Next year's Gender Equality Representative announced!

A massive congratulations to Deanna Quirke for winning the election to become the the next Gender Equality Representative for University of Exeter Students' Guild 2012-2013.  I will be handing over to Deanna in June when her role officially starts. Deanna is a wondrfully enthusiastic headstrong woman who will do a fantastic job promoting gender equality at Exeter University.  I hope many of you will be able to meet her in the next few coming months!

Check out Deanna's manifesto of what she plans to do here: http://www.exeterguild.org/elections/manifesto/925/

One day to go until Empowering Women Day!

There’s only one more day to go until the Empowering Women Day at Exeter University!

A hard-working team of volunteers have been very busy preparing a wonderful day for you all.  Almost 2000 leaflets have been distributed all over campus and town including door-to-do, notices have been put up on online forums, A0 posters up on campus, emails sent out, Facebook event sign ups, announcements made at other events, shops putting our fliers up in their windows.  Stalls are being set up for the exhibition, staging’s going up for the play, performers are on their way …  all that’s left now is for you to come along and enjoy the events!

Please sign up to the events on Facebook!

Empowering Women Day exhibition: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/291795777558645/

Empowering Women Day ‘Seven’ play: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/149808505142505/

Exhibition stalls and workshops include:

-          Devon Rape Crisis Services

-          Devon and Cornwall Police

-          Labour Students

-          Liberal Democrat Society

-          SAFE (Stop Abuse For Everyone)

-          Yoga workshops with Sonia Rashid (come in loose clothing)

-          Ubuntu Counselling Services

-          County Chiro with Rachael Dunn

-          Meet your local councillors

-          LGBTQ+

-          Gender Equality Society

-          Jumble sale (bring your jumble to sell on the day)!

-          Send a card to a girl or women you love in your life

-          Poets’ corner (read out your favourite empowering poem or listen to our competition winners)

-          Musicians’ corner (perform a piece or join in an impromptu playalong – bring your own instruments or try one of the ones provided)!

-          Shiatsu workshop with Sandhya Dave

-          Reproductive Health stall

-          Pick up leaflets which could save your life about female cancers

-          Buy one of our ‘muff-in-cakes’!

-          Soapbox invite (open for all to use the microphone to talk to women about women)

-          Global Indigo

-          Tell us what you love about women

-          Learn about why feminism is still a necessary force in 2012 all over the globe

 

Then at 7.30pm we have the fantastic play ‘Seven’ being performed to help enthuse and empower all those women who feel the odds are stacked against them.  £5 entry on the door.

Here are some of our favourite moments from the organisational stages...

Empowering Women Day at Exeter University

If you are exhibiting at the exhibition or performing in the play or would like to help publicise this event, please get in touch with me at gender-equality@hotmail.co.uk so I can arrange to get publicity out to you in leaflet or poster form as you prefer.  You may want to distribute it to those you think may be interested or put it up in a place where people might read it.

A special thank you must go out to Harriet Wicks for designing and producing such a fantastic flier!

International Women's Day ... or month!

This month - March, for those of you haven't caught up yet(!) is of particular importance to those concerned with gender equality at it hosts International Women's Day on 8th March. However, since International Women's Day is about celebrating women's role in the world and raising awareness of their situations across the globe, one day of course is not enough to fit in the vast amount of wonderful things there are to say about women and to note all their fantastic contributions to life! So there is a tradition of generally using the whole of March to host a variety of events that look at women in the past, present and future.

Here is a programme of all the events that are being put on in Exeter throughout March in the spirit of International Women's Day. This list includes various events organised by both uni and non-uni groups and it is not exhaustive either. I have emboldened the events that relate specifically to gender equality society however and hope to see many of you there!

Time and date	Place	Event
Saturday 3rd March, 11am-3pm	St. Sidwell’s Centre	Health and Wellbeing (Devon United Women)
Wednesday 7th March, 7pm	TBC	Sexual violence prevention strategies workshop with Devon Rape Crisis Services, Devon and Cornwall Police, students and Guild staff
Thursday 8th March, 10am-4pm	The Lemon Grove	Vintage Fair and Clothes Swap for International Women's Day (Oxfam)
Thursday 8th March, 11am-3pm	St. Sidwell’s Centre	Past – present – future (DUW)
Thursday 8th, Friday 9th, Saturday 10th March	Bikeshed theatre	“Tin Girls” play (DUW)
Saturday 10th March, 11am-5pm	Thistle Hotel	“Crikey mother, it’s vintage” vintage stalls and workshops to raise money for Women’s Land Army
Saturday 10th March, 2.30pm-4.30pm; 6.30pm-8.30pm	Black Box room at the Phoenix Centre	Rehearsed play reading of “7” (DUW)
Monday 12th March, 4pm-7pm	St. Sidewell’s Centre	Swap clothes and eat cake (DUW)
Wednesday 14th March, 3pm-4pm	Long Lounge at Exeter University	Meeting to discuss planning Reclaim the Night March with Labour students (Gender Equality Society included)
Wednesday 14th March, 7.30pm-10pm	Coffee Express at Exeter University, Ram Pub	“LGBTQ in the feminist movement – Part 2” talk and discussion followed by drinks in the Ram (Gender Equality Society)
Friday 16th March, 6pm-8pm	Exeter Central Library	Challenging Inequalities
Saturday 17th March, 6pm-9pm	Back Box room at the Phoenix Centre	Film “Caramel”
Monday 19th March, 11am-2pm	Mint Church	Celebrating motherhood (DUW)
Tuesday 20th March, 11am-1pm	Olive Tree Office	Human rights and women (DUW)
Friday 23rd March, 6pm-9pm	X Centre	“Arwa Amba” film and quiz
Saturday 24th March, 11am-3pm	Exeter Corn Exchange	“Bazaar” stall and performances (DUW)
Tuesday 27th March, 12pm-6pm	Great Hall at Exeter University	Empowering Women Day exhibition (Gender Equality Society and Guild)
Tuesday 27th March, 7pm-9pm	Freddy Mercury Room, Cornwall House   at Exeter University	Rehearsed play reading of “7” and discussion (Gender Equality Society and DUW)