The Pembrokian, Issue 41, Jul 2015

the Pembrokian

ISSUE 41, JULY 2015

Irene Tracey: Professor, Wife, Mother, Ground-Breaking Scientist Class of 1979: Reflections on an Historic Year JCR Art: Bratby & Cooke Slaving at the Kitchen Sink Culture & Identity: Dr Serra Kirdar (1993)

Pembroke’s Female Rowers’ Glory Henry Chandler (1851): Early Digital Pioneer

Global Growth Generators: Women’s Event

Michelle Peluso (1993): Leading the E-Commerce Revolution

CELEBRATING 35 YEARS OF WOMEN AT PEMBROKE

Pembroke Fellows in San Francisco 27th July Johnson and Shakespeare Conference 7–9th August Gaudy (1974-1976) 4th September

Pembroke Annual Alumni Dinner 20th September 2014

London Reception at the London Transport Museum, 10th November 2014

Oxford Alumni Weekend 18–20th September Annual Alumni Dinner 19th September London Reception 10th November Carol Service 29th November Carol Concert 5th December 2016

Pembroke on the Sofa 26th March 2015

Washington Dinner at Prospect House, Georgetown, 10th April 2015 (photo Eden Hansen)

Tesdale Lunch 20th February Gaudy 1995–1997 15th April Gaudy 2001–2006 24th June Annual Alumni Dinner 19th September

Gaudy 1977–1982, tea in the Master’s Garden 17th April 2015

Citi Research / Pembroke Women’s Event CitiGroup, London 5th May 2015

Other events planned for 2016 include our popular 'Sofa' events, City Breakfasts, the 2016 Annual Fund Series and more. Check your in-box and the College website for updates: www.pmb.ox.ac.uk

I feel that each Editor’s Letter risks hyperbolic gushing on the diversity of the alumni-base: how spoiled I am as an Editor that there is such a wealth of talented interesting people to feature, and how responsive and kind all those involved are, in giving their time to the College. With this edition my thanks are writ large once more. I must also thank College Librarian, Laura Cracknell, whose fascinating profile of alumnus Henry Chandler demonstrates that progressive thinking is not simply the prerogative of twentyfirst, or even twentieth century Pembroke. Chandler’s work with photography heralded the nascent beginnings of present day digitisation, enabling students access to the hallowed stores of the Bodleian (although it was also his initiative that prevented them borrowing manuscripts in the first place!). The mid-century perspective is presented through Art Curator, Sarah Hegenbart’s piece on the recent Bratby-Cooke exhibition at the Pembroke Art Gallery, and Fiona Herron (1987), a regular guest at College events, lends her journalistic skill to report on the Women’s Event in collaboration with CitiGroup, which took place in May and looked at women as ‘global growth generators’.

I must also thank Michael Berliner (2004) (whose film recommendation is one I shall certainly be taking up) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (2005). Both generously agreed to be featured in this rather female-centric, but – I hope – of interest to all, edition of your alumni magazine.

4 Women and Science Professor Irene Tracey 7 Class of 1979 11 Women as Global Growth Generators

By Fiona Herron (1987) 12 Michelle Peluso (1993) E-commerce Innovator 13 Glorious Oarswomen

CONTENTS

2015

Regular readers will have noticed that the past few editions have followed a loose theme: from saying goodbye to the Hendersons in July 2013, to our War and Humanities Me in 1979 issues last year. For this year’s ‘theme’ there was only one choice: a celebration of the 35 years since women were first admitted to Pembroke. In the years between 1979 and 2015 these women have made their presence felt: in terms of their research, their work for other women, their trail-blazing careers and – of course – their success outside of academia. We feature interviews with ground-breaking neurologist and Pembroke Fellow, Professor Irene Tracey; e-commerce CEO Michelle Peluso; and philanthropist Dr Serra Kirdar, who offers a uniquely personal perspective on gender, identity and culture. On pages 13–14 we look at Pembroke women’s continued rowing glory, and those who arrived in 1979 bring the year to life for us, on pages 7–10.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

elcome to this extended edition of The Pembrokian, as we look back to 1979.

