Here are some woman-centric events for your diary going on around the UK this week.

Bridlington:

29 November – 1 December: Valkyrian Fest 2013 at Shades Nightclub, 23 Queens Square, Bridlington.

Go and watch loads of Valkyrian artists, all in aid of Rape Crisis.

For the full line up of artists, click here.

Tickets £5.

Brighton:

30 November: To Russia With Love, Brighton meeting at New Steine Gardens, Brighton, at 12noon.

This is a peaceful demonstration of solidarity with Russian LGBTQ+ people.

In Russia today, gay people and their allies are under attack: beaten, arrested and killed.

New anti-gay laws have effectively made it illegal to even mention the existence of LGBTQ+ people positively, let alone defend their human rights. Currently being proposed is a law which would remove custody rights of gay parents.

The coming Sochi Olympics puts the world spotlight on Russia and international protests are showing mass opposition to Putin’s homophobic government. The ‘Russian Section 28′ is fuelling a rising tide of violence.

The laws must be challenged! Here in the UK we ask our own government to defend human rights worldwide and tell Putin to stop turning back the clock.

Speakers include Peter Tatchell and activists from Russia and the UK.

Bristol:

25 November: Festival of Ideas: Stop Violence Against Women at The Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol, from 7.45pm.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, join journalist and campaigner Joan Smith, Nimko Ali, co-founder and CEO of Daughters of Eve and feminist activist, and reviver of London’s Reclaim the Night Finn Mackay.

They will discuss the work and campaigns they are involved in and how we can all raise awareness and challenge the culture that allows violence to continue.

Tickets: £7/£6.

27 November: Festival of Ideas: Melissa Benn – What Shall We Tell Our Daughters at The Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol, from 6.15pm.

Despite great strides forward, many issues for women – equality of pay, equality in the home, representation at senior level in the workplace and in politics – are far from resolved. Frightening levels of misogyny – particularly on social media – and continuing emphasis on appearance and social conformity deter too many from finding an authentic private and public voice. Meanwhile, a cohort of high achievers is masking the widespread pauperisation of many young women today.

In her new book, What Shall We Tell Our Daughters? The Pleasures and Pressures of Growing Up, writer, campaigner and mother of two daughters Melissa Benn takes a fresh look at the challenges our collective daughters’ face.

Incorporating wide-ranging interviews and research, this is essential reading for every parent who has ever had to comfort a daughter who doesn’t feel ‘pretty’, for every young woman who out-performs her male peers and wonders why she is still not taken seriously, for anyone interested in the world we are making for the next generation.

Ticket: £7/£6.

Glasgow:

25 November – 10 December: Glasgow Women’s Aid at 40: Past, Present, Future Exhibition at Glasgow Women’s Library, 23 Landressy Street, Glasgow, open from 10am-4.30pm.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Glasgow Women’s Aid (GWA). Join the Glasgow Women’s Library during the 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Violence Against Women for an exhibition that charts the development of the organisation to where it is today.

From the groundbreaking work of the women that founded GWA , the growth of refuge provision and service development and acknowledging the amazing strength of the women, children and young people that GWA has supported over the 40 years.

Entry is free.

London:

26 November: Noam Gur speaking at UCL, Medical Sciences, 131 AV Hill Lecture Theatre, University College London, from 7-9pm.

Noam Gur is 19 years old, from Jerusalem. She is a queer, feminist, anti-militarist activist. She was jailed in April 2012 for refusing to serve in the Israeli Defence Force as part of compulsory national service.

Noam is an activist with organisations including the feminist anti-militarist group New Profile, Anarchists Against the Wall, and Ta’ayush, a joint Jewish-Arab campaign which takes direct action in defence of Palestinians.

Noam will speak at this meeting organised by UCLU Workers’ Liberty and the UCL Left Forum.

The event is open to all and free.

26 November: Our Bodies – Our Choices: Feminist Perspectives on Reproductive Rights at SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG,  from 7pm.

The aim of this event is to create a discussion/roundtable on feminist views of reproductive rights/women’s bodily autonomy. The main issues that will be part of the conversation are: 1. Feminist views on abortion/reproductive rights 2. State control of women’s bodies 3. Activism and resistance.

28 November: After neoliberalism: the necessity of a gender revolution at Marx Memorial Library, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R from 6.30pm-8.30pm.

Following the success of May’s launch of the “Kilburn Manifesto: After Neoliberalism” framing statement – an online manifesto edited by Sounding Journal’s founding editors – Stuart Hall, Doreen Massey and Michael Rustin – Sounding is back with a series of seminars to pursue the issues in more depth. These events will provide an inclusive space to debate alternatives to the current dominant neoliberal systems.

This, the fourth seminar, will address the instalment of the manifesto: “After neoliberalism: the necessity of a gender revolution”. The seminar will open with a presentation by the author of the chapter, Beatrix Campbell, with respondents Pragna Patel and Alison Winch, and will be followed by an open discussion in which all attendees are welcome to contribute.

