Long Time, No See. Now We're Back.

So it's been a long time since my last post. Out for Equality has been on hiatus for a couple of years as life took over, so what better time for a bit of a rebrand and a relaunch. Thanks for joining us. You will see from the blog and our Facebook page that things are looking a bit different to before. There's nothing like a bit of fresh graphic design to usher in a new year and a new approach!

Keep coming back for new content, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter as we're still Out for Equality.

What do we do now?

After the UK referendum on EU membership last week returned a 'leave' vote I, along with so many of my friends were lost for what to do now. Have thought about options over the weekend and heard suggestions, here is a list of possible actions I've collated for you to consider:

1. Don't be a bystander. There has always been racist violence in this country, it's not suddenly new since the vote, so this is advice forever and always - don't stand by when people use words or actions are used to hurt others. People of colour and those of other nationalities are being increasingly targeted after the rhetoric of the some referendum campaign factions, and for those who are targeted its a daily occurrence, they have to challenge these assaults all the time. If you see or hear words or actions being used, whether on the internet, in the street, in school, the workplace or anywhere, do not let them go unchallenged. Black lives matter, refugee lives matter, immigrant lives matter. Challenge those using hate speak, or if intervening isn't safe, report it to an appropriate authority. This article from the Guardian suggests some ways to respond to racism. 
2. Challenge Yourself. It's easy to think that we are completely unbiased, but the things we say and do can be hurtful to others, particularly people of colour or those whose culture or beliefs are different to our own, even if we don't mean it to be. Reflect on what you say or do, and if you realise something you've said is hateful - apologize or edit or delete the post if it's online. 
3. Educate others. If you work with young people lots of organisations have made packs of activities to help those you work with to understand and challenge racism. Such as Show Racism the Red Card, this from the Red Cross, resources from UKYP linked to their 'Don't Hate, Educate' campaign and RacismNoWay. There is also this list of resources about refugees and asylum seekers on the Refugee Week website, and this one from the Guardian. (Send me a comment if you know of similar resources for youth leaders or to be used in the workplace and I'll add them to this section.) I have selected a few of these activities to make a simple 1 hour session plan that you can just print and use - all you need is pens, paper and a few sweets - download here. 
4. Get/Stay Informed. Over the past few weeks and months it's been hard to separate the facts from the exaggerations and outright lies. Many of us don't know what sources we can trust. So try to read views from multiple different places to be as informed as possible about the way forward and what's at stake. This article from the BBC gives an introduction to what happens now with an illustration of the complicated process of negotiations, and this one from the Guardian links to sources of impartial information on Europe. It's tempting to use social media to hop from one emotion stirring headline to the next, but try to find the sources and facts behind them. 
5. Write to your MP and MEP or go to their surgery. The referendum was advisory, how we go forward now is in the hands of our elected representatives. Talk to them and tell them what the future relationship you want with Europe looks like. You can find their details at: www.writetothem.com
6. Join a political party. This referendum has inspired more of us to talk about politics, keep that up by joining a party and influencing who stays/becomes their leader and their future policies. Search online for the party's website to find out how. 

Whichever way you voted last week, whichever political party you support, get involved and take action.

Last month I was proud to take part in the European Youth Event in Strasbourg and saw firsthand how we can learn so much and gain so much from working together across cultures, with diverse friends and colleagues, to make change. This is my vision for the future and I hope you will help to make it happen.

New school of thought- when it comes to education, girls deserve better!

This blog was written for Chat for Change and was first published on March 5, 2016.

At an international scale girls and women have faced many gender-based barriers to being in school and getting an education. In some places there are barriers that affect boys in particular (such as recruitment to fight in war and conflicts) and trans* and non-binary people face extreme barriers to education based on their gender identity. However, it is the month of International Women’s Day and so this blog is going to focus on those which disproportionately affect girls.

A lot of research has been done all over the world to try and identify why there were a lot less girls in school that boys and there were found to be a lot of factors involved. There were cultural norms which parents or girls themselves enforce. Many thought that an education wasn’t needed or a waste of money for girls and there are stereotypes about what are ‘girls-subjects’ and what are ‘boys-subjects’ in most countries. Even in the UK and Australia, where we should have equal access to education regardless of gender, these stereotypes influence what people study, the careers they have access to afterwards and the relative value we place on those different jobs – in pay and in prestige. Work to break down these cultural norms has to be sensitive – it might be scholarships specifically for girls so the parents can see an immediate financial benefit to them being in school rather than at work, or wider campaigns such as those about women in STEM subjects that are now visible across many countries.

Then there are other barriers that girls face. Physical provision of facilities can often be a problem – particularly toilets. These might not be provided at all, or if they are, not have the necessary privacy or resources that girls need once they start getting their period each month. If you can’t go to school when you have your period then you end up missing out on up to a quarter of your education and soon fall behind, many then drop out completely as adolescents. Several organisations have investigated different ways to sort this problem by supporting the creation of toilets at school buildings and finding ways to increase girls access to sanitary products. This story gives one such example from India.

