Time to Judge...

So all in all we have 7 superb entries for the Speak Out Blog Competitions, with many coming in the last few hours before the deadline - nothing like working at the list minute. I know originally I said I'd put the top three to a public vote, but I just find the all so inspiring I couldn't bear to shorten the list! So you have a list of seven blogs to read over the next week (they were limited to near enough 500 words so it's not quite so epic) and then I'd like you to cast your vote here.

The nominees for best blog in the 2013 Speak Out competition are:

Tracy - Change, Listen, Educate
Rebecca - On Stereotypes
Shannon - Girl Greatness Starts Here
Haley - The Gender Gap In The Media
Caz - Volunteering + Full Time Work = ?
Miriam - Farfetched? Speak Out!
Rosy - In The Words of Whitney...

Now you've read them all, cast your vote! You've got until 10pm (BST) on Sunday 7th July to get your vote in.

Haley's Entry For Speak Out Blog Competition:

The gender gap in the media

Why is it that when you are a female, your seen to be lower ranking in society?

Some women work hard to break the stereotype but it comes with consequences, such as not being seen as feminine for being a successful business manager.

But why is this the case?

There are many reasons for this misrepresentation of women, mainly the media is to blame in my opinion; it has biggest influence on people’s lives, no matter the medium, it helps us to form opinions on issues.

I dislike the way women are represented in the media, we look helpless, submissive and Photoshop pretty; but why? To sell products. This objectifies women negatively.

Our male counterparts on the other hand look daring, dominant and strong; why don’t we? Because the media said so? Fair? I think not.

The website ‘fbomb’ launched a short video outlining the misrepresentation of women in the media, it stated that ‘50% of ads in women’s magazines portrayed women as objects’ … Does this affect how we feel about ourselves?

I feel downgraded, I am not an object but a human being, I don’t want to be ‘sold’ or ‘told what to do’.

I was born a female, why does this make me predisposed to be the underdog to men in society, meaning I’m less likely to have as good of a job, paid as well or respected as much; all because I was born female. Fair? I think not.

Due to being misrepresented in the media, as women we feel as though our power comes from our beauty, our bodies, our youth and our sexuality not our potential to become a leader, a MP, an entrepreneur or a CEO.

Girlguiding 2012 Girls Attitudes Survey found that 68% of girls feel that women are judged on their appearance more than their ability.

I would suggest that this is because we are constantly bombarded with the ‘perfect girl’ images from such a young age right across the media, from ads on television where we seductively sell anything, to Photoshoped pictures of cover girls in magazines and more recently the pressure to seek out if your pretty if or not by submitting ‘selfie’ photos for Instagram online beauty pageants.

Whilst I don’t feel the pressure directly to look good for other people, I still wear make-up and clothes that flatter my body shape… Is this because the media has told me in order to fulfil the role of girl this is an essential? or is it because I want to look better myself?

Both answers suggest that I have been indirectly influenced by the media on the decisions I have made.

As a Girlguide Advocate! youth panel member at one of our most recent meetings we got to study magazines and music videos to see just how big the gender gap is in the media: males wear suits, and stand head up, shoulders back while women wear very revealing clothes, and lie in awkward shapes to look seductive. In music videos women are often dancing, sexually round a male singer… I’m concerned about the message this sends to young girls, and it related back to the previous statement about how women are judged more on their appearance than their ability.

How do we then get the media to represent girls truthfully? I think with enough campaigns like the Dove: Body Confidence campaign where they show an ordinary looking woman being transformed in fast motion by makeup, lighting and, most significantly, airbrushing, into someone who bears little resemblance to her actual appearance. I think this is a must for every woman to watch: women could be represented the way they deserve.

Making girls aware that beauty isn’t everything is my main personal goal, for now. I think I can achieve this by delivering Peer Education sessions on ‘The media’ and ‘Self-Esteem’ locally.

Haley Bell

Links: http://thefbomb.org/2013/04/saturday-vids-reversing-gender-roles-in-ads/

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

          http://girlsattitudes.girlguiding.org.uk/home.aspx

          http://www.missrepresentation.org/

Big Day for Equality Stateside

Standing With Wendy This Morning

So this morning I logged on to Twitter to find a lot of my international follows using the #standwithwendy tag on their posts. I was intrigued and scroll down my feed to look at previous posts. I didn't know exactly what had gone down in those previous hours in Texas, but I did know there was something more that the headlines were reporting and a massive show of feminist solidarity. BBC Breaking prematurely said a bill severely restricting abortion rights in the state had passed, the passionate women and men on Twitter said otherwise. This article from the Guardian gives a bit more insight into what happened.

It goes beyond this one event though. I saw a statistic today that there's been one piece of legislation about mens bodies in something like 10 years in the US, but around 460 this year alone about women's. These figures might not be right but the dramatic inequality is.

