Evaluation and Feedback. 1

Negative
Frustration at only talking about experiences – knew issues already – wanted more proactive solutions
Not enough practical DIY sessions
Lack of women with children – why not?
Very busy and tiring
No time to get to know people well
UK-centric – could have been more diverse – also mainly white and middle class

Positive
Nice welcome
Preparation and effort for childcare
Well organised food and drink
Films and mixed media
DIY rota worked well
Good energy of all female space
Felt very comfortable in space etc. – no issues came up

Ideas for improvements
Having workshops in more parts for info and more in-depth follow up – steps for workshops
Permanent welcome desk with tea/coffee/tour etc. = safe space
Workshops to have aim – what is purpose? – decided by group at beginning
Look at childcare issues
More personal female-focused social issues e.g. media representations
More general political issues to talk about in an all female space
One day of physical work/personal time/time to get to know each other – in the middle
Parenting workshop/issues
Historical talks e.g. Mujeres Libres
More practical DIY workshops
Benefit party to raise funds to subsidise more people to afford to travel – OR apply for funding – makes everyone equal
System of organised transport and connections made beforehand
Fewer workshops, longer slots, finish earlier = less topics
More languages represented – less English dominated

Evaluation of Radical Women's gathering from one of the English groups.

We all felt inspired and happy that we had been part of it and that we were lucky to have been there. We wondered about all the people who weren't there, from other parts of England and Britain, we know it wasn't supposed to be representative but it was a real shame that there was no one from Scotland for example.

One fear was that we would not be able to carry on the momentum, the debates and the connections that we had made.

We felt that in many of the workshops there was not enough time to say everything and that our thoughts were a bit squashed. We recognised that this had a lot to do with translation time but wondered if we had tried to fit too much in.

There was a feeling that there was an unavoidable dominance by the organising group and wondered if there was a way of decentralising it, i.e. From when we all arrive there is no organising group but there are roles that people take on/fill. There was a comment that there were already strong opinions pulling things in a certain direction and so that even if people didn't agree they didn't want to make it more complicated.

One person said she was worried about coming after negative experiences at an all girls school and was happy to have moved on from that.

Someone said they liked the way there had been opportunity to discuss things not necessarily related to women but in an all female space, e.g. Migration or Marxist theory.

To another woman it was a very common experience to be in an all women's space.

Someone said that they had been feeling quite low and with her period and that she hadn't felt that it was that much of a relaxing space, to sleep, rest or chill out.

We wondered if the timing late in the summer had contributed to this as some people seemed to get in a bit of state, physically and mentally exhausted and that the lack of time with nothing happening had meant that they had felt they were missing out on something. Staying up really late to have space to chill. Someone suggested having a morning off, a lie in or even a day off. Someone else suggsted that there was a game of football. And generally that there was more spaces for spontaneous activities.