FUTURE EVENTS

Gaudy 1998–2000 12th September 2014

PAST EVENTS

Gaudy 1983–1985 8th August 2014

W

15 Henry Chandler (1851)

By Laura Cracknell 18 Who is Slaving at the Kitchen Sink?

By Sarah Hegenbart 20 Culture and Identity: Serra Kirdar (1994) 22 News, Views, Schmooze Plus 60 Seconds with Pete Buttigieg (2005) 23 Highly Recommended: A Summer 'rom-com' from Michael Berliner (2004)

Please let me know if you have any comments, criticisms or questions – all feedback is sincerely appreciated.

Sophie Communications Editor

Magazine edited and written by Sophie Elkan Magazine design by Helen Moss THE PEMBROKIAN 3

WOMEN AND SCIENCE PROFESSOR IRENE TRACEY

Director of the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain Centre (FMRIB), Head of Nuffield Division Anaesthetics and Associate Head of Medical Sciences Division, Professor Irene Tracey is a Fellow of Pembroke College. She has just been elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Hearing that was fantastic for those women attending and it would be a good thing if these aspects were more widely reported in women’s magazines.

How did you come to the Oxford Centre For Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of The Brain (FMRIB)?

When did you become interested in science?

As a child I was always curious about how things worked, and had quite a scientific mind. I am the youngest of six, and with older siblings you have more people to ask questions of. I was probably a bit of a pain looking back – I remember my mum and dad complaining at the number of questions, but they recognised that I was curious. My parents were passionate about good education. They were keen to make sure we were given every opportunity to have a good education and to instil the importance of learning, of following your dreams and not to be restricted by your circumstances. They both did hugely well, considering the start they had – being evacuated during the war ended both of their school careers and my father put himself through night school to train as an engineer.

I was fortunate because the teachers at my local state primary and secondary schools just outside of Oxford were particularly good at science and maths. I liked the arts just as much, but I think if you were a girl and you were good at science, you were encouraged to think about science as a career.

I was encouraged to look at a medical career, but after work experience at the John Radcliffe I realised I was more interested in why patients were sick than in curing them! I also didn’t fancy the idea of working in a hospital THE PEMBROKIAN 4

environment all day long. Going into the Labs on South Parks, however, was an amazing eye opener – these people were working in universities ‘doing science’; I didn’t even know at that point that this could be a job! So that made my mind up and I came to Oxford (Merton College) to study Biochemistry in 1985.

How do you view the efforts to raise the profile of women in science in the mass media?

Any initiative to raise the profile of women in science is a good thing. I support any scheme that helps break down prejudice and myths e.g. a leggy blonde has to be a bit dim, or that an interest in hair and make-up doesn’t sit alongside an interest in science. Unfortunately we do have these societal and cultural biases. I always laugh when my children are watching CBBC that the ‘scientists’ are always dowdy greyhaired ‘Einsteins’ The common portrayal of a scientist is bad, so schemes like the L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science and the WISE awards are great, in that they celebrate all the broad aspects of being a woman and being good in the lab.

Seeing articles in women’s magazines is also great – people are generally interested in science and what’s going on, and it empowers women to know that there are women out there who have followed a career – who have followed something they have had a passion for. Having said that, I think magazines generally tend to dwell on the negatives. It is easy to do, but my position is rather than dwelling on the problem, remain positive and work a solution. Media and other forums could help by celebrating the huge strides and success stories and this would be more constructive. At a recent Wellcome Trust event Professor Dame Kay Davies brought together a pool of women from industry, civil service and academia – and the same themes came up again and again. To learn that business is finally recognizing that diversity (i.e. more women) is good for creativity in the workplace, and ultimately business, was terrific to hear. Baroness Manningham Buller reported that as Director of MI5 she created a working environment that allowed people to work flexibly – it’s better to have a highly skilled person work one day a week than not at all.

My research was in Magnetic Resonance methods and applying them to biological problems. It was everything I liked: physicsbased, quantitative techniques applied to something biological. The fact that it involved an actual living person (not just taking tissue and putting it in a test tube) seems quite commonplace now, but thirty years ago it was really quite unusual to get biological information from living things via these methods.

