Women's Newsletter - June 2005
To join our e-network and receive women's campaign email updates, please fill in the form at the start of the Women's Officer Handbook 2004/2005 and post it to Minda Burgos-Lukes, NUS, PO BOX 52611, London N7 6XX or email minda.burgos-lukes@nus.org.uk
June 2005
Contents of this newsletter:
- Who's your union's women's campaign contact for 2005/6? - let us know!
- A woman's place... case studies - new online
- The new Ministers for Women - new online
- Enter your women's magazine/publication into the NUS/Daily Mirror National Student Journalism Awards!
- Pro-choice and Proud of it! Pro-choice issues in the news
(a) Three student midwives who were denied their bursary income during their maternity leave win their case against the National Health Service
(b) Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State for Education and Skills) seeks more extended schools - A woman's place... News about gender segregation in education and in the workplace
New scheme promoting IT jobs to girls - Shami Chakrabarti (Head of Human Rights Group Liberty) wins top Asian Women of Achievement Award
- Orange Prize for Female Novelists - award winner announced
- News from external organisations
(a) Hidden: Sanchita Islam at the Women's Library
(b) An evening with Sheila Jeffreys, author of 'Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful cultural practices in the west'
1. Who's your union's women's campaign contact for 2005/6? - let us know!
Please email women@nuso.org.uk and let us know the name and email address of your union's women's officer/women's campaign contact for 2005/6 so we can add them to our email network. If you are no longer the women's campaign contact for a students' union, please let us know so we can remove you from our list.
2. A woman's place... case studies - new online
"In spite of the discrimination, I would always encourage other women to go into engineering if that is what they want to do. It is a rewarding career and there are plenty of prospects."
"My advice to girls thinking of physics is don't be put off by the stereotypes there's definitely room for anyone who thinks in a different way (as women often do) and it feels good to be one of a small minority!"
"Before I started studying these subjects I thought that people would think I was weird or trying too hard to fit in, but now I've realised that it's OK to do what I want - standing out from the crowd is so much better than trying to be like everybody else."
"The attitudes towards women engineers are changing and it may have been a men's world so far, but we are here to make our mark!"
These are just some of the great quotes we've collected from female students studying in non-traditional, male-dominated subject areas. Thank you to everyone who publicised/responded to our call for case studies for our campaign against gender segregation in education and in the workplace. We've picked some of the responses to go online for you to read.
Go to www.nusonline.co.uk/women for more.
Please publicise this web page to female students in your women's groups and women in your colleges generally.
3. The new Ministers for Women - new online
The new Ministers for Women are The Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell MP and Meg Munn MP. Read more about them, their backgrounds and records on women's issues in our online fact sheet at www.officeronline.co.uk/women
Meg Munn will work unpaid as the Minister for Women. The Prime Minister did not offer her the customary £29,000 ministerial pay rise, so she will carry out ministerial duties on the £59,000 salary of a normal backbencher.
For more information:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,1484695,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1502206,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/16/nmow16.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/16/ixhome.html
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4559541
4. Enter your women's magazine/publication into the NUS/Daily Mirror National Student Journalism Awards!
The countdown is on to find the best student newspapers, magazines, websites and journalists in the country. The National Union of Students (NUS) and the Daily Mirror today launches the 58th National Student Journalism Awards - the oldest and most prestigious awards in student journalism.
Students are invited to submit their work in a total of thirteen categories including best newspaper, magazine, reporter, website, and critic. New categories this year include Best Student Investigative Journalism and Best Student Critic.
The esteemed judging panel includes Mirror Group Political Editor, David Seymour; editor of Closer magazine Jane Johnson, ITN’s Alistair Stewart, Heat magazine’s Boyd Hilton and Andy Bell, deputy editor of Panorama who is also a former winner.
As well as instant kudos amongst their peers all the winners will receive cash prizes and work experience at the Daily Mirror newspaper and other media publications.
The application form is downloadable from www.nusonline.co.uk/studentmedia and www.mirror.co.uk/student
The closing date for all entries is Friday 15 July 2005.
For further information contact the NUS press office on 020 7561 6504 or at pressoffice@nus.org.uk
5. Pro-choice and Proud of it! Pro-choice issues in the news
(a) Three student midwives win ground-breaking right to maternity pay
Three student midwives who were denied their bursary income during their maternity leave have won their case against the National Health Service at an Employment Appeal Tribunal on 3 June 2005. The decision has secured new rights for the many thousands of women on the NHS Bursary Scheme including other midwives and many other health service trainees. The case was supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission.
