The Coalition Government has just published a ‘strategic narrative’ on violence against women and girls. This should be followed by an action plan next Spring.
Follow the link which provides template letters and campaign leaflets on keeping violence against women and girls on the education agenda
On the 15th October the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) organisation called upon the Coalition Government to urgently address the “alarming levels” of sexual harassment and violence against young women in schools. Their YouGov 2010 online survey of 788 16-18 year olds found that a third (29%) of young women reported unwanted sexual touching at school and witnessed routine sexual name-calling on a daily or twice-weekly basis. Over a quarter (28%) said they had seen sexual pictures on mobile phones at school twice a month or more. In the same month, Girl Guiding UK continued to fight the sexualisation of girl culture by delivering a 25,000 signature petition to Downing Street calling for the Government to introduce compulsory labelling for all airbrushed images. This concern addressed the findings from their Girls’ Attitudes Survey, in which 50% of the girls reported that they would consider having surgery to change their looks and more than half had been bullied for their appearance. Indeed, the impact of ‘sexualisation’ upon girls and young women has become the subject of high profile controversial reports and inquiries from a number of government and non-governmental bodies (Home Office 2010). Continue reading “Are girls victims of their own sexual agency? Sexualisation, sexual violence and schooling”
Everyday there seems to be yet more depressing news for education in the UK. Yesterday saw more rushed ideological notions of bringing soldiers into the classrooms, destroying teacher education within Higher Education, and reconfiguring the national curriculum yet again.
Schoolchildren and students were also active in walking out of lessons, taking to the streets and occupying campuses. These actions are in response to massive hikes in tuition fees in Higher Education, and the abolishment of the Educational Maintenance Allowance in Further Education. Curiously, an article in the the Daily Mail has focused on the gendering of these protests, highlighting the actions of rioting girls. Perhaps we are seeing a new wave of youth and female led activism? I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts
This month the UK newspapers have been awash with stories about the (supposedly) ever-decreasing ‘gender gap’. Indeed, several key reports relating to equalities issues have been released in the past month, all of which have been discussed at great length in the British media. Of greatest international significance, perhaps, have been the reports surrounding the progress made against the millennium development goals (a set of goals which were proposed by world leaders back in the year 2000 and were revisited last month as these leaders returned to New York for the UN summit, Singer 2010). Although a number of scholars have pointed to the fact that the success of achieving these goals has largely been attributable to moving the goalposts, the positive news reported last week was that gender parity in education was being achieved and in ways which had substantial effects upon the ability to reach other goals (e.g. infant mortality rates). Continue reading “Boys, Boys, Boys!”
Once more, the annual hysteria around exam results is upon us in the UK, and as journalist Lucy Tobin puts it the gender debate that has been simmering for the last few years is set to ignite. Continue reading “Gender Hysteria: 2010 Examination Results”
GEA executive member Heather Mendick and GEA member Marie-Pierre Moreau have been spending a lot of their time looking for women who work in science, engineering and technology online – across websites as diverse as the BBC, YouTube, New Scientist and the Natural History Museum. Their research is funded by the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET and is uncovering some disturbing patterns: the dominance of men, the segregation of women into particular areas of science or areas of the website, a greater focus on women’s than on men’s appearance and on their family relationships and a pervasive sexualisation of women scientists.
The ‘Girls and Education 3-16’ seminar series enabled researchers, practitioners and policy makers to come together to discuss current concerns about girls’ education in the UK, and to consider new research agendas, policy imperatives and ways forward for practice. Continue reading “Girls and Education: 3 to 16: Seminar Series”