I decided to stay on and do a DPhil but first took a year out to travel and earn some money. I came back refreshed to start my DPhil at Merton College with a Senior Scholarship, and had a fantastic time continuing rowing, playing hockey and beavering away in the labs too.

After which came my first watershed moment: I loved science and seemed to be good at the research, too. Although I loved being in Oxford, I had been here my whole life and was keen to experience science in another country. At that point research was moving into developing and applying techniques to view the brain, and see its workings and this was being developed in a lab at Harvard. So I applied for a postdoc and went to do it there. My husband and I became engaged before I left, and after the first year I came back and we got married and went back together for the second year.

Two years there confirmed for me that I wanted a career in this area of science, and then I just had to consider how to take

that forward. Fortuitously at that time (1996), the idea was being hatched back in Oxford to set up its own brain imaging centre [FMRIB]. My DPhil supervisor, Professor Sir George Radda, with Professors Alan Cowey and John Newsom-Davis wanted to attract people with experience. At that stage, they were still working to secure funding, but I thought it was worth taking the punt and accepted the offer to return and help set up FMRIB. What were the differences between working in the UK and the US? In the US at that time (mid ’90s) there was more energy about science: a ‘go for it’ attitude. Things that we were doing in the lab would be very quickly applied in a practical setting at the hospital, in contrast with here, where research was kept more within academia with just the occasional and rather slow break out. I think that’s changed dramatically, it’s very different now. Back then Boston felt so exciting.

Boston’s a hotbed – ‘multiple Oxfords’ almost, in one city. It was a great time to be in that area of science, developing techniques to see the brain in action.

Your husband followed you to America, was working there for a year, and then left to come back with you. That’s quite unusual.

He was completely smitten, so he followed me as my ‘trailing spouse’ as American immigration kindly labelled him! Yes, it’s unusual and it was funny because when we went to parties in Boston, people would ask what I did, assuming that I had come to the States to be with him. He’s also an academic [Climate Physicist, Professor Myles Allen] and was at MIT for the year.

He is one of those exceptional men who is truly gender-blind and it just wouldn’t have occurred to him that it was an

issue. He just saw great opportunities that I should go for. Perhaps because he’s theoretical himself, he’s more moveable than me. I have to go where the big magnets are, if we were both experimentalists it may have been a bit more difficult (but I doubt it, knowing Myles); he is more transferable and that worked to our advantage, both at that stage, and when the children came.

As we were getting the last bits of money together to establish FMRIB, I had my first baby – a daughter, and took time out.

Again, my husband was great. I took four months maternity leave, and came back just as the building for the Centre was completed. Myles did school pick-ups and that sort of stuff during those early years of establishing FMRIB as he had more flexibility. There’s not been any one model – we just had to work it out depending on what stage we were at with careers and kids. I became tenured in 2001 with a University Lectureship and Tutorial Fellowship in Medicine at Christ Church, which coincided with the birth of our second child – a son. Another son arrived in 2006, which coincided with my becoming a Professor and taking on the Directorship of FMRIB in 2005, and then the Nuffield Chair in Anaesthetics in 2007 bringing me to Pembroke. Busy times for sure, that required long days and a lot of juggling and support from my husband. But, I think it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that you have more flexibility in this career than in many others, and that’s something you’ve got to use and harness. It means that there’s no end to the job, you don’t clock off at 6 o’clock, but you can use the flexibility. You might have less time at one point but you’ll get it back at another stage, and I think people can get a bit blinkered and not appreciate that there is a great opportunity to have a great balanced quality of life in academia.

THE PEMBROKIAN 5

CLASS OF 1979

It will be interesting watching my daughter, who’s now heading off to University. Her generation are even more gender blind, many have had working mums and dads and they have very different expectations. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when they hit the workplace as I suspect they’ll be quite vocal in how things should change or be!

It’s quite unusual to talk to someone with such amazing confidence and independence.

Yes, people have noted that I am quite a confident and very positive person. The earlier you can find that confidence, the happier you’ll be in my opinion.

