Story Cafe: Women Journalists

We are thrilled to welcome members of the team from Glasgow Women's Library to Perth tonight! They will be leading this story cafe on the experience of women journalists.

In this story cafe we will look at two journalists, Glasgow-born Ethel MacDonald, who was reporting from Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, and Amira Al-Sharif, a present-day Yemeni photo-journalist.

Ethel MacDonald was born in Bellshill in 1909. She was a committed Anarchist and became secretary to Guy Aldred of the United Socialist Movement and went to Spain with Guy Aldred’s wife, Jenny to report on the war.  She was imprisoned twice but continued to engineer the escapes of others before finally escaping back to Scotland herself.  Known as the Spanish Scarlet Pimpernel her exploits were widely reported at the time and there was an international search for Ethel when she disappeared. On her return she wrote and made speeches on her experiences in Spain and worked with Aldred on the Glasgow newspaper of the United Socialist Movement, The Word from 1939-1959.  She died in 1960.

Amira Al-Sharif tells of her own struggles, including within her family, to be recognised as a professional photo-journalist simply because she is a woman in a deeply conservative Muslim country. She made the choice to remain unmarried in order to carry on with her work. Amira reports on pioneering and resilient women fighting their own wars despite the odds stacked against them, shattering the stereotypical views of Arab women and highlighting the very real dangers of reporting from the frontline.

This is a Perth Women's Collective event delivered by Glasgow Women's Library. Anyone identifying as a woman or non-binary is welcome. We strive to make our events as accessible as possible; if you have any accessibility concerns please do get in touch and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.