Royal Holloway Women Against Cuts Protest: The On and Off Campus Reports

The 30th of November saw two great things happen, National Strike action and Royal Holloway students going into occupation in protest of the raise in tuition fees and the privatisation of education. 


On Campus Report - Women at the Occupation

The past suffragettes and alumni of Royal Holloway would be proud of the occupation of the Prinipal's corridor. Proud, because not only are women playing an important role in this peaceful protest, but because we are doing this alongside other genders in equality.

The washing up, the cleaning, the cooking of communal meals, are all attended to as the situation requires. Now these are just the household aspects of communal living, but the Chair for General Meetings are also rotated. This is done in a way to be unbiased towards gender or sexuality, and is always done by someone different, even novice. We also use the general consensus model (waving hands as if in a jazz musical to express agreement, disagreement or proposals). This encourages every single one of us to stand up and take part, but more importantly reveals that our opinion as an individual, our involvement as an individual, is valued.

This corridor, which is part of the Principles office in the east wing of Founders, used to be known as the "Testosterone Corridor" according to Dr Edith Hall. This attitude could not be further from the current corridor, which now values each person, no matter their predominant hormone. Incidentally, Edith has recently resigned from Royal Holloway over the cuts to her classics department, and the university has not fought to keep her despite her prestige in regards to Homer.

So, you wanted to know about women in occupation at Royal Holloway? We're not standing alone, we're part of a bigger picture. If management were expecting their "Testosterone Corridor" to remain untouched, they might be surprised to find their single gender toilets transformed by a cheerful sign declaring them 'Gender Neutral'. Take that, management. 

Off Campus Report - Women on Strike

November 30^th has been declared the biggest ever strike by women of this country. Women are the majority of the low paid public sector workers, the first to be pushed out of part time work and dominate the teaching profession. Once again they are the main target of the government cuts. Women, men and children of all ages spent hours on the picket line of schools, hospitals and jobcentres. My old school, renowned for its previous lack of activism on strike days boasted a line of forthright teachers. But the picket lines were only the start of the day, local unions commenced on rallies and joined to march once again of the streets of central London. However unique about this demonstration were the mirroring actions in communities across the United Kingdom; 20,000 in Nottingham, 20,000 in Manchester and 15,000 in Liverpool as just part of the estimates thousand. It was a localised strike showing communities public sector discontent. To David Cameron it may have been a ‘damp squib’ but to me it was bloody beautiful.

Marching with 30,000 angry workers was as inspiring as ever, however for me this march held a particular significance, it was the first time I had marched side by side with my mum, a public sector Teaching Assistant. Like so many others this was her first ever strike. The many banners came from local trade union branches representing youth centres at risk, nurseries facing crippling cuts and of course the National Women Against the Cuts Group. So many of the marchers were defending the services from their own communities, not just the ideologies of a Tory government, but the direct impact this has had on individuals. They were marching for their livelihood.

The culminating rally represented the diversity of the twenty unions involved, and how impressive this action had truly been; with only 13% of schools unaffected, 42% of ambulance servers on strike and 400,000 NHS workers striking. To hear at the opening of the march that Royal Holloway had gone into occupation once more was a massive boost to the feelings of solidarity, and the power of united action. With the public sector being the biggest single employer of women, and the proclaimed biggest strike of a generation, this was a hugely significant step to fighting back against the governments vindictive cuts.


RHWACA