The third barrier I want to talk about is gender based violence and this is a major deterrent to girls getting an education. This might be harassment from other students or even from teachers. A survey Girlguiding did in the UK revealed that 70% of girls aged 13 and over had experience sexual harassment at school – whilst that might not have meant those girls dropped out of school completely, it is going to have a tremendous effect on the education they are able to receive. There are increasingly campaigns highlighting important concepts such as consent, but to really tackle this problem I think every country needs to invest in comprehensive sexuality education programmes that are a compulsory part of the curriculum. Students shouldn’t be able to opt out of learning about how they should respect their fellow human beings. In the UK repeated calls for this to happen have been rejected by the government, but their campaigning continues and many organisations are developing and refining programmes to provide this kind of education to as many young people as possible.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the barriers girls and women face in accessing education, but offers some food for thought. The previous Millennium Development Goals focused on just getting an equal amount of boys and girls through primary school. The new Sustainable Development Goals go much further – wanting everybody, regardless of gender, to have access to high quality education from early years through to tertiary institutions. It also calls on the world to “Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all” – another step that will address some of these barriers faced by girls. By working together to achieve these global goals by 2030 we can help girls and women to get the education they deserve.

Education Partnership For Global Development

This blog was first written for 'Chat for Change':

The provision of universal education, regardless of gender, is one of the most important Sustainable Development Goals – in itself and as a catalyst for change in the other areas. Likewise is the need for partnership working and achieving peaceful societies. So when we bring together these three ideas education, partnerships and peace we hit upon a very strong tool to enable us to achieve the SDG targets.

One such partnership is the ‘World’s Largest Lesson’ – founded by 10 organisations and with many more contributing material. On their website you can find all the materials you might need to plan a lesson for your class at school or run a workshop with you guide or scout unit. There’s a animation film, comic book and a copy of the goals written for children and young people too. Take a look at the resources and see how you could use them to spread the message of the SDGs with your group or peers.

Another initiative that partners with adults and young people all over the world to take action on the issue encapsulated in the SDGs is ‘A World at School’. They particularly work with youth ambassadors and faith based groups to spread the message of the importance of education. Kolleen Bouchane, Policy and Advocacy Director for ‘A World at School’ said: "Education has a unique power to catalyse gains in other areas. Very few, if any, health or economic interventions will be sustainable without gains in education.” This article on their website gives a great explanation of how education can help us achieve all the SDGS.

Finally this month, I want to leave you with this video which outlines how education is essential to achieving other areas of sustainable development.

The SDGs and Me!

This blog was written for and first published on 'Chat for Change':

Education played a critical role in getting me involved in the SDGs and prior to that the MDGs. I first heard about the concept of international development in my secondary school Geography class, and we went on to specifically discuss the MDGS. It came up again at university where I took Development Geography modules. Both these times it seemed distant, a big thing decided upon and acted upon by countries and huge NGOs to help people in other countries. Something that I would only be involved in if I worked for government or a development NGO long after I graduated.

It was until I attend the Young Women’s World Forum in 2010 that I realised I was responsible for making these goals happen. As an international event organised by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, there were young women from nearly 100 countries in attendance. We took part in sessions looking at each of the goals and it was a discussion on gender equality that really struck a chord with me. In the UK, I had always seen the goals positioned as this lovely development target to improve other people’s countries, mainly in the Global South. Through the education I gained at this event I saw how others saw the goals as relevant to their own lives, they owned them and worked to make them a reality. So when I heard that the UK doesn’t meet one of the targets – equal representation of women in parliament – I realised that we aren’t a pinnacle of development to aspire towards, we need to develop too and I can help make that happen!

That event inspired me and I wanted to make gender equality a reality. I set up a project in the UK and ran events, exhibitions and created an activity pack all around achieving gender equality. I also was fortunate to be selected for a number of WAGGGS delegations to subsequent United Nations events where I was honoured to be able to advocate for the visions of girls around the world to be recognised in the next international development targets – the SDGs.

For me, I look at the SDGs and see it as a global roadmap that we drew together, a map to a better world, and I feel particular ownership for the areas I, along with hundreds and thousands of others called to be part of it – ending gender based violence, ensuring we can all get an education, ending gender inequalities, working together with civil society all over the world to make it happen! This isn’t a document ONLY decided upon and actioned by those with a lot of resources to hand, it should be owned and guide action by us all, the world over, in our own communities and in partnership with others. 

Concerning Proposed Changes to Student Visas

I have not blogged much about this, but it is something that angers me greatly and affects me personally. The direction that UK immigration policy has been moving in the past few years is unjust, xenophobic and damaging to the vibrancy and diversity of the country. Now there are further proposed changes to student visas and this is a move that will benefit nobody. You can read about these changes here.

This prompted me to write to both my MP and the MP of a friend of mine who would be drastically effected by the proposals, specifically about the move to prohibit part-time working and force non-EU students to leave as soon as their course ends. I have copied what I wrote to them below adapted to be used by anybody, and I ask you to also use some or all of what I have written to send a message to your own MP. You can find your MP here.

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Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing to you to voice my concern regarding the proposed changes to student visas for those outside of the EU and the implications this will have.

There is a PhD student at the University of York and is originally from the USA. His thesis investigates the royal progresses of Queen Elizabeth I and through his hard work examining archive materials he has made unique historical discoveries about this period of British history. He is part way through his research, yet already knows that his heart belongs to the UK and this is where he would like to remain and work once he has completed his PhD. He is also a superb teaching, inspiring undergraduates at York as to the value and pleasure to be gained from History!

Yet this is all put in jeopardy by the proposed measures. Teaching is a vital part of the PhD process - it trains the educators of the future, its a vital career skill and one that helps to disseminate innovative research findings to new audiences. By not letting non-EU students undertake paid employment during their studies you would deprive them of this vital career skill, and a vital mechanism by which they can earn enough money to live on in order to continue research that benefits the UK - culturally and economically. Nobody benefits from such legislation.

