Sophia Network

Sophia Poetics - September Update

Welcome to this month's update, where I am thrilled to introduce the network's poets. You are about to hear from a compilation of talented wordsmiths; here to inspire and affirm but also challenge about the realities of gender inequality. Let me encourage you to watch, listen and read this month's update and actively reflect upon the voices, within the verse. 

Lizzie Editor and Trustee - lizzie.sophiablog@gmail.com

 

Contents

1. I have a voice - by Bethany Tavener (Re:verse)
2. Interview: Jo Dolby and Re:verse - a spoken word project for young people in Bath.
3. Jarring - by Carolyn Whitnall
4. She - by Naomi Aidoo (Authentic Heart)
5. A woman’s measure - by Tomi Ajayi
6. The people God made us to be - by Ellie Wartew
7. We cannot be defined - by Meg Cannon (Koko)
8. To Katie - by Kristen Sobalvarro
9. Poetry Review: Dawn After Curling by Hannah Caroe and photography by Jonny Baker - Reviewed by Helen Crawford

News

• Join us at this year's Sophia Network Equipping Day! Find out more here

• Find out more about the leadership programme, happening this Autumn (November 23rd-26th) called 7 Deadly Sins of Women in Leadership.

 

 

  

I have a voice - by Bethany Tavener (Re:verse)

Download Audio

 

As a child I learned women have no voice.

 

I would listen to my sister shout and scream

 

But it made no difference- women have no voice.

 

I followed my mothers example and learned it was easier to be quiet and agree

 

than to let out the voice inside of me.

 

Either way it made no difference- women have no voice.

 

 

 

I saw it in movies and on TV as they would wait patiently 

 

for their knights in shining armour to come rescue them,

 

Because there was no way cinderella could run away like Oliver Twist

 

No way Mulan could fight without a mans disguise.

 

No, women have no voice.

 

 

 

Then mum left and I found my voice.

 

I may not use it often but when I do you had better listen

 

when I do you know its for a reason.

 

I am my own knight in shining armour.

 

I am my own happily ever after.

 

I AM

 

I AM 

 

I AM

 

I am a human, I have a voice, thank you for listening.

 

 

Bethany Tavener is part of Re:verse - a youth project in Bath, started by Jo Dolby.

Re:verse has a YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/reversespokenword

You can watch Bethany and another young poet perform here as well as Jo's talk about Re:verse at the Youthwork Summit here: https://www.youthworksummit.com/inspire/show/181192

 

 

 

 

 

Interview: Jo Dolby and Re:verse 

1) Tell us about Re:verse

Re:verse is a spoken word poetry project for young people in Bath. Until recently we met every week to learn new words, talk about our favourite poets, make films, create group poems and give feedback on each others poetry. It's held at a local authority youth centre where I work, and we are joined by volunteers from Bath Spa University who are studying performance poetry as part of their courses. 

2) What motivated you to set it up?

I wrote loads of poetry as a teenager and it was such a cathartic thing for me. It helped me make sense of my experiences and express emotions I was too scared to let out anywhere else. I knew it could be a really positive thing for young people, particularly those who perhaps have some more unhealthy ways of expressing how they feel. 

3) Why is poetry an important medium?

Poetry is amazing! It helps people express themselves, find a voice, say things they couldn't get away with anywhere else, expose lies, tell the truth, loads of different things. It provokes emotion in people, it makes people think, gets them questioning and reflecting. I'd probably sum it up with an amazing Jeanette Winterson quote I read in one of Jenny Baker's blogs recently... "A tough life needs a tough language and that is what poetry is. That is what literature offers – a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn’t a hiding place. It is a finding place." This is particularly meaningful for the young people I work with who haven't had easy lives. Poetry gives them a way to tell people what they've experienced and how it's impacted them. In that process they find themselves, they learn about who they are and what they can do. It's a great process to watch.

4) Have you seen the positive impact of Re:verse in the lives of the young people?

Definitely. We do a review with each young person every couple of months where we set targets, look at what they're getting out of it and what they've achieved. It's amazing to see how it impacts them. Probably the biggest way is increased confidence. They learn that they have a voice and it's worthy of being heard, they get positive feedback on what they're doing well and they realise they have a talent. The opportunities they've had from it have been really good too. We've performed at The Egg Theatre in Bath, the Bath Literature Festival, the Youthwork Summit and we've made our own films that are on YouTube. We also met Kate Tempest which was amazing! (She's a world famous spoken word poet and is my all time favourite poet!)

5) As a poet yourself, how does it help you connect with God?

It's my biggest way to connect with God. When it's just me and him, in a quiet coffee shop, with a blank page and a pen, I feel really connected to him, in a way I don't feel in church or anywhere else. It helps me process things, it's a way to worship, to pray. It's a way to lament and question. I can understand why King David wrote so many psalms! I'd love to see spoken word used more in church, it's so powerful. 

6) Have you got any advice for others who want to write poetry?

Only advice I'm still trying to follow myself! I saw something similar to this on facebook recently...

 

 

 

That basically describes the process I go through when writing! Creating anything always takes work and it's hard, but just make sure you push through to stage 5! Don't be afraid to leave something and come back to it, don't compare your work to other poets, don't worry about whether it's any good, just write what you want to write and have fun with it. 

