and feminism. In 2018 she co-founded Critics of Colour with playwright Sabrina Mahfouz, a collective for UK-based people of colour which aims to make writing about theatre, dance, and/or opera more accessible.
Titanic (Out-Spoken Press), her debut pamphlet of poems on modern love and loss, came out in May 2016.