Insisting that non-EU students leave at the end of their course also a ludicrous measure. For one, when do you deem the end of a PhD students course? It is not a clean cut process - there is a hand-in, the Viva defence and the process of tidying up any research we might be undertaking in partnership with others. By essentially deporting and then allowing re-entry once a suitable job has been found will only harm your immigration statistic too, surely? But also, you are insisting that having been in the UK for over 4 years, that in that time a student will not have made the UK their home. Being in the country where one has developed years worth of personal and professional ties is often essential to successfully building a career in academia, especially building upon existing research. Surely having cultivated a world-leading researcher in their field, the UK would want to benefit from and support their ongoing career?

Within universities across the country, a significant proportion of the staff and students come from overseas originally. They bring with them different perspectives, different experiences and wealth of knowledge that makes the UK research environment so rich.

I believe that these proposed immigration policies will make the UK a less appealing place for immigrants - but your party seem to have missed the point. It will make the UK a less appealing place for the most brilliant and resourceful people in the world to undertake innovative research and education. Please do not play to the xenophobic rhetoric. Nobody benefits from such legislation. 

Yours sincerely,

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights

This post was written in my capacity as Gender Ambassador for Chat for Change. Check out their website for lots of other amazing youth bloggers chatting about gander equality this month!



“Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” - a famous quote, often attributed to Hilary Clinton, but widely used by many to highlight the need to recognise women as equal to men.

Next week sees the start of an event at the United Nations, the Commission on the Status of Women, which specifically seeks to examine how the rights of women are being assured around the world. The event will bring together a record number of government officials and civil society organisations this year as it also marks the 20th anniversary of a landmark conference held in 1995 in Beijing. Globally, however, the past few years have seen countries want to regress on the promises made at these previous events. The rights of women and girls have come under threat.

Women, and girls in particular, are often seen as a group who can be politically ignored. In some countries the face restrictions on their ability to vote. In the vast majority of countries there are fewer women members of parliament than men. Men’s concerns are societal issues and “women’s issues” are relegated to a niche area of policy. We should not be marginalised – women make up around 50% of the population and the specific challenges facing us across our lifetime deserve due attention in local, national and international policies.

This year, 2015, presents us with several turning points in which we can accept the current situation or advocate for the rights of all human beings to be assured no matter their gender or where they are born. With a summit to present the next international development agenda in September and a major climate change summit later in the year, the future of the planet for decades to come will be shaped in the next 12 months.

With International Women’s Day coming up on the 8th March, there is no better time to add your voice to the call for gender equality. Take to twitter to state #WomensRightsAreHumanRights this Sunday (or everyday for that matter). Tag your tweet to #CSW59 to share your thoughts with those in New York next week. Search for your countries UN Mission in New York and email them your concerns. But most importantly, spread the message in your own community. Tell your friends and family that you believe in gender equality and make it a reality through you own life too!

You can download a mini-zine featuring the key points to raise to protect the rights of girls in the future international development agenda here. This can be printed on A4 paper, a cut made along the bold grey line in the middle of the page and then folded into a miniature magazine.

Social Justice – Taking Action on Gender Equality

This blog was written for Chat For Change on the subject of social justice. Visit this platform and get chatting yourself to discuss the importance of human rights to young people!

The difference between “Social Justice Issues” and other “Social Issues” is the idea that we have a moral duty to address an issue of social justice.

A social issue may be specific to a place and have negative consequences, but there are other influencing factors as to whether it should be addressed or not. For example perhaps the idea of graffiti in a neighbourhood, some people will think it is a menace but others will call it art. In contrast social justice issues are often connected to human rights. A social justice issue might be the lack of access to something that is considered a “right” and is often connected with the idea of equity.

This is why gender inequality is often talked about as a social justice issue – because it is about people being treated differently and having different access to their rights based on their gender. Gender inequality is not just one thing and is made up of lots of other social justice issues – the discrimination against women in being allowed to own property, discrimination based on gender when moving from one country to another, violence against a person based on their gender, and many more.

It is this last issue, gender based violence, that I want to highlight as one we should talk more about. This type of violence comes in many different forms – intimate partner or domestic violence (which takes place within relationships or families), sexual violence, genital cutting, early and forced marriage. These are often very sensitive topics. They are connected with a lot of emotions for survivors of violence. And our culture often says that we should not speak about them in public as they are private matters.

However, if we do not speak about them, then these injustices will continue to happen. It is a difficult conversation to start and many adults do not think these are topics to discuss with young people. But there are startling statistics about how many young people have been subject to violence based on their gender, be that male, female or another gender identity. It is too late to wait to have those conversations as adults – we need to create safe spaces to discuss these subjects with all young people so that they are empowered to address violence amongst their peer groups and prevent it from happening.



It is an issue of social justice, everyone has a right to a life free from violence, and as such we have a duty to address it. What programmes have you come across that work towards achieving gender equality and ending gender based violence?

It’s Pointless for Girlguiding to Support No More Page 3

This morning, I walked through Sheffield City Centre and was met by two poster boards each showing a woman in her swimming costume. It made me happy. They were billboards advertising the “This Girl Can” campaign and I’m looking forward to a chance to get back in the pool this weekend.

But it wasn’t until I saw Twitter that I felt the need to blog – the reports of the end of near naked women in The Sun newspaper were premature. Or rather, by the fact it was The Times (owned by the same corporation as The Sun) that announced the demise of the feature it was actually a malicious and misogynistic hoax. Printing a naked woman in The Sun today, to me, has just made it clear how much the editors, owners and decision makers at that paper must hate women, how threatened they felt by women celebrating the tiny victory that was the covering up of breasts on a feature that still aimed to objectify women.

