genderanded Issues

On the ascendance: education as a key to global feminism?

GEA Policy Report, March 2013

International women’s week was inaugurated in the media this year in a quiet way and yet it has spawned a tremendous amount of footage in the press and other media, culminating in the UK with a weekend festival of arts called Women of the World organized by Jude Kelly, indomitable director of the Southbank Centre in London. What is particular music to GEA is the welcome focus on Education as the main path to equality as can be seen in a myriad of articles, letters and comments and the launch of the new British Library website. Continue reading “On the ascendance: education as a key to global feminism?” →

genderanded Issues

In Memoriam: Eva Figes

Eva Figes, the author of Patriarchal Attitudes, died aged 80 in August 2012. Her book was published to popular British acclaim alongside several other signature books of women’s liberation, including The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer and The Dialectic of Sex by Shulamith Firestone. These publications signalled a new and critical mood amongst a growing number of women becoming involved in the international women’s liberation movement. Continue reading “In Memoriam: Eva Figes” →

genderanded Issues

An Update: The Women’s Library

This is to report on what is happening to The Women’s Library, a resource that was set up over 75 years ago as the Fawcett Library in central London. It moved to premises in the East End of London in the 1990s, and became part of what was then the London Guildhall University. The latter then amalgamated with North London University to become London Metropolitan University. There was a contest between the London School of Economics, amongst others, and the Guildhall for housing the library as a resource for feminist historians, social scientists and arts people, back in the 1990s which Guildhall won. At the turn of the 21st century there was a bid for lottery funds to rehouse the library in a converted women’s bathhouse nearby. This bid was successful and the library was housed in an architect-designed building that opened in 2003. Continue reading “An Update: The Women’s Library” →

genderanded Issues, Previous Conferences / Events

Promoting Equality: UK Feminista

GEA Policy Report Autumn 2012

UK Feminista is a relatively new organization of ‘ordinary women and men campaigning for gender equality’. Founded just over 2 years ago, it has wide and international aims, namely a ‘vision of a world where women enjoy all the rights enshrined in CEDAW – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – otherwise known as the ‘women’s bill of rights’. Continue reading “Promoting Equality: UK Feminista” →

genderanded Issues

The need for Plan F: Women’s Budget Group (WBG) release their assessment of the Coalition’s economic strategy

The Women’s Budget Group (WBG) has released its latest assessment of the Coalition’s economic strategy. It considers the UK’s Autumn Financial Statement which underpins the UK ‘budget’ to be announced in the spring of 2012, against the backdrop of Government policies about gender equality. It shows how the Government has ignored its own policies in presenting a gender impact analysis; and how the Government’s policies will impact adversely on women, particularly its public sector policies. Instead of promoting Plan A or even Plan B – an alternative Labour plan, it argues for Plan F – a feminist strategy that promotes equality, jobs and growth. This includes a specific focus on women and educational and family policies. The GEA could contribute more specifically to this Plan F by developing a stronger analysis in terms of schooling and education across the lifecourse. Continue reading “The need for Plan F: Women’s Budget Group (WBG) release their assessment of the Coalition’s economic strategy” →

genderanded Issues

Review of Vocational Education: The Wolf Report for the Department of Education

The Second Gender and Education Association Policy Report (March 2011)

Alison Wolf’s report on education for 14-19 year olds, commissioned by the English Government in Autumn 2010, has received rapturous acclaim in the media, policy and government circles. For example, the Guardian’s editorial on March 4th 2011 was entitled FE colleges. Who’s Afraid of Alison Wolf? It argued that Wolf ‘has blown a gale through the cosy consensus. She understands that overly involved employers will grab subsidies for specific training that they would anyway have had to provide.’ And her recommendations are commended for their ‘acuity’. Continue reading “Review of Vocational Education: The Wolf Report for the Department of Education” →