Tickets £10/£4/Free.

Until 30 November: London Feminist Film Festival at Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, London E8, from 3.30pm.

The London Feminist Film festival celebrates women creatives while ensuring that the feminist ethos extends to the films shown during the festival. The festival celebrates feminist films both past and present and aims are to inspire discussion about feminism and film, to support women directors, and to get feminist films seen by a wider audience.

The themes for this week’s sessions include: Claiming Spaces, Inspiring Women, Expectations, Activism, and Herstories.

Films being screened this week include the European premieres of I Am The Mace, For Grandmother (Para Kay Ama), and Daughters of the Niger Delta.

For the full schedule of events and screenings, click here.

1 December: Sarah Lucas exhibition: tour at Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1, from 2pm.

East London Fawcett members have been invited on a tour of Whitechapel Gallery’s long-awaited Sarah Lucas retrospective, with assistant curator Poppy Bowers. The bawdy euphemisms, repressed truths, erotic delights and sculptural possibilities of the sexual body lie at the heart of Sarah Lucas’s work (b. 1962). First coming to prominence in the 1990s with a show at London’s City Racing memorably titled, Penis Nailed to a Board, this British artist’s sculpture, photography and installation have established her as one of the most important figures of her generation.

This event is free and open to all, however places are limited, please email to reserve a place.

Until 6 December: Restored’s exhibition of members’ photos at The Salvation Army International HQ, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V.

‘Restored’ is an international Christian alliance which aims to transform relationships and end violence against women.  The alliance believe that Christian churches have huge potential to help prevent violence, but also need to change their own attitudes and practices. This exhibition is features photos from members which represent work undertaken on transforming relationships and ending violence against women.

Entry is free.

Until 9 December: Body Wars at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London.

Body Wars is a contemporary art exhibition that will deal with the raw subject of anorexia and obesity.

The exhibition will suggest that the media’s enormous influence, as well as that from the fashion, health, beauty and cosmetic industries, may be having devastating effects on men, women and children. Using different art mediums such as paint, drawing, sculpture, photography and film sourced from international artists, the viewer will be challenged in an educational and visual way to address the issues and to question whether these industries are major factors in contributing to the paranoia and neurosis of those suffering these diseases.

Newcastle upon Tyne:

Until 21 December: Inspirational Women North East at Hatton Gallery, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.

A portrait exhibition featuring the work of photographers Bryony Bainbridge and Kami Dodds, celebrating the achievements of women who have played a vital role within the North.

Norwich:

27 November: Re-enactment of The Trial of Martha Alden at The Guildhall, Norwich from 7pm-10pm.

Join the Sheriff of Norwich and Leeway Domestic Violence and Abuse Services, and be a part of a Jury audience, putting your modern insights to the test in a reconstruction of a sadly familiar age-old tale based on real-life 19th century trial transcripts.

Tickets £20.

Sheffield:

30 November: Ladiyfest Sheffield 2013 at a number of venues across Sheffield.

Get ready for a whole day of feminist workshops and discussion, followed by an evening of live music and dancing! This is a fundraiser for the National Ugly Mugs!

Workshops will be held at the Quaker Meeting House by the Cathedral, running from 11am – 5:30pm, with vegan food and refreshments for sale, plus zines, stalls, a quiet room and a supervised children’s area.

This year’s workshop themes: Fat Activism, Creating Spaces Free from Sexual Harassment (with the SASH Campaign), Gender Dynamics in Poly Relationships, Online Misogyny and Harassment of Women (with Wipeout Sexism on Facebook), Men and Feminism, Women and Anti-Fascism (with Sisters Against the EDL), National Ugly Mugs: Improving the Safety of Sex Workers, Let’s Talk about Race in Feminist / Music Spaces, Magic and Mythmaking: (Re)writing Queer and Feminist Fairytales, Organising Your Own Grassroots Events (with LaDIYfest), Sound Engineering 101, What about Lads’ Mags and Page 3?, Feminist T-shirt Printing (with Sheffield Uni Women’s Committee)

The night’s entertainment will be at the Redhouse from 8pm, with live shows from the Ethical Debating Society, Halo Halo, Weird Menace and Not Right, followed by INVERT DJs.

All genders are welcome to attend all the workshops. Some workshops will be very child-friendly so please bring your children along if you’d like to.

Please go here for more information on the safe space policy for this event and get it touch if you have any concerns.

The organisers aim to make this event as accessible as possible. Please get in touch ASAP if you’re planning to attend and have any specific accessibility requirements that you’d like to discuss with us beforehand. More info on accessibility can be found here.

There is a suggested donation of £6 for the day or £8 for both events (day and night), but people attending are welcome to pay as much or as little as they can afford. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.