The difficult discussion of the intersection of faith and abortion issues is very well handled in this blog by Tracy in response to the events in Texas. My view? You restrict access to abortion, and women get illegal abortions in unsafe conditions that ultimately mean more deaths. Nobody wins in that situation. We need to provide facilities and services that mean women can be supported to make the decision that they feel is right for them. They need information, mental health support, and medical services provided in a clean a safe environment where they don't feel judged.

Down With DoMA This Afternoon

Fast forward to this afternoon, and again my Twitter errupted. It hadn't occured to me that the US Supreme Court was declaring their verdict on the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) today until I was informed by @stonewall that a decision was imminent.

For those not as entwined in the equal marriage laws of the US as I am, DoMA is a piece of legislation that became law in 1997 stating that federally in the USA marriage is only recognised as the union of one man with one woman. In a country where around a quarter of states now recognise same sex marriages this denied such couples from receiving federal benefits and denied multi-national same sex couples (including myself and my partner) immigration rights.

Outside UNHQ in 2011

Then the news came that the Supreme Court has ruled DoMA to be unconstitutional - opening up federal benefits to all couples whose marriage is recognised by their state. This is particularly exciting news for me, because it means that one day I will be able to live and work in my partners home country should we so choose. I have a dream to work for the UN at some point in my life, having the right to work in the US (as the home of UNHQ) would bring that a little bit closer.

 This Evening?

I'm blogging. There's an interesting media sexism event I'm trying to follow on Twitter (#MediaSexism). And I'm skyping my partner as we await news on her visa application to join me in the UK. The Atlantic Ocean is both difficult and easy to cross at the same time.

Some Great Guiding Blogs

Today has created a lot of visibility for Girlguiding - through coverage in the press obviously, but also across the spheres of social media. I've discovered a fair few guiding bloggers today, and I thought I might signpost them for you to read.

Road trips in the USA are awesome!

I know I know Gemma from somewhere in guiding (as I do with a lot of people), but I didn't know she had a blog. She's usually blogging about a trip around the north-east of the USA - a beautiful and exciting place, so she's doubly worth a read. This is her post on the the promise. My favourite quote:

"I can be my true agnostic self, who will wait for a divine being to be proven or disproven either way before I decide whether or not to love it!"

Then there's Rosy - yes, I know I've linked to her stuff before so it's technically not a new one. I got to know Rosy as she prepared to be part of the WAGGGS delegation to the UN for the Commission on the Status of Women this spring, and she's continued her fab blog since. She covers all sorts of things going on in her life, often with a refreshing does of honestly. Here is her post entitled "What would the Baden-Powells think?" where she says:

"I do think it's important to understand and appreciate other people's beliefs and to explore our own spirituality, whatever that means to us as individuals."

And Caz (again a strange sense that I've met her somewhere, but can't put my finger on it) who has a blog called 'Owls and Toadstools' dedicated to talking about guiding topics. Her post even includes a little summary of some of the best tweets from today.  I like this section particularly:

"I liken the new Promise to equal marriage (stay with me – all will become clear!). For those who like the existing Promise, not much will change for them. Yes, the wording is a little different, but the meaning remains the same, and the wording still applies to those with religious beliefs. However, while these people remain largely unaffected, these small wording changes will make a huge difference to a number of people, who will now feel more included and no longer be alienated." 

Whilst this morning my Twitter was filled with #PromiseForAll this evening I'm getting the great Stonewall coverage of the Equal Marriage Bill debate from the House of Lords. The former filled me with positivity and the latter causes me frustration. I like Caz's sensible talking on both!  

You can read the papers, or you can read what this change really means to the young women it affects directly. I say the latter is more inspiring.

**Update**

Here are three more I discovered last night or this morning. They are Laura Anne's Learning From Sophie, three posts from Tracy on her blog, and Heather's thoughtful response from a Christian perspective.

**Update 2**

My highlight so far has to be this video blog by Alex - more humorous than the  Daily Mash's take on the story! The length might be off-putting for some, but however long you watch it for, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Favourite part is probably Alex's take on the origins of the organisation.

Other written blogs I've found include Rebecca, Cariad, and Jo.

And then there's this link to the interview from BBC Breakfast with the Chief Guide. Not a blog but I thought worth including.  

Please comment with any other promise themed blogs you've seen out there, I'm finding it a great way to discover some cool new bloggers!

**Update 3**

And my good friend Lizzi has supplied her blog a few moments after the last update, thus getting this update to herself. This has to be my favourite post title so far - I'm not going to say what it is, you'll have to click through to find out.

Happy reading!

**Update 4**

Here's another great one from Helen. Check it out!