When girls hit the pubescent period it’s interesting to watch how their confidence can be eroded. They seem to go through a period of trying out different personas, and being different things to different people, rather than just who they are. One thing that often comes up at forums is the recognition that women can suffer early on in their careers if they don’t have the confidence to just be themselves.

I was really surprised at myself, each time I had a child, that even after a brief period away it took a bit of nerve to come back into the fray. It was an interesting experience to be a bit isolated. Being a parent is the best thing ever, but the baby bit is a tough period, exhausting and testing. I can only imagine how hard it is for people who have one or two years out to climb that mountain again, and get back into the workplace.

I think more workplaces are recognising that they are losing a lot of brilliant talent: it’s a complete waste, and whether it's part time or full time, it’s better to have that resource. It’s not brilliant but there are better schemes to encourage people back in. I think that is particularly true in THE PEMBROKIAN 6

universities and Athena SWAN has enabled that initiative to be pushed. As a society we are moving toward a better balance between partners regarding parental responsibility – whether for a child or elderly relative. Men want to be involved with caring: it’s a net gain for all. I’ve seen it here [at FMRIB], we have quite a lot of senior women in leadership roles, their husbands help out and realise it can be done without compromising excellence and leadership in their own research.

Unfortunately, men are judged more harshly in some regards, and society can be brutal if a man takes time out for childcare. This leads to fewer men stepping up – we need to change these attitudes if Britain is to remain competitive.

Is Academia blazing the trail?

It makes sense, because there’s the flexibility, and by definition you want academics to be independent thinking people who can drive societal change. In some countries you can get shut down for free speech, so if we’re going to drive a change in society it should be from the institutions that are supposed to be progressive and challenge the status quo – that’s what we’re paid to do. It’s very pleasing to see how much is happening in the next generation down.

Barriers are not put up and men and women are supportive. Here in Oxford, I’ve not ever experienced difficulties as a woman and have always felt hugely supported in achieving whatever goals I’ve set. A good idea will get backing and support, and that’s what keeps me here.

As an academic, it’s always about the last paper you published because it’s based on your output, rather than how you work. If you’ve just published in a significant journal who cares if you’ve picked up the kids after school and done the karate run.

I was fortunate in having Professors Dame Kay Davies and Angela Vincent as tremendous female mentors and it makes a big difference to have female role models you admire and respect. Good heads of department try to create an environment where people can flourish and achieve their full potential – that’s something that I’ve tried to do here. I try to take away all the ‘barrier’ stuff and create an exciting and nurturing environment with a clear vision and no limits. One of the great strengths of Oxford is that it’s incredibly free intellectually, and so long as we can impart that to the next generation good times are ahead.

PERSONAL BESTS Track on your iPod – I run to Lady Gaga – big fan

Film – I’m a sucker for good old fashioned musicals: Hello Dolly or The Sound of Music Book – Cannot possibly pick one , I’m an avid reader from Austen to McEwan. I also love biographies / autobiographies and poetry, too (Edward Thomas, WB Yeats to name but a few)

Twitter feed – too submerged in emails to take on Twitter or Facebook!

Best thing about being a woman in 2015 – that we can just get on with it, without wasting energy and time proving we can…

GILLIAN MCGRATTAN For those of us who matriculated in 1979, it was abundantly clear that this was the beginning of a new era at Pembroke and, like any such change, it was welcomed by many and feared by some. As someone taking PPE as a second undergraduate degree, I joined the MCR where there was a small but far from shy caucus of females. I had far greater qualms, having studied my first degree at a red-brick, that I wouldn’t fit in with the rather rarefied view of Oxford formed from a distance. But in general I found Pembroke to be friendly and informal, with relatively little of the social and intellectual pretensions still to be found in other Colleges.

I cannot emphasise how much my time at Pembroke influenced me thereafter.

As someone who had experienced mass teaching elsewhere, I valued the Oxford system greatly. Having subsequently worked in the City, in professional services and more latterly in a research-intensive university not far from Oxford, being one of a small vanguard of females has proved to be a particularly useful experience!