One article in the New Statesman suggested that it was a mistake for the campaign to be asking so nicely for what it wants, but actually it’s about what kind of society we want to create. No More Page 3 is not about taking away one picture from one newspaper – that is the symbolism. It’s about creating a society where young women feel valued and respected, where they can live free from the fear of sexual assault, and where we have a media that is free to say what it wants but chooses not to contribute to creating the systemic inequalities that prevent us from achieving that society we want.

I have to admit that when I first read the news this morning I thought – how to we get the people behind The Sun to listen? Do we play to the economics? Do we boycott – though arguably those of us who have a problem with Page 3 already don’t buy it! Do we need direct action? But we don’t need more cultural violence and focusing on economics just supports the idea that money does equal power.

Then I was thinking that, actually, it’s pretty pointless for Girlguiding to support No More Page 3 (bear with me feminists). 88% of Senior Section members polled voted for the organisation to put its weight behind the campaign – but that’s a bunch of people who The Sun editors probably believe are predominantly white, middle class, 16-25 year old women (we can have the debate about the real demographic profile of Girlguiding sometime else – the media don’t work with facts, they work with assumptions). They’re not exactly, and I am returning partially to the economic argument, the prime Sun purchasing audience are they?

Yes I want to teach other young women that our opinions matter, that they are powerful and can affect change. They are, but maybe not in the way we think.

When you look at the list of organisations signed up to support the No More Page 3 campaign, they mostly focus on girls and women's issues, youth issues, related to education, and many perceived as middle class domains. Nearly 60% of The Sun readers are over 45 years old. 60% of them are men. Over 50% of the readership are men categorised as belonging to social classes ‘CDE’ – and they definitely weren’t in the 88% of 16-25 year old Girlguiding members.

The Sun is a corporation, it doesn’t have morals, it serves the needs of its shareholders to earn money. We can’t make a for-profit newspaper take any action other than that which serves its economic interests. But it is run by people, probably a lot of men, but there will be women in their lives too. We want to end of Page 3 to come about because women are valued and it will come to an end when those people who run and control The Sun do just that.

I say that it is pointless for Girlguiding to support the No More Page 3 campaign, because they currently do so surrounded by their peers – organisations that by their nature value young women already. Yes, we should continue to support and promote the petition. Yes, we should continue to promote the value of participation in peaceful protest and democratic mechanisms. But we need to wake up to the fact that the only way the Page 3 nudity will truly be gone for good is when everybody who prints, edits, buys and looks at it understands why it needs to go. Girlguiding supports girls and young women to develop their full potential, to become confident individuals who will change the lives of those around them – this more than petition signing will contribute to the end of Page 3 nudity.

My proposal. Back to those “This Girl Can” posters. We want societal change, we want positive images of young women that celebrate them, not objectify them, we need to make that change. Let’s put “The Alternative Page Three” everywhere; let’s get organisations and individuals who might even have supported Page 3 to realise how it benefits them to value young women; let’s encourage those dissatisfied with our current media portrayals to write, to take their own photographs, to take over and create their own media outlets; let’s work together to create a culture of respect, a culture of consent and a society that cares about all its members.

So yes, sign the petition, but don’t just do that. Value the women in your life and do everything in your power to make sure everyone else values them too. Because they are awesome and deserve respect.

Today the people behind The Sun disrespected them. What are you going to do about that?

Rethinking (Dis)ability

This post was originally written for Chat for Change.

What is a disability? The use of this word is charged with social, political, environmental and emotional meaning. How I am using it in this blog post is to reflect a characteristic of a person which is not catered for generally by society and thus results in barriers to different forms of participation.

Often people living with disabilities are depicted purely through the iconography of somebody in a wheelchair, leaving out the needs of everybody who might be disabled by society in a different way. 

A person passing me in the street would rarely categorise me as having a ‘disability’ – however my varying levels of ability that classify me as having dyslexia and dyspraxia mean I use a number of additional tools to undertake certain written and reading activities. The problem is the same as for wheelchair uses, those with a hearing impairment or with a visual impairment – society sets things out in a certain expected way, such as steps up to a shop or library, and a disability is something which requires a person to need an additional tool to enable them the access the same facility or service, such as a ramp or lift.

Having a disability is often stigmatised and as such creates inequalities in access to employment, education, health care, housing services. People living with disabilities are often discriminated against and when this is combined with gender inequalities it can create a double level of discrimination against girls and women living with disabilities. If girls are less likely to complete primary or secondary education in many countries, then where there is another barrier which prevents access to education, such as a disability, girls will be particularly affected.

If we think about it, over the course of our lifetime each of us has differing capabilities and differing additional needs at various stages. I would argue that the nearly everybody in the world would benefit from thinking more about accessibility in all that we do at some time or other.

When we plan our facilities, services and programmes we need to think through as many scenarios as possible to help us cater for the diversity of potential users – but we will never be able to anticipate every need, and that is why it is also important to be adaptable. When we come to realise a barrier to somebody’s access and participation, we need to be willing to speak out, find solutions and make change happen!

Toilets - A Gendered Issue

When I was 17, I spent five weeks in Ghana on a volunteering project. Whilst there I taught English in the local school and worked with a local NGO (funded by WaterAid) to build toilets for families. Whilst now I am critical of the usefulness of having British teenagers mix concrete, dig holes and build walls when local people could have been learning these skills and possibly even been employed to do so,  I quickly realised the value of the project as a whole. 

You don't have to search far to find the dangers of lack of access to adequate sanitation. The WHO estimates that almost 800,000 child deaths a year are caused by diarrhoea - that's about 1 in 9 worldwide. Open defacation spreads disease and contaminates water supplies amongst the most vulnerable populations. 

