Women's Views on News |
| Girlguiding survey: things to sort out Posted: 01 Nov 2016 03:17 PM PDT
This year the girls and young women who took part in Girlguiding's 2016 survey revealed that they feel held back by gender stereotypes, sexism, and anxiety about how they look. They said they think they may not achieve their aspirations because they do not feel safe, that they are facing double standards on what behaviour is acceptable because they are girls not boys, and that they don't feel the same roles are open to them as are open to boys. Yet it is clear girls are challenging this unfairness. They are, for example, reclaiming the internet to express their views and have a voice. They are also calling out sexism where they see it and demanding that women and girls are not judged by how they look and that they have equal opportunities now and in their futures. More specifically, girls revealed the challenges they are facing and what they want to change in relation to: Girls as young as seven say they feel embarrassed and ashamed about how they look. And fear of their bodies being criticised holds them back from doing everyday things they would like to do; 36 per cent of girls aged 7-10 said people make them think that the most important thing about them is how they look., while 54 per cent of girls aged 7-10 said 'stop judging girls and women on what they look like' was one of their top three priorities for change. Responding to this, Girlguiding have developed Free Being Me, a body confidence badge for Brownies and Guides. Sessions help girls recognise myths about how girls and women ‘should’ look and be happy in their own skin. And Girlguiding is also supporting girls to call for change through the Girls Matter campaign. Women in the media and everyday sexism Girls see and experience sexism and gender stereotypes all around them. And 70 per cent of girls aged 11-21 said sexism is so widespread it affects most areas of their lives. The good news is that half of girls say they challenge sexism when they see it. Girlguiding has been taking girls’ voices to Parliament and government to encourage change. For example, Girlguiding provided evidence and girls’ views to the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) on gender equality in advertising, and how sexism in the media is affecting girls. And now girls aged 7-25 can get their Free Being Me badge, which teaches girls about issues such as airbrushing and challenges the narrow image of beauty which is presented in the media. Personal safety and harassment Being faced with frequent threats to their safety means that many girls are adapting their own behaviour to avoid experiencing sexual harassment. When asked what the three most important ways to improve girls’ and women’s lives are, 50 per cent of girls aged 7-10 included 'making sure that girls are safe'. Girlguiding Advocates have started a petition to end sexual harassment in school, so that girls can be safe while they are trying to learn. This followed from Girlguiding's pre-2015 General Election campaign Girls Matter, which included calls for change directly from girls and young women to the government including calls for schools to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual bullying and harassment. Girlguiding also submitted evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools in England and hosted the launch of their report with recommendations for the government. Girls think sexism is worse online and many have experienced this themselves making them feel silenced; 49 per cent of girls aged 11-21 said fear of abuse online makes them feel less free to share their views. Yet half of girls said that social media empowers them to speak out. Girlguiding Advocates have started an online campaign to end sexual harassment in schools because as the Girls' Attitudes Survey shows, sexual harassment is a widespread issue Mental and emotional well-being After the 2015 survey, Girlguiding set up ‘Think Resilient’ which aims to help girls understand the need for and importance of resilience, as well as practise resilience-building techniques and then plan ways to keep growing their own resilience. The first session is run by the Peer Educator, who introduces four of these techniques to the girls: problem solving and positive thinking; self-calming; identifying their support networks; recognising their skills and achievements; understanding their own emotions. This should then be followed up with the Leaders: Take it Forward resource, Gender inequality and stereotypes are present in what girls are learning at school and they’re not getting the same choices as boys or to the valuable life skills they need. Girls also said that the Personal, Social and Health education (PSHE) that they're getting at school isn't up to scratch – especially about sex and relationships. For example, only 44 per cent of girls aged 13-21 think people their age clearly understand what sexual consent means. Girlguiding has been supporting young members in a campaign for policy change in education since 2014 to make high quality Personal, Social, Health and Economics Education (PSHE) and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) compulsory in schools. Girls have high aspirations and feel inspired by a diversity of role models. And half felt more determined because of the inequality they see in leadership. Yet many still see the workplace as an unequal place for women. Only 35 per cent of 17-21 year-olds think that girls and boys have the same chance of being successful in their future jobs, Read the full Girls' Attitudes report. Find out exactly what girls said in the full report – then share it so that even more people hear what girls have to say. To read the full report, click here. And please feel free to send the link to your MP and ask what they are going to do about the issues girls face. Because these are things that can be sorted out.  |
| Celebrate ten years of taking back the tech Posted: 01 Nov 2016 12:18 PM PDT
How have internet technologies changed in the past decade? How have these changes affected the way we engage, relate, organise and take action? Take Back the Tech! started as the seed of an idea in 2006, recognising the need to reclaim women’s historical contribution to technology development and to counter the growing expression of gender-based violence through information and communications technologies (ICTs). Since then, the idea has taken root and germinated into a growing network of activists, collectives, organisations and feminists taking control of technology to end gender-based violence in different parts of the world. For this year’s international ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence‘ – from 25 November-10 December – Take Back the Tech! wants to share its and your collective story of change. To celebrate 10 years of creative resistance by looking back and moving forward. Take Back the Tech! wants to know your story of gender and technology. Things like: What role has the internet played in the development of your feminism? How critical are ICTs to your feminist activism? What was the first campaign you joined and how did you feel being a part of it? What women or groups inspired you to start speaking up online about women’s rights? Have you faced online harassment or other gender-based violence due to being a woman, and especially a feminist, online? Did experiences like these motivate you to take action? How have you used technology creatively to challenge gender norms, defend women’s rights or show solidarity? And: Have you been involved in Take Back the Tech!? How did you feel the first time you heard about it? How has campaigning made a difference in your community? The idea is to write a collective story of feminist engagement with technology for transformation. Take action! There are things you can do. 1 – Capture the story of Take Back the Tech! Plot the campaign timeline with your activism. How have you engaged with the campaign? Share your actions, content, and inspired moments of the past decade. Then Take Back the Tech! will create an interactive timeline to plot this collective history. Add your local campaign to the website, write in, or Tweet @takebackthetech. Spread the word. Know of cool campaign activities happening this year? See something you like in our action archive, campaign multimedia or interactive timeline (coming soon!)? Share it with your community using #takebackthetech. 2 – Rewrite the story of women in tech! Show, don’t tell. Let’s flood the web with images of women using tech. Snap a photo of yourself or your friends (with permission) and send it in or @takebackthetech. Be creative. Show us your favourite platform or tool; let us see how you use your device in a way that is uniquely you. Make history. Check out our playing cards of women in tech (coming soon!) and use the template to add women from your community. Keep them handy to remind everyone who wrote the first published algorithm for a machine or the code to go to the moon. 3 – Tell the story of violence against women in our own words… Amplify women’s work. What are the smartest, funniest and most powerful ways women and girls are taking back the tech to counter violence? Share blogs, apps, memes, comics and more through @takebackthetech or by email. Prioritise women’s words. Head over to APC’s new digital storytelling site (coming soon!) to watch stories about issues like overcoming violence. Talk about them with your community and learn about feminist storytelling. Build the movement by connecting sites of resistance around the world and through the decades. Write yourself into the story and watch it grow. Take back the tech!  |
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