PATRICIA KIDD On my arrival at Pembroke in 1979 the first music I heard was Bob Marley. For our generation it was all about establishing equal opportunities and human rights. Women were pushing, and still are, to be financially independent and, if an Oxford degree meant a path to career success, why shouldn’t we have that opportunity too? Being a female science student at secondary school, I was already

all too familiar with being in a minority group, but there were some humorous consequences of the female population being so small in Pembroke. I remember performing in a musical despite being hopeless at singing, and in those first years we were often press-ganged to take part in team sports regardless of skill or athleticism. I always felt welcomed at Oxford and being there really fed my love of learning.

After my degree and 18 months in Zimbabwe, teaching science in secondary school, I returned to study for a DPhil in Materials Science, finally leaving Oxford in 1988. I stayed on in academia, holding a 10 year Royal Society Research Fellowship at the University of Surrey and at Queen Mary, University of London. In 2000 I joined the innovations and research team at PANalytical, a global scientific instrument manufacturer. I am now in the product marketing and management team and live in East Sussex with my family of three children.

PAUL TRAYNOR I’m 55 now and I still don’t think anything in my life since has matched the moment when, as a brand new undergraduate, I stepped out of the urban bustle of St Aldates and into the hallowed calm of the Pembroke Quads. Mostly I think I felt uniquely privileged and I still do. It was of course the first year girls were admitted: hilariously the College itself seemed faintly surprised to encounter a proportion of women amongst the new intake, as if, for the first time in 400 years, somebody had negligently omitted to specify gender on the admissions form. What I most remember now are the passionate debates at the JCR, as earnest as they were ridiculous, looking out

one morning from my room on Staircase 8 to find the Quad outside blanketed in snow, and eternal summer afternoons at the boathouse fuelled by Pimms. It was a magical and happy time.

JEAN COLLIER When I came up to Pembroke in 1979, I was a mature student, and it was a big decision to give up a successful career with British Airways, not to mention free tickets to anywhere in the world.

Geography was an obvious subject choice, and one of the reasons I chose Pembroke was that seemed like an opportunity to be a pioneer, and so it proved. A great experience for me was to be part of the first Pembroke Women’s VIII. We could barely lift our boat (the old clinker), but we received great coaching from the men’s crews, and with practice were good enough to row on in both Torpids and VIIIs, setting the course for the women in years to come.

I am very proud to have been part of Pembroke history, and after graduation I returned to the travel business on the technology side. My company moved me and my family to Chicago in 1998, where I still live in blissful retirement, with two blades from Oxford adorning my walls.

PATRICK MALEIN Coming from a boysonly school I was well aware that Pembroke had joined the majority of Oxford Colleges in relinquishing the grip on the past and admitting women and this was certainly an attraction for choosing Pembroke. I clearly remember the first dinner in Hall: outnumbered, a THE PEMBROKIAN 7

Music in Chapel Quad ack Martin, b y in the da

Rosie coxing the men!

Tricia press-ganged into the musical

large group of the women all sat together on one table. As I was also new, I decided to join them and invited them back to my room for coffee. I fear the coffee can’t have been very good, as none of them ever visited again.

Rowing was one sport where there was an opportunity for women and men to compete together. One crack-crew, of which I was part, was coxed by Caroline Drennan.

She clearly knew how to get the best from her team, and urged us on to mediocre achievements on the river with inspirational entreaties of encouragement such as “come on you wimps!”

After I left Pembroke I followed a career in tropical agriculture which led to many years overseas working in Papua New Guinea, Australia, Swaziland, Barbados and, most recently, Nigeria. As I am married with three daughters the female influences first encountered at Pembroke continue to confront me.

MO PERCIVAL (NEE GOULANDRIS) On coming up to Pembroke in 1979, I was aware of being in the first intake of women, but it was all I had ever known, and so seemed pretty normal to me. It was only during conversations with male undergraduates from previous intakes that I really became aware of the changes that had been prompted by our arrival, and the range of feelings inspired by those changes.