Then there are the specific threats that a lack of access to a toilet creates for women and girls in particular. Most people will have heard the reports of two girls in India who were raped and murdered when they left their home to go to the toilet in nearby fields. Attacks like these are all to common place as 1 in 3 women around the world don't have access to a place to safely go to the loo! Yes, when talking about violence against women and girls we need to tackle the reasons why violence happens with the people who are committing these acts, but in this case we could do so much by ensuring everybody has access to adequate sanitation facilities.

Girls and women also face challenges on how to deal with their periods when they have limited access to private sanitary facilities. Once she has started her period a girl will regularly miss school if she doesn't have access to suitable toilets whilst there - estimates vary between 6 weeks and 2 months of each year, that's a lot of education to be missing! There are critical issues to be addressed in providing facilities, but also in providing access to materials that can keep a young woman clean and healthy during her period without unsustainable economic or environmental consequences.

This week I read countless articles about innovative sanitation systems, each developed from specific local needs and circumstances. From the solar powered, self cleaning loos in India to the rickshaw port-a-loos across Africa and Asia and the use of readily available materials (bamboo among them) in any context. This is a challenge that we need to innovate our way out of and we can do that if we invest our time and resources in the right places. 

What Are Your Gender Equality Priorities?

This blog was first published on girlsmatter.org.uk.

From closing the gender pay gap to ending violence against women and girls, many actions could improve our lives in the UK.

Through my role as a Post-2015 Ambassador for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, I have attended many events and talk to UK politicians about how they could take action on gender inequalities at home and around the world. In that space I try to convey the diverse experiences of the hundreds of thousands of girls and young women who aren't able to be there with me - a very difficult task!

That's why I find it particularly exciting when there is an opportunity for everybody to easily and directly contribute their own views on such an important issue.

What progress has been made to improve the lives of women and girls?

Twenty years ago, a landmark event took place. Beijing, China played host to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, and 189 countries (including the UK) signed up to the resulting declaration and platform for action.

In June this year, the UK government released a progress report on how they have tackled gender inequalities in line with the outcomes from Beijing - and now they are asking for your thoughts. This week the Government Equalities Office has launched an online survey asking for your thoughts on two questions.

- What progress has been made to improve the lives of women and girls in the UK since 2010?

- What future priorities for women and girls should the government focus on in the next five years?

Tremendous progress has been made around the world since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were signed, and you can help to ensure that progress continues for years to come.

Have your say

Head over to the Government Equalities Office website right now to find out more about the consultation and to complete the survey. It takes just five minutes to have your say and to shape future government policy on gender equality.

Where do your draw the (poverty) line?

If you've been following this blog for a while, you might know that Out For Equality started as my 'Take Action' project after participating in a World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts event back in 2010. That is why I'm particularly excited to be participating in Chat For Change - a human rights project set up by Erin Wicking in Australia after she too participated in a WAGGGS event. Chat For Change is all about speaking out for human rights, with a different focus subject each month, through blogs, videos and events. This month the subject is "Poverty" and this is my blog:

When I was 18, one of my first essays in the first few weeks of university asked me to define the poverty line - how do we decide who is poor and who is not? What about extreme poverty, absolute poverty, relative poverty? Is a $1 a day a useful measure? What about the poorest 10% of a population? Or those earning less than 50% of the median income in a country? The questions go on.

Looking back at this question after the intervening 6 years and I know from my experiences that the idea of a poverty line is only partially useful. A poverty line lets you decide where poverty is growing or receding, it's lets you make nice statistics and for bureaucrats to pat themselves on the back for making sure there's less 'poor' people in a given year for example. But it makes me uncomfortable because statistics can be manipulated, numbers can be twisted, and they don't tell you about the daily lived realities of the people either side of the line. Poverty doesn't effect "10%", it effects real people. 

That's why instead of focusing on the numbers, we should focus on the solutions - we should focus on enabling everybody to live a fulfilling life regardless of their economic means. 

Ending poverty is not about 'giving them more money' especially as, in the UK at least, the dominant discourse has a distinctly colonial flavour. White people give money to some more white people who make the decisions about how and where they will spend the money which will be eagerly received by black and brown people (largely in Africa and increasingly in Asia). 

I want to propose a different route to ending poverty. Whilst I think there are key projects that are necessarily for a fulfilling life such as education, healthcare, employment and being able to live free from violence, we need to co-commission any project with the community it will affect. By delivering poverty eradication strategies with local partners we enable people as creators of their own future, we will deliver more sustainable projects and we will deliver development which is relevant to that community, not to the small elite group of people who are funding or planning it. 

Relative poverty also isn't a concept we can ignore. This methodology would therefore be as appropriate to communities in the UK and Australia as anywhere else in the world - through the non-discriminatory provision of support and resources, we can enable everybody to become agents of development in their own communities. 

Training the Next Body Confidence Ambassadors with #FreeBeingMe

"When you comment on a picture on the internet, make it about the person/how you feel" - this was just one of the many suggestions this weekend on how to encourage friends and family to become body confident.

With some great timing to coincide with International Day of the Girl on Saturday and Body Confidence Week this week, I was excited to be leading a training last weekend for 26 young members of Girlguiding to become peer educators. 

4 Peer Education

4 Peer Education is Girlguiding's peer education initiative and something I have been part of since 2007. Through 4 I have delivered sessions for my peers on everything from bullying to alcohol abuse and the skills and knowledge have come in useful when helping friends through personal situations. Currently, Girlguiding's peer educators can lead sessions for members, other youth groups and schools on three topics: Youth Health (developed with Department of Health), Healthy Relationships (developed with AVA), and Free Being Me. This last initiative focuses of body confidence and was developed by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and the Dove Self Esteem Initiative. it is being delivered all over the world and the goal is to reach 3.5 million girls by 2016.

