TEA

We have 20 days left until exams are OVER and we can update you all again with what we've been doing - which we're really excited about! 

But to set the scene of what we've been working on since New York, and what we're doing with NAWO & Peabody tomorrow in London, here's a little - important - entertaining video to watch with a cup of tea. 

AWOL

You may have noticed that in the last few weeks we haven't been updating the blog as frequently as we like to! 

Unfortunately the reality of exams have hit and with less than a month to go we are getting our heads down and revising every other second we have.

However, the seconds which aren't being spent revising have been spent organising, tweeting, emailing, setting up, collaborating and creating a lot a lot of exciting plans which we are looking forward to sharing with you very soon!

Since we've been back we've been doing lots of assemblies, meetings, talks and feedback sessions about what we got up to and the learning and issues we want to share and take forward. 

In the mean time before we're able to share the events and programs in the pipeline, as well as get back to uploading our thoughts and blog rants (of which we have scribbled down as drafts excessive amounts) we thought we'd upload a few pictures of our time in New York!

YWCA Young Women and Girls' Forum
Selfie with Lopa Banerjee
(Head of Civil Society section of UN Women)

IWD2015 March to Times Square

Hillary Clinton at the UN Women Event, CSW59

The only whole-group picture! with Annette, Co-Chair of NAWO

Speech #2: Equality: A Universal Right, Annie Thomas

Annie Thomas

'My Vision for the Future of Equality in Volatile Areas'

BASIRA's event in the Baha'i International Center, CSW59 New York

No harmful religious, cultural or social practice can be allowed to supercede human rights. I have drawn on my experiences as a young girl from the UK and some areas within BASIRA's Middle East and North Africa region to propose what I believe must be the path forward, towards true gender equality.

The experience of CSW was utterly incredible, this is how I summed it up to Humans of CSW59:

Speech #1: How to Get People's Voices Heard and Heeded for Gender Equality, Gemma Welsh

Gemma Welsh

'Looking to the future of Institutional Mechanisms'

To see a transcript, click here

Firstly, what actually are "Institutional Mechanisms"?

Twenty years ago, at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, 189 countries made a commitment to reach gender equality; a 12-part framework called the Beijing Declaration.

The 8th critical area of the Declaration (or Platform for Action) was "Institutional Mechanisms".

This is a fancy name for a body funded by government, to work independently with government and civil society (charities, academia, business - not government basically) in order to make sure that governments are and can do their best to achieve a gender-equal world. A national institutional mechanism's job is to consult people about their lives, consult civil society about their expertise, and work with and advise their government. This includes making sure that a country's laws and policies don't unfairly affect groups of people based on their gender.

Things which may not appear to be discriminatory may in fact impact groups of people differently when they're implemented. 

• For instance, women may be able to own a property under a country's legislation. However, in practice, if in that country a woman is not able to take out a bank loan, that would mean that realistically she's unlikely to be able to buy a house, and therefore the law about property-ownership is not going to be of any use. 

This is why it's important to have a body in place to check for any gaps or any hidden or unintended implications. It is shocking that barely any countries in the world have effective national mechanisms, despite the 20 years that have passed since they internationally and legally committed to doing so!

For me, this is because that barely any people know about Beijing, or are incredibly passionate about institutional mechanisms - I mean the name doesn't exactly inspire passion does it? But, without these essential parts in place, progress to change things which are embedded into our lives: the pay gap; stereotypes; workplace and academic bias; harassment etc...) cannot happen. 

All over the world, people raise their voices in attempts to call for change, however in many parts of the world it is dangerous for people to fight exercise these rights. And it is legally the job of the 186 countries who have signed up to Beijing to make sure they are making every effort to ensure that people (at least with regards to gender equality), don't have to.

Just in the UK, the average woman works 1 in every 6 working days free compared to the average man; men are three times more likely to end their own lives than a woman; and 1 in 3 girls will experience unwanted sexual touching in school.

Worldwide, 1 in 3 women experiences sexual abuse; the equivalent of 5 jumbo jets full of women die in labour every day, in majority from very preventable reasons; and there are 107 million women and girls missing from the world due to gender discrimination: more than all of the men who died in all the conflicts in the 20th Century. 

Clearly there are vast inequalities to be eradicated, not just by responses but also through prevention, and areas such as policies and lawmaking are key to this. 

As such, I called for everyone at CSW59, and call for everyone who reads this to consider how they can add their voice and show their governments they care about gender equality. 

Women in Film: The Bechdel Test

Maya Owen

The Bechdel test is a test which rates films based on three simple criteria. Its not a test of whether the film is a feminist one, or whether it is a good film, but simply if there is female presence in it.