For more information: http://www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/news/3_june_fletcher.asp
(b) Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State for Education and Skills) seeks more extended schools
Education ministers have published a prospectus on their plans for schools in England to be open from 8am to 6pm. They are putting £680m over three years into encouraging more schools to set up breakfast and after-school clubs, to help working parents.
For more information:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/extendedschools/?asset=News&id=21869
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4084670.stm
The Daycare Trust's response to the proposals: http://www.daycaretrust.org.uk/article.php?sid=258
6. A woman's place... News about gender segregation in education and in the workplace
New scheme promoting IT jobs to girls
A scheme aimed at getting more girls interested in IT careers is being launched by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly. Computer Club for Girls (CC4G) seeks to persuade girls that IT jobs are not "just for boys", and is being rolled out to 3,600 schools across England.
For more information:
http://www.cc4g.net/display.asp?PageId=1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4088450.stm
7. Shami Chakrabarti (Head of Human Rights Group Liberty) wins top Asian Women of Achievement Award
Shami Chakrabarti (Head of Human Rights Group Liberty) was presented with the top prize in the Asian Women of Achievement Awards on 27 May. The awards recognise the success of Asian women in a wide range of areas from arts and culture to entrepreneurship.
Ms Chakrabarti commented on the day that people should "not turn our back on the new others in UK society - asylum seekers, travellers and God's sake even teenage kids". [Source: BBC News Online]
For more information:
www.awaawards.com
8. Orange Prize for Female Novelists - award winner announced
'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver (Serpent’s Tail) has won the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. The Orange Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible. The Orange Prize is awarded to the best novel of the year written in English by a woman.
Pippa Dunn, Director of Brand Marketing at Orange, said of the prize: “Ten years ago the Orange Prize for Fiction shook up the literary world when we launched one of the most controversial literary prizes. Today, it is recognised as one of the UK’s most powerful and prestigious awards that has firmly established itself on the global literary calendar. The Orange Prize for Fiction remains committed to bringing women’s fiction to a wider audience of readers. Congratulations to Lionel Shriver.”
For more information:
www.orangeprize.co.uk
News from external organisations
Please note that whilst NUS Women's Campaign has been careful to check the suitability of these organisations as contact points for student officers, it cannot be held responsible for the work or advice of any external organisation.
(a) Hidden: Sanchita Islam (Exhibition 23 June - 27 August, the Women’s Library)
Hidden chronicles the stories of Asian women residing in local East End refuges, interpreted in words and images by acclaimed Bangladeshi artist, filmmaker and writer Sanchita Islam. In deeply moving personal narratives and visually arresting drawings and photographs, Sanchita's work conveys the horror of domestic violence and the hidden fears that haunt women's lives.
More information:
www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk
(b) An evening with Sheila Jeffreys, author of 'Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful cultural practices in the west'
Eaves would like to invite you to an evening with the acclaimed author Sheila Jeffreys.
Dr Sheila Jeffreys is a founding member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Melbourne where she teaches sexual politics, lesbian politics and international feminist politics. She is the author of five books on the history and politics of sexuality including The Idea of Prostitution and Unpacking Queer Politics 2003.
Sheila will be reading from her new book Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful cultural practices in the west and will take part in a question and answer session.
The event will be held at the Eaves offices (nearest Tube: Oval) 6.00-8.00pm 28th July. Places are extremely limited so please email Isabel
Refreshments will be available.
This is a free event but donations are encouraged.
*We hope you find these NUS Women's Campaign newsletters useful and interesting, but if you feel that you would no longer like to receive any emails from us please reply to this address [women@nus.org.uk] asking to be removed from our email network.*
*Please note the new NUS switchboard number and postal address below*
NUS Women's Unit
NEC Contact: Jo Salmon (National Women's Officer)
Staff Contact: Lizzie McCarthy (Women's Research and Information Co-ordinator)
email: women@nus.org.uk
switchboard: 0871 221 8 221
fax: 020 72635713
minicom text: 020 75616577
website for students: www.nusonline.co.uk/women
website for student officers: www.officeronline.co.uk
address: NUS Women's Unit, PO BOX 52611, London N7 6XX
View past Women's Campaign Newsletters at:
www.officeronline.co.uk/campaignsupport/women/newsletters
Return to this campaign's homepage or view all articles in this campaign.