Free Being Me

This weekend's training for 26 young women in the Anglia region of Girlguiding concentrated on the Free Being Me resource. First we defined the image myth that dominates our media and society and then we broke it down. We covered practical skills for challenging this myth including spotting the changes in airbrushed images and talking to their friends about the subject. The suggestions in the photo above were their ideas on how they can break down the image myth in their day to day life. 

I was honoured to witness their development over the weekend - leaving on Sunday afternoon as confident and enthusiastic peer educators and ambassadors for body confidence. It was fantastic to hear that some of them are even leading their first sessions for Girlguiding units this week! 

Body Confidence For All!

I hope to help Free Being Me to grow and develop girls body confidence across the UK but it would be great if politicians would take notice of the impact of this programme, learn from it and ensure that all young people in the UK can be body confident by providing similar activities through schools. 

"Objectivity is Male Subjectivity"

I am now a little over two weeks into my PhD. I am looking at spaces in museums in the city of Sheffield - not a topic that is explicitly about gender, but as I believe there is a gendered perspective to most things I'm sure I will be thinking about it over the next three years.

Last week I sat in my first lecture for a module I have to take as a refresher on quantitative methods for the social sciences - that is, mostly statistical analysis. A few slides into the presentation there are a few bullet points on categorical variables - those that can be divided into discrete categories. Option one was binary variables and surprise, surprise the example read e.g. Sex male/female. Now the lecturer clearly sensed the discomfort with what he was proposing as he was met with affronted and quizzical looks and whispered comments. At least a half dozen students in the room are doing specifically feminist research. He moved swiftly on. 

Whilst I acknowledge that there are varying interpretations of both sex and gender as a binary, trinity or continuous spectrum, it seems lazy and ill thought out to include it as an absolute in a lecture when it can easy be anticipated that the students will have varying positions. It's incidences like these that make me uneasy with the use of quantitative methods as supposedly objective research. To me it is clear that categorising any data is done on the basis on personal bias and subjectivity, just in a more hidden and sometimes socially accepted way than more qualitative methods of research. 

This morning I was reading an article by Grayson Perry in the New Statesman - about the "default man". You can read it at http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/grayson-perry-rise-and-fall-default-man. Perry identifies this as an identity group which dominates  politics and big business. He also uses the phrase "objectivity is male subjectivity" which I believe is extremely applicable to academia. 

Whilst there is a growing visible presence of research that seeks to break down patriachical norms that I've come across, I think there is still a fair way to go before the notion of objectivity and a white straight male bias no longer dominate research across all disciplines. 

Girls Matter - in the UK and Worldwide!

Earlier this month, Girlguiding launched an exciting new campaign in the run up to the General Election in 2015. 'Girls Matter' sets out eight key asks drawn from the research and consultation work that Girlguiding does with girls and young women. One of these is about ensuring girls' rights are a priority in the UK's approach to international development. I am delighted by this campaign, and all of the issues which it aims to highlight, but as part of the blogger network I will use this post to set out:

Why Should We Make Girls’ Rights a Priority in the UK’s Approach to International Development?

Girls around the world face the double disadvantage of being young and being female. A girl is less likely to receive an education and more likely to be subject to violence than her male peers. Girls are denied their rights all over the world.

The World We Want For Girls

That is why I am one of 18 ambassadors, chosen by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, to ensure that the future goals for improving our world aim to create ‘The World We Want For Girls’. Back in the year 2000, countries signed up to a series of targets called the Millennium Development Goals. These goals, known as the MDGs, set out how world leaders wanted the world to look by the year 2015. Since that time governments and other organisations (including Guides and Scouts) have been working to:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Achieve gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Build partnerships for development

A lot has been achieved in the last 14 years. 17,000 fewer children now die each day. 90% of children are now enrolled in primary school. The amount of people living in extreme poverty was halved by 2010. But there are dramatic differences between continents, between countries and between regions within those nations.

Many so-called ‘developed’ countries saw these goals as something to fund, rather than something to achieve. Did you know the UK hasn’t achieved one of the targets for achieving gender equality? The aim is to achieve gender equality in representation in Parliament – as other blog posts will testify we are a far cry from this in the UK. You will be surprised at the first nation to achieve this goal – it was Rwanda. We need to embed gender equality in our political system to truly prioritise girls’ rights everywhere.

Focusing on Girls’ Rights

Many of the issues facing girls around the world are interconnected and the current situation for many is shaped by the issues that weren’t considered in the Millennium Development Goals. Violence is a key factor – both the hostile conditions that impact of healthcare and education that exist in warzones, and the multitude of other forms of violence that infiltrate the lives of girls everywhere. From early marriage to domestic violence, from female genital mutilation to sexual violence. 1 in 3 women worldwide will be the victim of violence during their lifetime.

This is why our team of 18 ambassadors from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are calling on those involved in setting the next set of international goals to really consider the rights of girls. Their right to an education, their right to health, their right to live free from the threat of violence and their right to live long and fulfilling lives.

Get Involved

You can help to ensure that the issues that matter most to girls and young women are reflected in our next set of international goals. Visit the MyWorld Survey (http://vote.myworld2015.org/?partner=WAGGGS) and think about the issues facing girls all over the world as you place your vote. Then share the survey with girls and young women* that you know and work with so that they can cast their vote for their own future.

*Ballot papers are available to take voting offline and into the community.

So What's Wrong With Colour Changing Nail Varnish?