Criteria: A film must have...
1. At least two (named) female characters in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something other than a man.

A film passes the test if all three are achieved which, looking at them, surely can't be hard?

You'd be surprised at how many films fail.

The films below are a small sample of those which failed the test.
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- The Boxtrolls

Both 'How to Train your Dragon 2' and 'The Boxtrolls' are children's animated films that portray women in a certain way.

And if young girls are presented with female characters who only talk to each other about men or who only ever interact with men then they will instantly connect this with reality.

If they are not shown that women can be as strong and as independent and as heroic as the other male protagonists that so many films show, then what is to become of their desire to do this themselves; to count themselves as equal to men?

Equally, if young boys are constantly shown these images of strong male heroes always saving the 'damsel in distress' then they will begin to judge and measure themselves against these images and expect certain behaviour or attitude from women.

You could say the entire film industry is built upon creating films that cater to and are about men, but this is changing.

Films like 'The Hunger Games' and 'Divergent' show strong female protagonists and have become so popular.

Evidently, the film industry needs to change its tune.

Women make up half of the world. Shouldn't their bravery and strength make up half the films as well?

Below is a link to the Bechdel test web page where you can see all the films that have been tested and whether they failed or passed.

http://bechdeltest.com/

Women's presence in STEM subjects

Olive Jackson

The imbalance of genders within STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has been a long developed and well-known tradition. Whilst physics and mathematics are renowned for being more “masculine”, teachers and students alike see “softer” subjects such as art, music and English as a lot more “feminine”.

One study of Canadian secondary school children showed that 14% of girls said that art was their favourite subject compared to only 5% of boys, whereas 6% of boys preferred ICT versus a shockingly small 2% of girls. 

Although this is only one school, we can quickly see a trend forming and a separation between boys and girls towards school subjects. 

As this continues to sixth form and college and students have more freedom with their options, it’s seen that over half of the boys achieving A* in GCSE Physics will continue it to A level, whereas only 1/5 girls will. 

In A level mathematics, 60% of the students sitting exams last year were male, however in English Literature this was only 30%. 

 

Each subject is important in its own right, however the gender imbalance towards STEM subjects continually causes concerns for teachers and academics, and schemes to get women and girls to continue in subjects like the sciences haven’t had any lasting impact.

According to WISE, women still only make up 13% of the STEM workforce.

As an A level student hoping to go into the field of biochemistry (classed as a STEM subject) and although biology has a reputation for being the “girly” science, I am shocked at how little women are encouraged into these subjects – with an ever increasing demand for research, medical and scientific cures and new engineering techniques, isn’t the input of intelligent women essential to our world’s development?

How can we continue repressing the input of 50% of the population due to an age-old social stigma that should have been ousted years ago, when there may be a wealth of knowledge contained in women’s brains that we just aren’t allowing to be unlocked?

Out of the entire history of the Nobel prize for Physics (started in 1901), only 2 have been female. That’s 2 out of a total of 198 prizes, despite the fact that women make up 50% of the worlds population.

So what can we do about it? Encouraging women into the STEM subjects doesn’t seem to be working – a quick google search and you can find bursaries, funding and courses specifically tailored to getting women into science, yet there is still a significant lack of female input.

The way to combat this is to fight the social stigma, to educate children from an early age about gender equality, power and knowledge and allow them to choose for themselves what they are truly interested in, without the stigma of mathematics, science and ICT being a “boy’s subject” and making them turn to the more widely “feminine” ones.

Give women the choice and we may have the next Einstein arriving – and this time it’s a Mrs.

Women in decision-making - what the Charlie Hebdo march photoshopping really showed us

Read the full article here

A HuffPost review - Annie Thomas

           This is a really interesting article. These publications were released following the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, and focus on the political identities featured in the Paris march. 

           Moving past the political elements of the separate publishers’ decisions to release the images, the pictures alone highlight the absence of female political leaders in governments and decision-making roles today.            The troubling reality of the unequal and low representation of women is shown brutally in the first image, and truly highlights the problems faced by professional women in a male-dominated society.

           However, the controversial act of the HaMevaser Israeli newspaper cutting out the women from the photograph seems only to have drawn attention to the women’s cause, in contrast to what its image would have purported, that NO women have a role to play in federal legislation within governments.

           The satirical images that follow, in particular the one showing the ‘Million Merkel March’ is, in a feminist’s eyes, hyperbolic genius in protest to these narrow-minded newspapers, and fits the purpose of gaining ever-increasing support for the advancement of women’s professional and political involvement at higher levels.

           If you have a chance to read it, it’s an interesting visualisation of where women stand internationally in decision-making positions, and also gives an insight into different media’s interpretations on the roles of women to boot.