 

7) What have been the challenges in setting up projects like this and how would you encourage others to set similar projects up?

That's probably a whole separate interview! The main challenge has been getting young people to come. I learned to stop using the word poetry and always call it spoken word, which helped. I also accepted that working with one or two is just as valid as ten or twenty, which is quite counter-cultural in the Christian world! I'd say always work with people. The volunteers we've had from Bath Spa Uni have been amazing and have brought so much other knowledge and experience I don't have. Collaboration always makes projects stronger and more sustainable.

 

Re:verse has a YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/reversespokenword

You can watch Jo's talk about Re:verse at the Youthwork Summit and see two young poets perform here: https://www.youthworksummit.com/inspire/show/181192

 

Jo works for the Institute for Children, Youth and Mission (CYM) in Bristol as a youth and community work lecturer, alongside her role as a youth worker for the local authority in Bath. She loves reaching young people in new and creative ways alongside taking photos, making films and writing poetry. You can follow her on twitter @jodolby and find some of her work at www.jodolby.com.

 

 

 

Jarring - by Carolyn Whitnall

 

...that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

 

She was always giving him lip

these days; she used

to hold her peace, at least, he mused.

 

He was the pain in her neck that would

not lift; she’d left

too much too long too unsaid.

 

She had been a thing he could handle –

once; her new stance

was in spite of the manual.

 

He would shoulder her over, at

ev’ry turn; God

forbid he be less than above her.

 

She came with a body for flaunting;

she taunted him,

wanting him endlessly wanting.

 

He still tried to pull the old ‘foot down’

routine; as if

that decided all things, or should.

 

They were nearing breaking point when

it was given;

they held it/it held them together.

 

And the seams glowed, like treasure.

 

  

Carolyn Whitnall lives in Bristol with her husband Ben and they try to follow Jesus. When she isn't researching 'something to do with computers, sort of', she enjoys learning and writing about all sorts of other stuff. She has a website http://critic-cal.blogspot.co.uk/.

 

She - by Naomi Aidoo (@authenticheart)

 

Naomi Aidoo (@1authenticheart) blogs and vlogs at www.1authenticheart.com. Having just left a seven year career of secondary school teaching, Naomi has recently been appointed as Director of Interns on a Church staff team part time. When she's not training and teaching on the Intern programme, she will be concentrating more heavily on writing and using her creative gifts to glorify God and make His name known. Naomi is married to James and lives in West London.

 

A woman’s measure – by Tomi Ajayi

 

How do you measure a woman?

How do you capture her worth?

How do you define her value and price

if she’s poverty-stricken from birth?

 

Do you add up the number of steps and miles

on her daily trek to fetch water?

Barefoot, in the heat, on a dusty path:

it’s the burden of being a daughter.

 

Do you subtract the years she’s absent from school?

(There’s no money for her to learn.)

At home she must stay, to clean, farm and cook

while her brothers are taught how to earn.

 

Do you bottle the drops of tears as they fall

when she feels the rusty knife?

The blunt blade cuts her childhood away

and ‘prepares’ her to be someone’s wife.

 

Do you count the wedding wishes she gets

as she leaves the family house?

Married too young, to a middle-aged man.

Just a girl, but now also a spouse.

 

Do you multiply the fear that she feels

with the sense of feeling numb,

when pregnant she falls at the age of 14

and discovers she’ll soon be a mum?

 

Do you divide the pain, the loss and despair

of a complicated birth?

With no medics to help, her baby has

just a fatally short stay on earth.

 

Do you add up the other children she bears:

her first baby’s sisters and brothers?

With no access to family planning she has

no choice about being a mother.

 

Do you tally up the hours spent

with bent back and outstretched arm,

while she’s tending her maize and cassava plots

as the head of the family farm?

 

Do you weigh her generous heart and soul

that enables her to deliver

food to her children, though she goes without?

A tenacious, courageous giver.

 

Do you subtract the lack of power she has;

the inequality that wrecks

the potential of millions of women

simply because of their female sex?

 

How do you measure a woman,

When she’s poverty-stricken from birth?

Poor she may be, but to God and to me,

she’s a jewel of immeasurable worth.

 

 *Extreme poverty disproportionately affects girls and women, including their access to healthcare, education and economic opportunity.

 

Tomi Ajayi works in the media team for an international development charity. She lives in London, but was based in Sierra Leone during 2014. When she finds time she loves to write, particularly about social justice, faith and society. @trustTomi 

 

The people God made us to be - by Ellie Wartew

 

Gender often, rightly, defines us,

For God made us intentionally from his moulds,

But gender needn’t necessarily confine us,

To a particular type of role.

 

Women are not from Venus

And men are not from Mars

God has made us all different

And uniquely gifted us as we are.

 

It might be that I am sensitive and caring

Or that I am adventurous to follow God’s plan

I could be passionate and daring

But am I a woman or a man?

 

I could hold two Nobel prizes

And have introduced Polonium to the world

I could have great scientific prowess

But am I a guy or a girl?

 

I may be gifted with children

They might hug me or sit on my lap

I could care for them from a young age

But am I a lady or a chap?