On the whole, I believe that our presence was well received, and we were made to feel very welcome, but there were one or two stalwarts who resented the change. We were restricted to two or three staircases during THE PEMBROKIAN 8

the first year, but, by popular demand, we were subsequently allowed to pick rooms on any staircase, even if it meant having more basic ‘washing facilities’.

There was no Women’s Boat Club, so probably the most significant event for me was being involved in getting that started and watching it flourish. I felt immensely proud when Pembroke Ladies went Head of the River several years later.

I always feel proud of my association with Pembroke, and thoroughly enjoy returning for the Gaudy every few years. After nine years as Founding Director of Studley Wood Golf Club I retrained as a psychotherapist, and am now working in both the NHS and private practice.

MARTIN ROBERTS I was quite aware that my year was indeed the first one in which women were admitted to Pembroke, but this seemed to be much more of a talking point amongst those who had known the status quo ante. To me it was simply a long overdue move, a step in the right direction, but a disappointingly small one, because women were still outnumbered ten-to-one. I think it took a few years to get the balance right.

Although I made several lifelong friends and enjoyed a lot of the political debates at a very polemical time, I was disappointed in other respects because I found opportunities were in fact somewhat limited, and the career advice on offer at the University was useless for me.

Whereas I later worked for many years as a Reuters correspondent, I never got near any of the student newspapers while at Oxford because I did not have the right connections.

My subsequent life and career were very much of my own making, and I quickly sensed I had to do this outside Britain. https://sites.google.com/ sitemadridcorrespondent /home

ROSEMARY HEALD (NEE COLLINS) When I arrived at Pembroke as the only female lawyer I was very aware that it was the beginning of a new era.

Several Colleges went mixed the same year which led to a certain general excitement in Oxford. An Oxford degree definitely opened doors for me in career terms. I also made some great friends.

After Oxford I pursued a career as a solicitor, first at Clifford Chance in London and then at Veale Wasbrough Vizards in Bristol where I headed up the intellectual property unit.

After having children I moved in-house and became the Group Legal Adviser to the Institute of Physics where I stayed for 11 years becoming something of a copyright geek!

It had always been my goal to retire at 50 so that I could spend more time with my husband, Simon, and our two boys, and get more involved with music and the arts, and this is what I have done.

TIM GILCHRIST Having grown up as the only boy in a family of women who had kept me firmly in my place while growing up, I assumed that this was how the world worked and wasn’t surprised to continue to be kept firmly in my place when I got to College!

Caroline's Torpids celebrations

The Pembroke women all worked and played as hard or harder than the men, didn’t expect to be treated differently and just got on with taking the opportunities that Oxford offered. I’ve been lucky to have always worked in meritocratic environments where people have been promoted based on their ability to innovate and deliver rather than their sex. I think Pembroke helped me be become part of a generation that just assumed women and men should work as equal partners and recognised the benefit of having mixed teams working together.

I worked as a Management Consultant ending up as a Partner at Accenture, and then IBM. Four years ago I decided I’d had enough of that and retrained as a Physics teacher and now teach at Chelsea Academy, a Church of England comprehensive secondary school serving one of the poorest parishes in London.

CAROLINE DRENNAN I never felt that I was expected to conform to a particular stereotype; we had an exciting sense that we could make an impact in all sorts of ways and my male friends were indignant when the college appeared to apply any kind of gender bias. As the first women at Pembroke, we had extra opportunities to take the initiative, especially in sport. If there was to be a women’s team, several of us had to join in whether we were sporty or not. We could re-invent and even surprise ourselves. Most of us had never rowed before; encouraged by the men, and strengthened by a second intake of women and our dedicated male cox, we achieved four bumps in Torpids and a rare Bump Supper.

I left Pembroke to go into teaching and am now very much involved in helping students prepare for university and employment. I am

Mo unpacking

immensely curious about the different factors that enable girls and boys to learn and achieve and I encourage the girls I teach to develop their independence and assertiveness.

JANE CARTER I was aware on applying that Pembroke was going mixed that year and breaking historical inequalities. It was only once I arrived, though, that I really appreciated what this meant. I also realised that my nervousness was somewhat shared by those on High Table – Dr Butt confided to me subsequently that he had wondered what he was letting himself in for (whether or not he timed his year’s sabbatical accordingly I do not know!).