My Tips For Talking About The Promise With Girls

There’s a lot of questions on Twitter and Facebook that I’ve seen asking how to talk about the new Girlguiding promise wording with young members. So here’s my lunchbreak thoughts:

1. Start with right/wrong. Ask the girls to write/draw/say things that might be considered right or wrong and put them into the two categories. Give them scenarios at an appropriate level that will cause a little more discussion and be more difficult to decide which category to put it in. Morality is a key part of spirituality and most girls of any age will get the idea that there are good things they should do and bad things that they shouldn’t do. Being true to yourself is doing the right thing (or not doing the wrong thing) possibly in the face of pressure to do the opposite.
2. Talk about respect. One action might be seen as right by some and wrong by others e.g. eating meat.  People will hold different beliefs and it’s important to respect them. You can explain respect as the right or wrong way to behave towards other people.
3.  Highlight diversity. Use activities from existing badges and resources to show the girls different beliefs and spiritual practises from around the world including both religious and secular traditions. There are lots of activity ideas out there on the web too.
4. Ask the girls. They might surprise you with what they understand so just ask the questions ‘what do you think beliefs are’ or ‘what do you think community means’.
5. Be true to yourself. As an adult volunteer you may or may not have made the promise or have any intention of doing so, but if you’re going to help girls on the journey to understand what the promise means to them, I think the best place to start is by understanding what the promise means to you. Take some time to consider each phrase and how it relates to you – I recommend a quiet relaxing location like whilst out for a walk or in the bath, I find those are the best times for thinking.

Promises, Promises

You may have seen on the news that Girlguiding has changed the wording of the promise – a ritual that has been part of the organisation, I think from the beginning (correct me if I’m wrong on this fact, internet research on this fact was not fruitful). It has changed 11 times before, most recently in the early 1990’s, but as that was before I joined the organisation I have only known one promise up to this point (well two if you count the fact that I used a simpler version in Rainbows). And I’m really happy for the change this week, for the organisation and for myself. 

The change follows extensive consultation with members of all ages as well as non-members from different interested parts of society – the new wording is what people want and it more fully encompasses what Girlguiding aims to deliver in a phrasing that is relevant to now. There’s more information on the Girlguiding website, but here’s the new wording for Brownies upwards*:

I promise that I will do my best

To be true to myself and develop my beliefs

To serve the Queen and my community

To help other people and to keep the (Brownie) Guide Laws.

And for Rainbows:

I promise that I will do my best to think about my beliefs and to be kind and helpful.

Girlguiding seeks to offer girls and young women spiritual development as one of the pillars of the programme, and this is so much broader that what might fall under loving one’s god. It’s explained in the FAQs on the Girlguiding website (members only) as follows:

“Spiritual development is one of the six aspects of development of girls and young women that Girlguiding focuses on, alongside the social, emotional, moral, intellectual and physical aspects. Spirituality is open and accessible to everyone. It is concerned with the inner life and its meaning and purpose, and with making sense of the world around us. Spiritual development is an independent journey that continues throughout our lives. Within the guiding programme we define spiritual development as making your own spiritual choices, respecting the spiritual choices of others and achieving inner peace.”

I would think that the majority of people, regardless of religious persuasion, would agree that faith or spirituality is a personal journey – even in the largest, most traditional, congregation each person is walking their own path. 

Three years ago I organised some debates where young Girlguiding members spoke out on issues in the organisation that they wanted to see change on, and the promise was one of those areas. I identified with the arguments used in those debates, and on a personal level, I have to admit I have been making a promise that I didn’t entirely believe in for many years. I spent a lot of time reasoning with myself as I could see how the sentiments behind it, which I did support, were more important than the semantics I didn’t like but had to use to express them at the time. I have faith, I have beliefs, I don’t have a religion, and I don’t have a God.

I remade my promise in several locations that it just wasn’t easy or appropriate to abstain from – not least on a live video stream broadcast across the country at the end of the year of centenary celebrations in 2012. When you’re surrounded by a crowd repeating words in unison, it’s difficult to not feel apart, separated and somewhat unwelcome by an internal conflict over the words being used. 

But Guiding and Scouting is a movement I fully believe in and has made me the person I am today. I can see the potential for what we can all achieve together and that is why I continue to be part of Guiding. 

The new wording brings me a lot more internal peace, whilst, I hope, still conveying the same meaning for those people who identified word for word with the previous incarnation. I believe this isn’t a change to the promise, but a change to the words making them more open, more relevant and clearer.

*The previous wording was: I promise that I will do my best to love my god, to serve the queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Laws.

A Poem Two Weeks in the Making

After the Girlguiding AGM yesterday, and a session of packing for my house move today (not to mention making plans for the exhibition mentioned in my last blog post) I seem to have run out of time this weekend to write an informed and researched blog for you. Hopefully the blog will follow later in the week, but for now here's a poem that I wrote in stages over the last couple of weeks while trying to process my emotions around some of the things that have been in the news:

Tell me there’s hope,

Tell me there’s joy to be had

At some time or some place in this world

Yet to be found.

Tell me there’s a time,

When I won’t have to break

Out of this box or out of this mould

Just to be me.

I read the papers,

I hear the headlines.

With blood-thirsty eagerness,

They tear at my soul.

For one single moment,

Please don’t define me

With your misconceptions,

I just want to be me.

Let me be me.

I can imagine

The top of the mountain

The journey to stand

With the world at my feet.

I want to follow

In the footprints of giants,

Tracking their route

To that land that is free.

For a land that is free,

Is the place I can be,

The me that is me.