 

I could be the Sovereign of a country

I could preside at a Mass

I could be President of the United States

But am I a lad or a lass?

 

I could be a paediatric nurse

Or work with elderly folk

I could arrange flowers, cut hair, or do make up

But am I a bird or a bloke?

 

Are we being the people God made us to be?

Are we honouring his plan and design?

We need people who fight to the finish

We need people who publically cry

We need hearts that are caring and tender

We need souls full of courage and strength

We need those who will speak with conviction

And those who will listen at length

We need people in places of power

Who are humble enough to concede

That those people created to follow

Are as precious as those who lead

We need those who will serve at the bottom

With pride, as though they were the top

So that equality and justice will reign

And persecution can finally stop.

 

Ellie Wartew is Director of Children's Ministry at Christ Church Flackwell Heath and an officer for 1st Flackwell Heath Girls Brigade. She loves music, films, tap dancing and playing with words. Most of her spare time is spent eating out with friends, scrolling through Facebook and enjoying her extensive range of pyjamas!! 

 

We cannot be defined - by Meg Cannon (Koko)

 

[repost from Christian Aid Collective]

Meg is the founder of Koko, a project to inspire, encourage and challenge girls worldwide. Join the adventure at thekokostory.com. 

 

 To Katie - by Kristen Sobalvarro

 

You’re never going to be happy

Until you decide to be happy

You’re never going to love your body

Until you decide to love your body

You’re never going to love yourself

Until you decide to love yourself

 

Dear Katie, you are beautiful.

You are strong.

And you’ve got a good head on your shoulders

And I’m damn tired of people telling you otherwise.

 

People being your mom

People being society

People being the voices in your head that scream and shout and tell you that you’re not good enough.

Because no amount of diet pills, doctor’s bills, and expensive frills

Are going to eventually make you see your worth.

 

You are beautiful.

You are B-E-A-Woman!

You poke and prod and press and peel away at a flesh so temporary

And you’re wasting precious minutes on a pointless scale showing puny numbers

 

Dear Katie, you are strong

And until you see that, that ulcer in your body and mind are going to continue to tear you down

And turn you into another statistic.

 

Dear Katie, you are worthy.

Worthy of a life only you can lead

And one so perfectly planned by our perfect, loving, life giving creator

The One that made Katie.

 

And until you start being Katie

Expect this tortuous life to continue

I’m talking about Katie

The Katie I know is in there

Screaming to be free

Not the Katie raised by your parents

Not the Katie that doctors have prescribed you to be

Not the Katie that society is grooming you to be either

But Katie the Strong

Katie the Magnificent

Katie the Beautiful

Not by the way your body, skin, clothes, hair look

But by the flaws, radiance, and grace your God has perfected you with.

 

Until you accept your flaws as individually, and perfectly you

Until you become Katie the Great

Until you believe what God is telling you

Scratch that, until you believe what God has

Told you

Everyday of your many years of scrutinized existence,

This is all you’ll ever be,

A piece of torn up flesh under a magnetized mirror.

 

Kristen Sobalvarro is actively pursuing a career in camp ministry at Mount Hermon in California's Santa Cruz Mountains. She studied at Biola University where she focused on Liberal Studies and Bible. She has been writing poetry and performing spoken word throughout her adult life and her passion for social justice, art and spirituality are common themes reflected in her work. Kristen is inspired and motivated by women like Tina Fey, Nadia Bolz Weber, Rachel Held Evans, and Mary Oliver.

 

 

 

Poetry Review: Dawn After Curling - by Hannah Caroe

Dawn After Curling is the debut poetry collection by Hannah Caroe and is interspersed with photographs by Jonny Baker. Setting out to tell the tale of ‘someone who has fallen in love with God’, Dawn After Curling certainly delivers, with its prose-poetry beginning followed by a stream of more regular verse, ending with a neatly posed question.

Beginning with the ‘rose-purple darkness’ of a challenging home life, we journey with the author through the longing until something new and trustworthy is palpable. In between we dip into an ancient fairytale, stroll through sumptuous countryside and right up close to the heartbeat of the author.

Ranging in length and mood, we move from domestic moments with a local town feel – complete with Sainsbury’s bags – to the energy of nature; the freedom of the birds.

Strong imagery and raw emotion run through the collection. It’s taut with pain in places – captured perfectly by the rhyme scheme in ‘Flight’ – while poems like ‘Aslan’ tell the reassuring love-story we were promised in the introduction. It’s a collection that is uncompromising in its love for God and for the Christian story: the rescuing work of Jesus.

I feel my own experience captured in poems like ‘Tiredness’, which describes its eponymous subject to a T, and ‘Prayer’, where ‘a shy curling/away from darkness/into a sky warm body’. Gorgeous. This is balanced by the light-hearted scene-setting of ‘Picnic’, the mild irreverence of ‘Good Friday’ and the warm fun of ‘Roosting.’

Dawn After Curling evokes a sense of God-at-hand, his presence close to us. It’s as Caroe shares this experience that she invites us to see God the way she does and enjoy the same relationship.

