| Scottish Feminist Judgments Project

From September 25th to October 2nd 2019 the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project went on tour. Over the course of the week, project co-ordinators Sharon Cowan, Chloë Kennedy and Vanessa Munro cycled almost 200 miles, visited four cities, and delivered six half-day workshops.   We decided to travel by bike in order to celebrate the long link between women’s emancipation and cycling and do our bit to tackle the gendered norms around cycling that still exist. As Máiréad Enright, friend of the SFJP and co-editor of the Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project put it, we were engaging in “critique in motion”. We

From September 25 – October 2 2019, we have taken the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project on tour – by bicycle – to run workshops with students and raise funds for Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Scottish Trans Alliance.   You can find out more and sponsor us here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=ScottishFJP&pageUrl=1

From April 24 – April 28 the works of our eight creative contributors were exhibited at Mount Florida Gallery & Studios. In addition to previously exhibited work (see https://www.sfjp.law.ed.ac.uk/2019/02/14/sfjp-at-south-block/), the show featured new works by Jill Kennedy-McNeill, Jess Orr and Ali Burns. Orr’s short story, ‘A Woman’s Anatomy’, draws links between the dehumanising language that was used to describe Sophia Jex-Blake and the Edinburgh Seven and medical language of the time. Burns’ choral composition, ‘Absentia’, is written as a ‘mirrored’ piece using text taken from Jay Whittaker’s Scottish Feminist Judgments Project poem, ‘Not Here’. Kennedy-McNeill’s ‘Cailleach’ draws on Gaelic mythology

On Monday April 15th, our three academic co-ordinators took part in an event at the University of Glasgow celebrating 100 years of women in law, to mark the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. It was an immensely enjoyable and inspiring day. After a welcome from one of the organisers, Maria Fletcher, The Hon Lady Wolffe QC made some opening remarks. Following this, there were some reflections from various women who currently practise law and a fascinating talk by Dana Denis Smith, the founder of the First100Years project https://first100years.org.uk. Alison Lindsay, archivist and Head of Legal and Historical

On Tuesday Feb 12 2019, we held a preview of many of the creative responses to the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project at South Block, Glasgow.   The exhibition features poetry written by Jay Whittaker in response to the provocation by ‘sexual infidelity’ case of Drury; illustrations by Rachel Donaldson in response to the aims and ethos of the project; performance art created by Sofia Nakou and Becky O’Brien in response to the Jex-Blake case; photos of Sharon Cowan and Chloë Kennedy taken by Jo Spiller to illustrate the gendered norms of portraiture and in response to the lack of public depictions of women; and

On Saturday February 9 2019, two of our project co-ordinators, Chloë Kennedy and Sharon Cowan, presented at the second Scottish RebLaw conference at the University of Glasgow. Reblaw is a conference about rebellious lawyering, designed to think about how law can be used as a tool for social justice. The programme touched on many pressing topics, including (amongst others) workers’ rights in the gig economy, migration rights and the right to quality housing.   Sharon and Chloë were part of a panel on ‘innovative approaches to obtaining justice for victims of sexual crimes’ with Sandy Brindley (Chief Executive of Rape Crisis Scotland) and

Our four project co-ordinators – Sharon Cowan, Vanessa Munro, Chloë Kennedy and Jill Kennedy-McNeill were really pleased to be interviewed by the women who run REEK perfume. Their website hosts various features and interviews on women’s history, feminism, equality, and how to memorialise women. You can read the interview here: https://reekperfume.com/scottish-feminist-judgements-project/

On Thursday 8th November, the Faculty of Advocates hosted a Scottish Public Law Group event that centred on the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project. The event, which was chaired by Lady Carmichael, Senator of the College of Justice, involved a short presentation on the project by Chloë Kennedy (University of Edinburgh), one of the project co-ordinators and judgment writers, which was followed by discussion of two of the public law judgments that are being rewritten for the project.

The creative strand of the Scottish Feminist Judgments project was on display in the Scottish Parliament 10/09/18-14/09/18 in an MSPs’ exhibition, sponsored by Gail Ross MSP.

We’re really pleased to announce we have been offered a contract to publish the SFJP with Hart Publishing.