I arrived shy and not without trepidation, anticipating difficulty in keeping up with the academic work and a certain degree of snobbery in response to the fact that I came from a state school, but the greatest thing that Pembroke gave me was confidence. I left with a very good degree, feeling that life was wonderful, and wanting to do something to “make the world a better place” – to put it in corny terms of youthful ambition. I have essentially worked in overseas development ever since. I have in many ways “walked a road less travelled” but it has been an interesting road, full of insights into other lives and cultures. For my doctorate, I lived in a Nepali village, whose inhabitants are described on the website www.surikokra. org. I have worked for the same development organisation in Switzerland for the last 18 years, and currently write on its blog: http:// blog.helvetas.org/

LYNN FILE (NEE STEPHEN) I remember stumbling over the cobbles in North Quad in my high heels and arriving

in my room. We had been given the most modern rooms, so I had the luxury of my own washbasin.

That was one of the very few ways in which women were given any kind of special treatment.

We were aware that we represented change and I think some of us played up to that, pushing at the boundaries and seeing what we could get away with. Being one of the original cohort was enormous fun and it was exciting to feel that we were pioneers who were creating history in some small way. The experience may well have influenced my career – I have always been drawn to challenging situations where there is the opportunity to innovate and make change happen. After Pembroke, I worked in advertising agencies in London before moving with my family to Cornwall, from where I run a marketing consultancy, Brand Innovation (www.brandinnovation.co.uk).

BEA HOLLOND (NEE HARE) I was the first woman ever at Pembroke as an undergraduate, as I was asked to arrive a week before term started to learn the Arabic alphabet. I was studying Oriental Languages and did not know a word of Arabic. I absolutely noticed the lack of women around the College as I had come from an all-girls boarding school. I used my Arabic (classical only!) for many years when travelling to the Gulf States and managing portfolios for some of the larger sovereign wealth funds there. I really believe being at Oxford and the advantages of the tutorial system have helped me a great deal in my life.

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WOMEN AS GLOBAL GROWTH GENERATORS: CITI GPS REPORT LAUNCH AND PANEL aka ‘Jill and the Beanstalk’ by Fiona Herron (1987)

A

s a serial frequenter of Pembroke events I am no stranger to stimulating, intelligent, enjoyable and impeccably organised occasions at spectacular, prestigious venues.

In addition to ticking all of these boxes, the Women’s Event on 5th May was memorable and important, and quite unlike anything else I have ever attended.

The event was organised both to mark 35 years since Pembroke first admitted women, and to launch the Citi GPS report Women as Global Growth Generators. It featured presentations by Heidi Crebo-Rediker, inter alia former US State Department Chief Economist under Hillary Clinton, and Tina Fordham, Chief Global Political Analyst at Citi Research, followed by a panel discussion in which the aforementioned experts were joined by Pembroke’s Master, Dame Lynne Brindley, and Baroness Shriti Vadera, Chairman of Santander UK. The report assesses what the authors call the “WG3 Effect”: the ability of increased female labour force participation to drive growth – crucial at a time of continuing economic fragility. Ms Crebo-Rediker stressed that this is not “just” a women’s issue (even though it is of course also that, and one which has social and human rights implications); it is about growth.

Among the many fascinating facts and figures the one that struck me most was the estimate

that the increase in female employment in the advanced world has contributed more to global GDP growth in the past decades than have either new technology or the arrival of China and India on the global economic stage. The next decade could see up to a billion women in developing and industrialised nations take their place in the global economy as consumers, producers, employees and entrepreneurs: the so-called ‘third billion’ concept.

This will require two things: leadership (including more female role models) and policies aimed at removing barriers and facilitating workforce participation by women (for example good and affordable childcare).

Ms Fordham noted that the 2016 US Presidential election could also kick-start the removal of barriers through what she described as the “political cross-dressing” of countries copying each other’s policies.