And that’s why ‘Question’ provides the perfect ending. It’s the thread running through the whole collection: looking at God from this point of view, how will you respond?

Fancy a read? You can purchase Dawn After Curling on Proost. 

 

 

Helen Crawford leads the team of writers at Tearfund and loves most things to do with words. She lives in Greater London where she socialises, listens to Radio 3 and is becoming reacquainted with her bike.

 

 

 

It's never OK: The problem of sexual harassment

Last month, the allegations of sexual harassment surrounding Lord Rennard dominated the headlines. The concept and impact of sexual harassment has been hotly debated in the public sphere including on Wednesday's Newsnight programme. We invited Natalie Collins, founder of Spark, to share her reflections.

In February 2013 it emerged that 'half a dozen[1]' women had contacted the Metropolitan Police about Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Rennard’s behaviour towards them. Politics lecturer, Alison Smith, is reported to have said, 'that prospective women candidates felt they faced the choice of sleeping with Lord Rennard in exchange for support or seeing their political careers harmed[2]'.  Bridget Harris, former special advisor to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, reportedly described Lord Rennard’s behaviour as 'furtive and menacing'[3].  An incident described in the Daily Mail[4] suggested a woman fled Lord Rennard’s room crying hysterically, after being 'groped' by him.  It is alleged she ran from Lord Rennard’s room into a room filled with Liberal Democrat officials and MPs, who saw her visibly distressed and did nothing. In September 2013, the Metropolitan Police announced that the case against Lord Rennard would be dismissed due to lack of evidence.  By this time 'at least ten women[5]' had made allegations towards Lord Rennard.

After the Police announced the case would be dropped one source stated that the women who had brought allegations against Lord Rennard were 'angry and frustrated with the police, especially after they found the strength to come forward.' The person went on to say, 'It is not as if he has been cleared, it is that there is insufficient evidence to proceed with the investigation.  The women’s main concern now is that the Liberal Democrat’s own investigation will prove to be a whitewash. This is the third time they have looked at the issue so they do not feel that encouraged.'

After the police investigation was concluded, the Liberal Democrats began an internal investigation; and earlier this month the result of their own investigation was published online[6]. Alaistair Webster QC conducted the investigation[7] and he found that:  'In my opinion, the evidence of behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the complainants was broadly credible. However, it is my judgment, considering all of the evidence collected, that it is unlikely that it could be established beyond reasonable doubt that Lord Rennard had intended to act in an indecent or sexually inappropriate way. Without proof of such an intention, I do not consider that such a charge would be tenable.  I stress that I am not finding that the evidence of the complainants was unreliable. I have specifically discounted suggestions made during the investigation that the incidents had been invented as part of a political campaign against Lord Rennard.  It is my view that Lord Rennard ought to reflect upon the effect that his behaviour has had and the distress which it caused and that an apology would be appropriate, as would a commitment to change his behaviour in future.'

These findings have resulted in Nick Clegg stating that Lord Rennard must publically apologise to the women who have been impacted.  Lord Rennard responded to this by providing a full statement[8] in which he refuses to apologise, mentions his ill health and depression and insists that the allegations were part of a wider political agenda.  Alastair Webster gave an updated statement[9] in response to this.  Currently, Lord Rennard has been suspended from the Liberal Democrat party again while another investigation takes place.  He has warned that he may take legal action against the Liberal Democrats[10].

Responses to the allegations have varied from focusing on the lack of leadership displayed by Nick Clegg to Liberal Democrat’s MEP Chris Davies stating that 'This isn’t Jimmy Saville. This is touching someone’s leg six years ago at a meeting through clothing. This is the equivalent of a few years ago an Italian man pinching a woman’s bottom[11]' and Lord Rennard’s brother complaining '[Lord Rennard’s] treatment amounts to a ‘witch hunt'[12].

The allegations, investigations and discussions around what this means for the Liberal Democrats may continue for weeks or months to come, and as was stated in the internal investigation, the on going distress to the women who have reported their experiences is unlikely to subside anytime soon.

The use of the term 'witch hunt' against Lord Rennard is interesting, as is the idea that Italian men pinching women’s bottoms was normal.  Alongside that, creating a scale of offence that holds Jimmy Saville up as the standard of what it means to be bad reveals attitudes to sexual harassment, which are perhaps quite prevalent across society.  It is these responses I would like to focus on, not in relation to the on going case of Lord Rennard, but more generally around the beliefs and misconceptions held by many about sexual harassment and the wider context.

Witch Hunt

Recently various articles including one within the Feminist Times have debunked the myths around ‘witch hunts’[13].  Describing someone’s experience as a 'witch hunt' prefaces them as the victim of a large scale campaign to discredit them with allegations that are utterly nonsensical.  It puts those who have made accusations in the role of perpetrator and seeks to define the power dynamic; with the accused being the most vulnerable, and least powerful person in the situation.  This could not be further from the truth in cases where sexual harassment has taken place.  While such behaviour is often assumed to be about sex, it is actually about power; power over the victim, rooted in a belief of entitlement; the personal right to treat another person disrespectfully.  This is often rooted in beliefs about the nature of men and women.  Where there is an existing power differential e.g. between an employer/employee or lecturer/student, unwanted and uninvited sexual behaviours increase the power differential between the victim and perpetrator exponentially, and the impact of such behaviour is likely to be greater.