The story of the colour changing nail varnish (which tells you if your drink has been spiked) has been picked up by various media outlets over the past week as well as by organisations that tackle sexual violence. I've seen comments from many points of view across social media.

In some quarters the research of these four (male) scientists has been highly praised - quite often seemingly because they are male. Yes, I do agree that it is great that a group of men want to do something to address this issue of violence against women, but it is patronising to suggest that a man should be endlessly praised simply because the problem he is working on effects mostly women. 

Then there's the underpinning issue. Do we want to perpetuate this myth that some rapes happen because a woman drinks a spiked drink and is then vulnerable to this ever present risk of rape? A risk that is just floating out there in the ether waiting for an unsuspecting woman to attack? Or do we want to wake up to the actual problem which is the fact that there are people in the world (usually men) who see it as morally justifiable to spike another persons drink (usually a woman) in order to incapacitate them and perform sexual acts without their consent? 

The question we should be asking is not 'how do we stop women from drinking a spiked drink?', it should be 'how do we stop people from wanting to spike drinks?', 'how do we ensure that we respect the bodily integrity and rights of every human being?', 'how do we teach men that rape is wrong?'. 

I believe that this story also belies a wider social problem - the current climate which dictates that scientific advances are always good for humanity and the lack of corresponding coverage (and funding) which is given to more qualitative approaches. Domestic and sexual violence charities have had their budgets slashed thus ending their preventative programmes and forcing them to focus on reactive care. 

One programme I came across in the past was based at an art museum. A group of men who had faced charges for domestic abuse took part in sessions that aimed to help them to focus on their emotional reactions and to use looking at artworks as a way to understand that it's possible to see a situation in many different ways. These are the sort of initiatives that I believe we should be finding if we really want to tackle sexual violence in the UK.

Having been part of the 'stop the violence' campaign from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts which seeks to end violence against girls, it pains me to say that the resources they provide, I believe, will not achieve lasting change until they are adopted and used by organisations that work with men and boys too. We can teach girls to be confident about their bodies, to be mentally resilient, but we cannot let them, even for a moment, think that being the target of sexual violence is their fault. 

Yes we can show them how to make themseleves less vulnerable, we can teach them to be conscious of their own actions, but they have the right to wear what they want and be in public spaces if they want. Until we address the underlying causes of violent behaviour we will not fulfill every humans right to live a life free from sexual violence.

Art as a Tool of Inclusion or Exclusion: The Subway Example

 I came across a statement of exclusion from a piece of public art scrawled on the walls of an underpass in Peterborough city centre. 

I had stopped to admire/investigate this piece of street art in progress - a repainting of the underpass with depictions of famous scenes from the history of the city. I took in a rebellion against the Romans and the locally well known figure of old Scarlett adopting his pose that supposedly inspired Shakespeare. I read the sign declaring the piece a work in progress, stencilled on the wall complete with the logos of organisations involved in its commission, design and implementation. 

Next to these on a bare section of undercoat were the words "let the kids paint please!". It wasn't even painted on. These words were the passionate outcry of somebody who had had a connection to the previous mural and who had taken whichever writing implement they had to hand and made their feelings known to the world. 

Before this new heritage inspired mural was started, this underpass had been decorated with drawings and illustrations created by children from a local school. It was probably getting on for nearly a decade old, looking a little tired around the edges and was obviously the freehand work of school children rather than an artists collective, but it clearly meant something to at least somebody in Peterborough. 

I am a firm believer in the positive value of art in public places - especially high quality art that supports the local creative economy. But I am also a believer in consulting the stakeholders before undertaking any public project and in ensuring the built heritage of today is recorded before it's destruction to preserve it for future generations to see. 

- was the previous mural documented to be filed as a resource for the future to be held at the city museum or art gallery?

- was any attempt made to contact those who had a hand in the last mural, to give them a last chance to record their own work, or be involved in this project?

- are there any workshops planned so that local people can understand and learn the creative methods used in the new design? Or even contribute to the work? 

It will definitely be a stunning work of art for the people of Peterborough to enjoy, but I do hope they can be included in the process. 

An Inspirational Case from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

This blog was first published at: http://camunivmuseums.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/an-inspirational-case-from-the-museum-of-archaeology-and-anthropology/

Every object in a museum can tell many stories. The story of how it looks. The story of what it was used for. The story of how it was made. But very often museums may overlook the need to tell the crucial story of how an object was collected – a story that is fundamental to how an object ended up in a museum. On the top floor of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology I discovered a case full of objects with just such a story; one that I found particularly inspiring.

The Clarke Hall, on the top floor of the building, presents the museum’s international archaeological collections. A panel as you enter the gallery proclaims it a ‘work in progress’ with the displays being part of a collaborative project with visitors in order to further develop them in the future. Having studied an undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Geography I was curious about the objects in the ‘open storage’ cases with row upon row laid out for comparison. However, the case that particularly stands out in my memory of that initial visit is the one dedicated to the archaeologist, Dorothy Garrod.

The case contains a number of prehistoric objects from the excavations she oversaw, as well as a selection of cigarette tins that were used as find containers as they were readily to hand. Elsewhere in the gallery there are cases and panels detailing the influence of other eminent archaeologists on the collections and the profession as a whole, but it was the feminist story of Dorothy Garrod that stood out to me.

You can find much more detail about Garrod’s career online, but I shall quote from the case label for a summary:

Dorothy Garrod worked with a field crew, largely of women, recruited from the Palestinian villages. At home in Cambridge, her work was recognized by her election to the Disney Chair of Archaeology in 1939 – the University’s first woman professor. Small and shy, she was a feminine anomaly in a man’s world. Today she is recognised as a feminist pioneer within a university now better balanced between women and men.

