It would be absolutely fascinating to be privy to the discussions currently going on amongst the inner circle of the Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia, where the US Masters Golf tournament has just concluded. The Club has found itself rather uncomfortably at the centre of a gender equality storm this past week, as one of …
Category: coding
Mar 16
The Daily Mail approach to feminism … no wonder we still have a long way to go
I try to avoid reading the ‘Reader Comments’ on the UK Daily Mail website, but sometimes I lapse and find myself trawling through several pages in the search of some positive and constructive insights to the matter under discussion – often in vain. Given that the articles I am usually reading pertain in some way …
Mar 07
Dame Joan Bakewell speaks out: teen magazines sexualise girls
Dame Joan Bakewell, the journalist and television presenter, who helped lead the sexual revolution of the Sixties, and who shocked the nation in 2001 when she presented the BBC TV series Taboo, spoke out earlier this week at the Bath Literature Festival about the effect that teenage magazines are having on young people – and …
Feb 13
Filling in the history: famous Australian women (part 1)
Another week, another city – another continent. From Washington DC to Sydney involves travelling more than half way around the world, which is an exercise in physical resilience, but an opportunity to think and reflect, and I have enjoyed using the time to start preparing for our new life in Australia (for which this trip …
Feb 09
Inequality put right: recent lessons from America
Being in Washington tends to focus one’s mind on things American, which can be very refreshing and enriching, bringing as it does a slightly different perspective to one’s world view. Yet even though the view is different, the issues are often at heart the same, and as I was reading the comments made by the …
Jan 20
Miss-Representation – how we portray women in the media, and what we can do about it
One of the sessions at the UK Girls’ Schools Association Conference in Bristol in November, which I hosted as GSA President, was an uplifting interactive conversation with colleagues from the States. It immediately preceded the arrival of Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools, who was delayed; the positive upshot was that we were able …
Jan 17
Being a female leader: the path prepared by Margaret Thatcher
I am really curious to see The Iron Lady – although, as with most films, I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD and I can squeeze in the time to watch it between other commitments. I am sure it will be worth the wait – since its premiere it has elicited …
Jan 15
Keep an eye on the hidden surveys – for they tell a truth we must not forget
Surveys, by their nature, are newsworthy. They give a snapshot of a current issue at the current moment amongst whichever group they target, and as a result they will often make it into the daily news schedule. Sometimes they make a big splash, become major news items and have producers running to elicit requests for …
Dec 30
A New Year’s message to our politicians – sharpen up your act and make 2012 the start of a new era of respect
The vast majority of politicians I have met in person have impressed me with their commitment to making things happen, to changing for the better the lot of people in this country and beyond, and – essentially – to making the world a better place. I respect their drive and their strength of purpose. But …
Dec 27
Essex girls, Essex women … new research on single-sex classes at university
Today’s edition of The Independent reports some very interesting small scale research at Essex University, where a group of students was split, randomly, into three teaching groups by gender – a male only group, a female only group, and a mixed gender group. At the end of the year, the marks of the female only …