Pinching bottoms

The idea that an Italian man pinching a woman’s bottom is an acceptable action reveals an enormously problematic view of the nature of men, women, and people from Italy. The NSPCC’s recent Underwear Rule campaign[14] includes the following instruction to children:  'Anything covered by underwear is private. No one should ask to see or touch parts of the body covered by underwear.'  Although this is information for children, it is accepted that the same areas of the body remain private into adulthood, and unless I’m very much mistaken, nobody has given Italian men a free pass on respecting the human rights of girls and women across the globe. 

Such a view of men and women is founded in and reinforced by the wider context of the objectification and sexualisation of women.   As Caroline Heldman explains in this TED Talk[15], 96% of the sexualised images across the media are of women and women are conditioned to be sexual objects, while men are condition to be sexual subjects.  Women are encouraged to see sex as something that is done to them, while men are told they are the actors, initiators and controllers of sexual interactions.   

Sliding scale

By suggesting that someone 'is not Jimmy Saville', a standard has been set.  According to this logic, the predatory and systematic abuse of children and young people over decades is now the measure for which all other choices and behaviours can be measured.  Using the measure of 'someone else did worse things' is a tactic, which minimises the offence that it is being compared to.  According to Finklehor’s 'Preconditions to offending' all sex offenders must overcome internal inhibitions in order to abuse.  One of the ways this happens is through justifying that 'my crimes are not as bad as his crimes therefore what I am doing is not that bad'.  The focus on personal responsibility and a full acknowledgement of the impact of someone’s behaviour is necessary in cases where someone has behaved wrongly.  If my daughter is unkind to her friend and my response is 'Oh don’t worry dear, that other girl in your class keeps hitting everyone, and so your behaviour is fine,' I enable her to think that her behaviour is a) acceptable and b) something she can continue to do.  Unacceptable behaviour can be likened to missing a train; it does not matter whether someone misses the train by 30 seconds, or 3 hours, they still missed it, and have to deal with the consequences[16]. 

As Christians, how do we respond to issues of sexual harassment?  There are some who would believe there are no problems within the church that it is 'out there' in the world where the problems lie.  However the statistics suggest domestic abuse, sexual abuse, incest and pornography differs little within Christian communities, compared with wider society.  In fact, some theology contributes to the viewing of women as inferior, and men as entitled.  Teachings around modesty can leave women feeling responsible for men’s behaviour and the perpetuation of neuro-sexism[17] across Christian literature can lead Christians to fully believe that men cannot help their sexual urges and that women do not have any. 

Sexual harassment, everyday sexism and structural inequality are the reality for most women across the UK. Globally violence against women is at pandemic proportions, and although women also have access to various levels of power and privilege through their race, sexuality, class or other factors, it is the gendered nature of this struggle that the church and individual Christians must be willing to acknowledge and work towards addressing.

Gender injustice is as old as sin itself; it is a primary consequence of the Fall (Genesis 3:16) and the power and principality that is patriarchy continues to prevent women and men becoming free.  For many the enormity of the problem and the depth of its roots mean it either goes unnoticed or when it is seen it feels impossible to address and yet, we have the Good News.  We are free of sin, free to live in a new way, no longer subject to the yokes of slavery (cue some Mission Praise singing…).  Jesus modelled a right use of power, empowering people with love and the gift of Holy Spirit.  He called women who had been cast out 'Daughter'; he removed the power of the father, of patriarchy, declaring only God as powerful, and the rest of us as brothers and sisters.  He showed us that it is our hearts that need to be transformed, not our ability to get the rules right.  He taught us to die to ourselves daily and rise with Him to a life of learning to live in full submission to an awesome God.  If we all begin to live that life, secure in the truth of the Good News, speaking out against the injustice of sexism and sexual harassment, we will see the church becoming a prophetic voice in our nation, at a time when that is needed more than ever.

Natalie Collins set up Spark and is an independent consultant working to prevent and respond to violence against women and enable others to do the same. She is also the creator of DAY, an innovative youth domestic abuse education programme. Natalie speaks and trains on understanding and ending domestic abuse and gender injustice nationally and internationally.

---

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9900061/Five-women-make-formal-complaints-about-Lord-Rennard.htm

[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9900061/Five-women-make-formal-complaints-about-Lord-Rennard.html

[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10338021/Lord-Rennard-will-not-face-charges-over-touching-allegations.html

[4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283928/Female-researcher-ran-tears-Lord-Rennards-room-told-packed-hotel-bar-He-fondled-me.html

[5] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10338021/Lord-Rennard-will-not-face-charges-over-touching-allegations.html

[6] http://www.libdemvoice.org/internal-investigation-into-allegations-against-lord-rennard-37847.html

[7] http://www.lincolnhse.co.uk/alistair-webster-qc.html

[8] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25814565

[9] http://www.libdemvoice.org/internal-investigation-into-lord-chris-rennard-new-statement-released-by-alistair-webster-qc-37891.html

[10] http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/20/lord-rennard-suspension-by-lib-dems

[11] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10583504/Lord-Rennard-is-not-Jimmy-Savile-a-Liberal-Democrat-MEP-has-said.html

[12] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10583504/Lord-Rennard-is-not-Jimmy-Savile-a-Liberal-Democrat-MEP-has-said.html

[13] http://www.feministtimes.com/witches/

[14]http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents/keeping-your-child-safe/the-underwear-rule/downloads/underwear-rule-parents-guide-condensed-english_wdf100890.pdf

[15]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMS4VJKekW8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DkMS4VJKekW8&app=desktop

[16] This analogy comes from Gender and Grace by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen.

