Helen heads up the environmenstrual and feminist toxic free futures campaigns at Wen. Here she shares her passion for feminist activism and what keeps her optimistic.
What first sparked your interest in environmental and feminist activism?
The groundwork for my feminist thinking was sparked, and then inflamed, by growing up in Ireland. Living through the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, hearing about the women who campaigned for peace there, the Kerry Babies case, and the divorce referendum all shaped me, even before I fully understood their relevance and impact.
I was influenced by bolshie feminists like Nell McCafferty, who regularly appeared on RTÉ, the only Irish TV station at the time, bringing feminist thinking right into our living room.
Outside Ireland, few can understand how strong a grip the Catholic Church had at the time, or the impacts of colonialism on Irish life and psyche. It took leaving Ireland for me to see these influences clearly, and how they shaped the country and many of the life choices available to us.
For example, like many Irish women of her generation, my mother couldn’t work as a married woman. The ‘marriage ban’ wasn’t lifted until 1973, as a condition of Ireland joining the European Economic Community, now the European Union. At the time, the Catholic Church believed the best place for women was in the home and looked unfavourably on anyone who challenged this view. Much of life was filtered through this deeply patriarchal lens.
My secondary school was run by nuns, who I found cruel, especially in their lack of support for creativity or anything outside academic subjects. I clashed with them more than once during my time there.
I’ve always loved wildlife and nature. I dreamed of becoming an artist, a fashion designer and a vet, all at once, but these paths were far outside my reach financially. Instead, thanks to an EU college grant, I trained and worked as a laboratory technician.
Seeing firsthand the lack of consideration given to communities, wildlife and the environment when it came to the disposal of toxic chemicals really concerned me. The countryside and nature were treated as if they existed to absorb whatever waste people wanted to dump, a place where pollution and toxic substances would quietly disappear into the soil, air and water. But the consequences did not disappear. Over time, the impacts on people’s health and wildlife became impossible to ignore, and the effects on my own health became apparent much later.
Was there a moment or experience that set you on this path?
Yes, many. When I started at Wen in 1995, I felt all the threads of my life had led me there. I had just been made redundant from my job at the National AIDS Helpline when I saw an advert for a voluntary health coordinator at Wen.
It seemed like everything I had done up to that point had prepared me for this role, my chemical knowledge, my deep interest in health, and my feminist perspective. I instantly felt at home.
The post itself was unfunded, but I was fortunate enough to secure one of the early National Lottery grants for a campaign called Putting Breast Cancer on the Map.
I often felt that guidance came through the people I met and the books I discovered, especially If Women Counted by Marilyn Waring, Witches, Midwives and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, and an antique book my brother gave me on mapping and perceptions of maps, Van Loon’s Geography.
My aim was always to make campaigning engaging, and for those involved to shape the work and grow through the process. Over time, I came to see campaigning as a form of art.
Looking back over the past 30 years, how has your activism evolved?
Yes, it has definitely evolved over time. My thinking was shaped in many ways by my international work on breast cancer prevention, and especially through my involvement with Women Engage for a Common Future.
Travelling and meeting campaigners from all over the world had a huge impact on me. Hearing their stories and seeing firsthand the environmental and occupational impacts on women and their communities broadened my perspective on what campaigning could be, and deepened my understanding of its intersectional nature. It helped me see the global connections between health, environment and justice.
My work has been a mixture of paid and voluntary roles. Funding at Wen has not been a linear process, and there were many gaps and lean times. I was very lucky to be part of a housing cooperative for most of my time in London, where the rent was low enough to make those periods manageable.
I was also greatly influenced and supported by colleagues involved in the Hazards campaign, working on occupational health and safety. Through them, my perspective expanded to consider not only environmental impacts, but also the effects of daily exposure to toxic chemicals at work. This resonated with my own experience of being harmed by chemicals during my time in the microelectronics research industry.
Workers are often the first to suffer the harmful effects of chemical exposure, particularly those in low paid, poorly regulated workplaces where there are predominantly female workforces.
Along the way, several campaigns shaped my journey: Putting Breast Cancer on the Map and Stopping Breast Cancer Before it Starts., No More Breast Cancer Campaign, the World Summit in Johannesburg,the Safe Cosmetics campaign and Environmenstrual.
Each of these helped deepen my understanding of the links between women’s health, environmental justice, and the power of collective action. While exposure is widespread, it is not experienced equally, and disproportionately affects marginalised and racialised women and fenceline communities.
How have you seen activism and the environmental movement change during that time?
One of the major changes has been the advent of social media and the ability to create and share our own stories. We are no longer as dependent on mainstream media.
When I began at Wen in 1995, it was pre-internet. The first time I saw the World Wide Web, it felt transformative. It made it much easier to connect with others doing similar work around the world, especially as there was so little focus on the primary prevention of breast cancer in the UK at the time.
Over the years, Wen has also developed how it talks about and addresses intersectionality, although it has always been an intrinsic part of our work. We are now better at articulating it and making it visible.
The environmental movement in the UK today is more diverse than when I started, both in terms of gender and wider representation. However, there is still a lot of work to do.
Wen has made a dedicated effort to diversify its workforce, which has strengthened the organisation by bringing new energy and experience. This is something I had missed, as it was such a strong part of my international work.
What do you think makes Wen’s approach to environmental justice distinctive?
What makes Wen’s approach distinctive is its feminist and intersectional lens. This shapes our work and the outcomes we seek.
Wen has always been the sum of its parts. Although the organisation can feel like it has a life of its own, it is shaped by the people who work there and the communities we collaborate with. These relationships continue to influence and evolve the organisation.
While policy change is an important part of our work, citizen action and engagement are just as central. People’s lived experiences shape our campaigns, their aims and their impact.
After 25 years of activism, what keeps you hopeful and motivated?
I’ve always been an optimist. This work comes with many setbacks, but also many meaningful moments that make it worthwhile.
One night you might feel overwhelmed by frustration at how corporate power operates. The next morning, you reflect, reset and continue. Over the years, I have learned to trust my instincts, and to take time before responding.
What keeps me going is the impact on those who do not have a voice or a seat at the table, and the effects on wildlife and the environment. I am also continually inspired by the many women and campaigners I have met along the way.
At Wen, we aim to support and motivate each other, building a shared sense of community and a vision for the future, and encouraging others to be part of it.
Helen Lynn, SENIOR CONSULTANT AND RESEARCH FELLOW (FEMINIST TOXIC FREE FUTURES)
Helen heads up the environmenstrual and feminist toxic free futures campaigns at Wen. She has spent her career building feminist health campaigns including founding the Alliance for Cancer Prevention and From Pink to Prevention. She has worked at national, European and International levels on issues linking gender, health and the environment. Helen also heads up Wen’s Environmenstrual Campaign.
