STATEMENT

We, the collective signatories, are writing this letter following our involvement as ‘city leads’ for the UK Women’s March, to condemn the way we have been treated by this group.

Almost 50 women answered the call of Hollie Jordan, (Hollie Alexandra on social media), who had made a TikTok in November 2024, asking for volunteers to organise city marches. The UK wide march was to go ahead, in response to Trump’s inauguration and the erosion of women and girls rights everywhere, and Hollie’s idea was for us to march together on the same day across the country. The central team became four women, and women across 23 cities took up their role of city leads.

We were told that we would receive central funding for march expenses, and any donations we took on the day could go to our local women’s charity.

Every single march was solely planned, organised, and pulled off by those city leads on the ground, with limited central support, resources, training, finances, or protection, and over 25,000 people took to the streets of the UK.

On average it took around 105 hours of labour to plan these events from each woman/city lead. And while central team wanted absolute control over how we did it, barely any practical or timely guidance or support was provided to city leads by the central team.

The issues that many city leads attempted to raise were as follows:

Money was handled without full transparency (being moved, withdrawn, promised refunds)
Management lacked accountability over mistakes and dishonesty ("it's not our fault, we didn't know, we are new to this, you are attacking us")
The decision to invite a speaker who has been convicted of kidnap, torture, and attempted murder, as well as sexually violent crimes, to speak at the London march (which was then covered up, during which time, central team lied to city leads, then published a falsified public statement.)
The decision to block and remove any dissenting voices or alternative viewpoints.
Disbanding and discarding the city leads four days after the march after using our resources / connections / equipment / money / skills / labour
While several established organisations offered support, advice, and guidance, as well as training and resources, UKWM appeared to consistently decline to retain autonomy and grossly restrict the resources city leads could access.
We were told marches would be centrally funded, which did not happen, and city leads were often placed in situations they needed to self fund or raise funds themselves

We decided to go ahead with the march because we felt these issues were due to be addressed or discussed, and were caused by a lack of experience in the central team. However, in the days after the march, the city leads chat was disbanded with just two hours notice despite the majority of the city leads disagreeing and wanting to keep momentum going and working together. We were told “those UKWM wishes to continue to work with will be contacted”.

Soon, almost all of the city leads were blocked from our platforms, social media pages, attendees, communities and online planning spaces.

UKWM are now advertising for new city leads, and have taken the credit for the marches, and the plagiarised next steps for UKWM provided by city leads.

We collectively feel heartbroken and betrayed. We feel used and discarded, and any attempt to communicate with Hollie or her leadership team has just resulted in us being blocked further.

You (the public and those who attended and donated to this cause) deserve the truth. And we feel the need to fully inform anyone thinking about working with this organisation in future.

Together, the collective signatories condemn the treatment of the volunteers who worked for UK Women’s March, who gave their time, money, and reputation to this cause, to be discarded after the march - blocked and removed - with no explanation.

We believe the women’s rights movement must be free from all forms of abuse and exploitation.

Finally, we the signed, would like to close this statement with the words of a city lead who's voice we feel has been underrepresented in decision making over the last month.

“I should not be one of the only representation for immigrants and BIPOC among a team of almost 50. There must be more attempts for women’s rights spaces to platform global minority women. Over the last month, leadership for UKWM allowed blame to fall on me for actions that were not my fault, and decisions were made by leadership to protect my white peers, while I felt scapegoated. This is not the way to increase diversity within activist spaces. I want all women to know they have a space in activism, and this space must be made for us, with our inclusion being meaningful, not tokenistic because diversity should not be just a quota. This must happen by activists educating themselves on racial justice and racial issues so this does not happen again”.

Solidarity,

Charlie - Newcastle City Co-Lead

Instagram: @womensstreetwatchncl

Sam, Sophie, Mjay, Louise - Cardiff
Equality For Women, Wales - Linktr.ee;
Amy and Euphoria - Northampton Women's Alliance Northampton | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Chloe, Karen and Ellii - Nottingham Co-Leads. Now Nottingham Women’s Collective

https://linktr.ee/nottswomenscollective

Jade & Skye – Sheffield

https://www.instagram.com/sheffieldwomenscollective?igsh=ZzZoOXc0cmVrZGFn

https://www.facebook.com/groups/568844482645440/?ref=share

https://www.facebook.com/share/15GEMd95RX/

Chelsea, Daisy, Imogen, Lucy - Brighton

Now: Her BTN