[17] http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/the-gender-myth-20100908-151d3.html

'Isn't that a boy's subject?': Women in engineering

Vicky Ferguson (one of the many women that Isabella Tod fought for) is 22 years old and is in her final year studying Civil Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast. She is the u30s representative on the Girls' Brigade Europe Executive Team and is involved in the leadership of Fisherwick GB group in Northern Ireland.

In this article she shares the highs and lows of being one of the few young women on her degree course...

On my first day of lectures four years ago I was shocked by the number of women in the room, the ratio of women to men was just 1 to 10. In my Civil Engineering class of just over one hundred there were eleven women and I was one of them.

Civil Engineering is marketed as the engineering discipline most accessed by women, however that doesn’t stop people asking ‘Why on earth would you want to study that?’ or ‘Isn’t that a boy’s subject?’ or even condescendingly suggesting ‘That’s the easiest of engineering degrees’. My class had a better female ratio than other STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths) courses offered at the university I attended; however being a woman in a class of men still had its trials.

Inside the classroom men and women were equals, competing for the same prizes and working towards the same qualifications. However, there was an overarching stigma that this was a man’s world and I needed to prove myself. Much of this pressure did not come from my lecturers or my peers; it came from outside my classroom and was fuelled by society. The continual questions about how I was coping in a class of men, the puzzled expressions when I explained my chosen profession and the suggestion that women pursued this career path because it was less challenging than other STEM based degrees certainly contributed to me feeling inadequate.

By the end of my second year I was ready to drop out and do anything else. I felt like I had aimed too high, engineering was too difficult; I was too weak to survive in such a driven world. This was a time when I felt so overwhelmed by my imperfections I had no career aspirations, and this hopelessness most certainty affected my faith.

I had become so absorbed into a mindset of fear that I lost sight of the amazing freedom we are given in
Christ. During the summer break between second and final year God reminded me of some beautiful promises in His word. He restored my soul (Psalm 23:3) reminding me that ‘with God everything is possible’ (Matthew 26:19) and guided me to the verse that encouraged me to go back into the final year refreshed and inspired.

‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ - 2 Corinthians 12:19. 

God’s power is made perfect in weakness, the very quality that made me feel totally inadequate and insufficient made God’s power perfect! I went on to find my passions in a particularly niche part of Civil Engineering and discovered that I do not fit the engineering stereotype which makes my skills even more valuable and interesting.

This is an industry where women are achieving, the number of female graduates is increasing and more women than ever before are aiming for top positions, but we still have a long way to go. As a female engineer I have a lot to offer but to offer my skills I need to learn to not be afraid to speak out, and market myself, I need to learn to ‘sit at the table’ and engage in discussion presenting developed and informed opinions. I still feel weak and inadequate at times, but now instead of becoming consumed I remind myself that God’s power is made perfect in weakness and I give the situation over to Him.

Engineering is a career that offers so many opportunities, it is a discipline that is growing and changing. It is time for us to change with it; changing our opinions and practices, encouraging and inspiring new students andchartered professionals alike and demanding that our achievements be celebrated. Having more female engineers does not make engineering ‘softer’ it makes it more diverse and diversity spawns creativity, creativity ignites our imaginations and who knows what can be achieved then.

Reflection:

• How does what Vicky says in this article challenge you?
• What aspects of this article do you relate to?
• How might you encourage a young woman to follow her dreams in what might be considered a male career?

Friday summary - gender in the news

• You may have seen a report in the The Telegraph earlier this week that 'girls are at risk of talking too much'. In fact the scientific study they were supposed to be quoting said nothing of the sort, according to this report in The Guardian. I'll leave you to decide which newspaper has more credibility, but it's a reminder of how any hint of biological determinism often gets overblown by the media and we need to dig deeper to find out what's really going on.
  

• WATCH is running a new column on their website to remind us of the ways in which women are already leading in the Church of England. Under the title By What Authority?, women priests tell their stories, including Sophia Network member Jody Stowell.
  

• Ruth Wells has an excellent post on her blog called No More Nails, about the common disconnect between what we communicate through our words and actions in single-sex youth work with girls. She says, 'I have done quite a lot of work with young women but I have become increasingly distressed by the trend to do ‘pamper sessions’ as a way of single-sex youth work.  I am not saying this kind of work hasn’t been positive for some, but it seems now to have been packaged, branded and accepted as the only way to work successfully with girls.  I am, to be honest, sick of the ‘pappy’ nature of so much of the work with young women I see and hear about.  It is not good enough to just reproduce the same old crap.  It is not good enough to blindly put on the same old things without critique and without any attempt to determine needs, and seek to enable young women to address them. It seems ridiculously paradoxical that we do ‘self-esteem’ work whilst surrounded by beauty paraphernalia.  How can we spout a message of ‘self-esteem is not related to how you look’ whilst in the midst of yet another pamper session, manicure night or fashion show?  The words we speak are entirely overridden by the actions we display.'