When we give objects labels that describe their materials, their origin, their function and their age we often resort to trying to tell the ‘original’ story, the narrative that we think the object was created to be part of. But objects don’t stop existing when they are lost and found, sold and bought, excavated and collected and these processes add to the stories connected to the object. I found it refreshing to view prehistoric objects being used to tell a story of advancement towards gender equality that is under a century old, one that more people could perhaps relate to, alongside the usual information on its type, origin and age. I was inspired and reassured by Garrod’s story and I believe this case has incredible potential to demonstrate that Archaeology is a profession where you can succeed regardless of gender.

As you leave The Clarke Hall, there are questionnaires asking for your feedback on the gallery contents and what archaeology means to you. I am full of praise for the attempts to show the influence of archaeologists over archaeology, yet I would have loved to be able to search through the collection catalogue whilst in the gallery to uncover some of the hidden tales of the hundreds of objects in ‘open storage’. Being on display is a fantastic start over being hidden in a dark storeroom away from public view, but access to the data held about each object would enable visitors to delve into the invisible aspects and craft stories based on their own curiosity – far more than could ever be told on the walls of this one gallery.

I joined the University of Cambridge Museums in July on a temporary assignment as a Marketing Assistant for the summer months spending most of my time working with The Polar Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. In October, I will be starting a PhD at the University of Sheffield where I will be looking into how museums can create spaces to encourage curiosity and innovation. Spending time exploring and thinking about the University of Cambridge Museums as part of my role here has inspired several possible trains of thought that I will have to investigate further!

Pippa Gardner, Marketing Assistant, University of Cambridge Museums

Getting Digital - The First #TeamDigital Meeting

On Saturday 28th July, I set out to London for the inaugral meeting of #TeamDigital - a panel of about 15 young women from Girlguiding with an enthusiasm for all things digital. The team is just one of the many ways that members and non-members can get involved in the development of Girlguiding's digital strategy. If you'd like to get involved too you can find out more on the microsite and blog at digital.girlguiding.org.uk.

The day started out with the inevitable mix of ice breakers then, having discovered we had a pilot, several cat owners and a number of people with bizarre connections to famous comedians, we could start work proper. We took a whistlestop tour of the digital strategy for Girlguiding so far with its three pillars of Involve, Enable and Champion, and were so eager to contribute we were coming up with ideas and suggestions even before the questions had been asked.


Next we were handed over to the team from YooMee to take on the website personas in an ultracompact version of the workshops they've been running up and down the country. Advice is available here is you want to run one of these workshops with your own group too! The five different personas we considered each had a different level of engagement with Girlguiding from the no-nothing to the passionately involved young woman. I think it is perhaps testament to the complex nature of how members aged 16-24 are engaged with Girlguiding that we found our comments of what was needed from the website didn't fit neatly into the categories of 'girl member' or 'adult leader' - what more could you expect from an age group that is technically invovled as both?


At the end of this session we had to pick out the suggestions we wanted to highlight and I choose to explain my reasoning and thoughts around providing an acitvities database that isn't locked away within a members area. My personal feeling is that at its core Girlguiding is an organisation that exists to provide activities that empower girls and young women. As such the aim of the website should be to provide those opportunities, not to have the sole purpose of converting interest into another record on our database - the website should be the start of the journey in the movement, the place where the first acitivities are discovered and completed. So to achieve this I advocated a database of activities, which could be added to, commented upon, rated and tagged into categories by visitors to the website. It should have a section of related activities (in the style of Amazon's 'customers also purchased' feature) that could be personalised to be age specific and linked to awards and badges if the user was logged in. That way we could also facilitate members moving easily between the activities of one section and another e.g. Brownies to Guides, rather than the compartmentalised section websites that exist at the moment.

From there it was time for lunch and onwards to the 'Inspirational Speaker' slot. Kajal Odedra from Change.org spoke to us about her job, how she got there and her motivations. It was interesting to note the higher percentage of women winning petitions on Change.org than men (even though men start more petitions) and I'd be really interested to see further research as to how platforms like this can help women and minority genders to become more successful advocates and campaigners. It was disheartening a little to hear about the route into the sector being via internships and london-centric, but I am optimistic for the role of digital tech in taking campaigning to the regions and beyond.

Then it was time to tackle social media. We brain stormed and quickly polled the networks that we used amongst us with familiar big names coming out on top. Discussion started on how Girlguiding could better use the various platforms and I was struck by the different interpretations of this statement. Some (myself included) took 'Girlguiding' in the question to mean the office staff who manage the national accounts, whereas others included how unit leaders and girls themselves could use the platforms. I guess pragmatically it was the social media manager who would read our flipcharts, but then programme resources and articles in Guiding magazine could begin to reflect our digital age and give volunteers these case studies of how they can facilitate their involvement in Guiding with social media technologies.

For the last session of the day we gave some digital inputs into an exciting forthcoming new THING in Girlguiding. It's top secret for now so I can't say more but it's going to be AMAZING!

We rounded off the day with a summary of what we want the group to do going forward and concluded to use a Doodle poll to set the date of our meeting in the Autumn - oh how digital of us...

I'm excited at the shape and scope of the project going forward and much of what I thought about during the day will feed into the redevelopment of the Girlguiding Anglia regional website that I am currently working on - particularly taking an agile approach to make sure what we end up with is just right! If you want to get involved in the Girlguiding digital strategy, head over to http://digital.girlguiding.org.uk and sign up to become a digital champion!