You Don’t Own Me

Fast becoming another Femme’s anthem, Lesley Gore’s 1963 hit You Don’t Own Me still has a message we Femmes love to send, and we’ve used for supporting women in Afghanistan.

We wrote our own ‘Femme Force’ lyrics to Lesley Gore’s You Don’t Own Me to raise money for women’s education in the Taliban oppressed state Afghanistan. When our FoF (Friend of Femme) Ruth Harvey asked for help fundraising for her campaign with Rah Danesh; a group of women's rights activists who advocate for the right to education for girls and who fund ‘secret’ school rooms for young women, we jumped in, performing the song at Honk!Oz 2023 and the Illawarra Folk Festival 2023. The Taliban first denied women and girls their right to education during their initial rule from 1996 and 2001 and after seizing power for a second time in 2021 girls beyond puberty were again denied their right to education. You can still contribute to the GoFundMe Campaign here.