 

Biological sex may not be as simple as we think

Caster Semenya hit the headlines in August just before she won the 800m World Championship when it came to light that the IAAF had ordered her to undergo a gender test to ascertain whether she was truly female (although surely that should be called a sex test.) Celebrations of her decisive win were severely muted as she was advised not to talk to the press, although she received a rapturous welcome back in her native South Africa.

There has been tons of speculation and opinion in the media, and today the IAAF has distanced itself from an Australian newspaper that has reported that Semenya is a 'hermaphrodite', with both male and female sexual organs.

We are used to thinking of humanity in two neat categories of male and female but Semenya's story shows that it's not quite that simple. Human beings have a number of indicators of biological sex: chromosomes - males have XY and females XX, genitals, gonads - ovaries and testes, and hormones. Usually all these indicators are in alignment which is why we announce a baby's sex at birth based on the appearance of his or her genitals. But sometimes there are discrepancies between the indicators, and children are born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the typical pattern of male or female. Sometimes that's obvious at birth, and sometimes it doesn't become apparent until puberty. The term hermaphrodite is no longer officially used as its considered misleading and insensitive, and it's more usual to talk about disorders of sex development (DSD) or intersex.

The Intersex Society of North America has a useful website if you want more information about the range of conditions that fall into the category of intersex. They argue that biological sex should not be understood as two binary opposites, but rather as a spectrum. What I found interesting was their article on the frequency of intersex. The number of children born with atypical genitals is 1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births, but there are a lot more people who are born with subtler forms of sex anatomy variations that won't show up until later in life - around 1 in 100 births. So in a standard secondary school, there could be one person who has had or is considering surgery to 'normalise' their genitals, and 10 to 15 who know or will discover that their bodies aren't quite like other people of the same sex - food for thought for all youth, children's and schools workers.

Whatever the reality of Semenya's biology, it's clear that she has been brought up as a girl from birth and she and her family have always considered her to be female. How horrendous to have something as personal as your biological sex being questioned and dissected by the international media.  Let's be aware of how her story may impact others in youth groups and schools who may be struggling with similar issues.

Imagine a world where boys buy Tampax...

Ever wondered what it would be like to wake up and discover that you were a different sex to when you went to bed? That's the imaginary scenario of a viral advertising campaign for Tampax, believe it or not. Zach is a 16-year-old boy who discovers that he has girl parts 'down below' instead of the 'package' he was born with. His blog follows his journey of baking cakes with his sister, having to hover over toilet seats that boys have peed on and suffering from PMS before getting his period in the middle of a French lesson. As Kira Cochrane points out in the Guardian, it's hard to know exactly who this advertising is aimed at, but surely it's a gift to youth workers to get boys and girls talking about gender - that's if you can get past the 'yuk' factor of talking about periods. Let me know if you use this as a discussion starter with your group - I'd love to hear how it went!

Boys and girls - different or the same?

Fancy a heated debate? Just ask what are the differences between boys and girls, and more importantly, where do they come from? Are women hard-wired from birth to be nurturing and dependent while men are inescapably dominant and aggressive? Or is that something that's constructed and reinforced by the environment in which we grow up. Guaranteed to generate passionate views!

There was an interesting article in the Observer series on How to Understand People about men and women by Linda Blair. She argues that babies are treated very differently from birth: 'In reality, we tend to reinforce aggressive, dominant behaviour in boys and helpful, nurturing behaviour in girls. A study in the 1960s by Kagan and Moss found that mothers behaved more coldly and were more rejecting of their sons if they showed traditionally feminine behaviour (nurturance, dependence), and behaved more warmly to those who showed traditionally masculine behaviour (rowdy play, dominance). We assume that boys will be tough, whereas girls will need assistance, and these assumptions carry on through life.' She continues, 'When it comes to women and language ability, we know that girls are encouraged to talk more often from a young age, and they're spoken to more often than boys. Studies have shown that if a mother believes a baby is a girl, she'll talk more to that baby than she will if she thinks the baby is a boy. As they mature, women are encouraged to discuss their feelings in a way that isn't expected of their male counterparts.'

Sod the difference!

Greenbelt was fab. Thanks to those of you who came to the Sophia Network reception on Saturday - it was great to meet you. Sharon and I also ran a workshop exploring the impact of gender on youth work for both young people and youth workers.

Then I did a talk on Monday called Sod the difference! about the 'feminisation of the church' and how we might deal with the difference between the genders debate. If you're interested, you can get hold of a copy from the Greenbelt website here. There are also tons of other fantastic talks you can buy if you weren't at the festival or missed them in the programme.

Teenage drivers

We get so used to splitting humanity into the categories of men and women for so many different reasons that it’s easy to overlook the fact that human behaviour is not dimorphic; there is huge diversity within genders. And so treating all men the same way just because they are men is bound to discriminate against some. Take young people and driving, for example. Insurance premiums are incredibly high for a young person who has just passed their test, and young men are typically paying twice as much as young women – up to £3,000 a year. There are good reasons behind that – overall young men have more accidents and make bigger claims. But that doesn’t mean that all young men are worse drivers than all young women. Good, careful male drivers are penalised because of the reckless behaviour of some of their peers – is that fair?

Swinton Insurance now offer policies with a difference. If a new driver hasn’t claimed after six months, they can renew for a further six months at a discount of 30%, and get up to 45% off if they don’t claim for 18 months. It gives new drivers a chance to show what kind of a driver they are, instead of being lumped together with everyone of the same gender. More details here.

Photo: John Linwood

Girl Geek network

I was interested to read about the London Girl Geek Dinners in the Guardian today. Set up by Sarah Blow after she attended a technology gathering and found she was only one of 20 women in an audience of 150, its aim is to create oportunites for women in IT to meet each other and 'to get that confidence that comes from knowing other women in the industry'. They host regular dinners with speakers and men are allowed to attend if they are invited by a woman. According to Sarah, the idea to allow men along was partly to be inclusive, but also so that they would realise what it was like to be in a minority. Some interesting parallels (and differences) with Sophia. Their website is londongirlgeekdinners.co.uk.

I loved her account of being excluded from a conversation because guys assumed that she couldn't possibly know what they were talking about and that she must be in marketing. She explains how she 'showed them the binary watch she was wearing: "I lit it up, and they didn't say a word; absolute silence. Then they went completely white and apologised profusely for what they'd done. I said, 'don't make assumptions about people, because you never know who they are, or what they know - so whether I look like a techie or not shouldn't matter.' At that point they changed their attitude to all the females in the room." ' I wonder what it would take for the same to happen where it needs to in our sphere?

Girls and boys come out to play

Watch a few minutes of adverts during children's TV programmes and you'll notice the gender divide in toys and the way they are advertised. But did you realise that the split extends to muscial instruments as well? A recent study in the International Journal of Music Education reports that learning musical instruments is strictly divided along gender lines. 90% of harpists and 89% of flautists are girls, while 81% of guitarists and 75% of drummers are boys.

The study wonders whether physical interaction with an instrument dictates who might want to play it - do boys like to play things that they can hit?! - and the level of skill and practice required. In keeping with girls outperforming boys overall, more girls learn musical instruments anyway, are more likely to do music exams and to get good grades. And it recommends that schools set up single-gender orchestras or ensembles to make pupils play different instruments. Article in the Guardian about it here

Does it matter? In one sense, no. We don't have to be the same as each other, and if one way that men and women are different is expressed in the innstruments that we play that's fine! But I think I'd want to ask questions about why boys and girls are making these choices. Is it because of role models? Or because girls think that it's more feminine to to play the flute rather than the electric guitar?

And I'm not convinced that single gender orchestras are any kind of solution. That may seem hypocritical from someone who has set up a network for women, but our aim is to be a catalyst for discussion and change to enable men and women to work better together, rather than setting up a separate ghetto for women.  

photo: mawel

Book Review: The Myth of Mars and Venus by Deborah Cameron, OUP

Whether they’ve read John Gray’s books or not, everyone 'knows' by now that women and men communicate differently. Women talk more than men and they are more verbally skilled; men talk in order to get things done while women talk in order to make connections to people; men use language competitively while women use it cooperatively. These differences mean that men and women struggle to understand each other, and need help to communicate. And, according to recent books by Simon Baron Cohen and others, these differences are based not on the way we are brought up, but on differences in our brains; it’s the way we were made.

Or is it? In this excellent book, Cameron, an Oxford language professor, examines the evidence behind these beliefs and finds it seriously lacking. One by one, she tackles the myths in the paragraph above and discovers that none of them are substantiated by research. The belief that women talk more than men, for example, was boosted by a book called The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine which claimed that women utter 20,000 words a day while men utter 7,000. The claim got huge publicity because it made great soundbite science, but was not based on any actual research. When the author was challenged to reveal her sources, she admitted that there was no evidence for the claim and withdrew the statistic from subsequent editions of the book. But in terms of perpetuating myths, the damage has been done and the ‘fact’ of women’s talkativeness has entered our common mythology.

Hairdressing vs Engineering

One of the proposals in an education bill to be debated in Parliament today is that schools will have to give impartial careers advice to young people. There are concerns that teachers are encouraging teenagers down gender stereotypical career paths by promoting hairdressing to girls and the construction industry to boys. At the moment, only 3% of apprentices on childcare courses and 8% on hairdressing courses are men. In engineering 3% of apprentices are women, and in construction only 1% are women.

Of course there are some people who would say that these figures reflect the fact that the different genders are suited to different roles in life – see this review for example. But surely teachers are only one factor in the career choices a young person’s makes. Much more influential are the role models that they see around them, not least in their own families, and the cultural expectations that they grow up with. And that’s where there’s a vicious circle. If boys grow up, for example, with all female teachers especially when they are young then they are less likely to see teaching as a an ‘obvious’ career choice for them. It will need more than impartial career's advice to open up those possibilities.