She stressed that political capacity and political will are crucial to bringing about these changes. Given this, it is perhaps encouraging (regardless of your political persuasion) to note that following May’s general election the number of women in Parliament has risen and now comprises around 29% of all MPs. Baroness Vadera, wearing her “private-sector hat,” said that firms should act on the data showing that companies with more women perform better. This is because they are drawing on a larger talent pool, and because

“After going down from Pembroke I trained as a financial journalist in London, first working for Reuters and later AFX News. After a four-month posting with AFX in Milan, I ended up in Amsterdam, where I eventually became Bureau Chief. My Dutch partner, Gerard, and I had a daughter, Rebecca, in 2002. In 2007 I hooked up with two journalist colleagues to set up our own translation agency, Abacus Translation. We are proud that the business has weathered not just the recession but also my move back to the UK in 2009 after my father died. We now live at the family home in Witney, which means I am able to visit Oxford – and College – regularly.” (www. abacustranslation.nl) THE PEMBROKIAN 10

women approach things differently from men, which brings diversity of thinking.

Dame Lynne stressed the importance in getting this message across to girls at a younger age, given that many are still not making the best choices. She noted the confidence gap, coupled with the lack of information for girls on the careers and subjects available to them. She believes it is crucial for successful women to go into schools to talk about their achievements and show girls what is possible. After all, nothing succeeds like success.

Time had flown and it was time to go through for the reception. About half of the 100 or so guests were Pembrokians; while the College had only invited women, Citi had also extended invitations to men, but we were a predominantly female gathering.

Two people I spoke to boasted connections to both Pembroke and Citi: the report’s co-author Andrew Pitt (1984), who also delivered the opening address, and Vivienne Artz (1987), who was instrumental in organising the event.

Alumna included members of Pembroke’s original intake of 25 women in 1979 – Tricia Kidd, Gillian McGrattan and Caroline Drennan – as well much more recent graduates. It was fascinating to hear about the very different career paths people had chosen after University, with some staying in their field and others branching out into sectors entirely unrelated to their Honours subject. Which just goes to show that you never know where an Oxford degree might take you! Wine and conversation flowed, canapés and ideas were chewed over, a lot of networking was done and friendships were forged. I left fizzing with ideas. And a great deal to tell my daughter about.

THE PEMBROKIAN 11

E-COMMERCE INNOVATOR Profile: Michelle Peluso (1993)

You’ve spoken warmly of your father’s entrepreneurial spirit, and how that motivated you. What inspired you to study in England at Pembroke, and specifically PPE? I love learning and after studying business I wanted to learn something different before I started working, so PPE was a natural fit for my curiosity. Also, the chance to study in England at Oxford was a huge draw!

How important is the product? Do you specifically enjoy working in fashion?

Absolutely! Product is critical, but what I really love is that fashion online is a constant right-brain / left-brain activity. I love how the creative and analytical come together every day at Gilt.

Michelle Peluso is the Chief Executive Officer of Gilt, an online shopping portal offering significant discounts on designer brands. Prior to assuming the CEO role at Gilt, she served for over three years on the company's Board of Directors. Before joining Gilt, Peluso was at CitiGroup where she was the Global Consumer Chief Marketing and Internet Officer, and prior to that she was the CEO of Travelocity for six years. She joined Travelocity when they acquired Site59, the award-winning travel site she created and launched in 1999. She started her career after graduation by serving as a White House Fellow and Senior Advisor to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, and also worked as a case leader for The Boston Consulting Group in New York and London.

Peluso serves on the Board of Directors for NIKE, Inc. and has received multiple awards, including the Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Business. Most recently, Fast Company named her as one of the ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’.

What are the opportunities and challenges afforded by e-commerce?

We just get access to a massive amount of data every day – a huge opportunity – turning that to insight and action is key!

Can you describe your career path: from politics to online entrepreneur, and now CEO of Gilt and Board Director at NIKE? The common thread is I’ve always loved my job, been at the intersection of the consumer and new technology, and most of all surrounded myself with an exceptionally talented team.

THE PEMBROKIAN 12

Should business be practicing positive discrimination/ affirmative action? If so, why? If not, why not?

No – but we, as leaders, should absolutely focus aggressively on making sure we have a diverse candidate slate for every open job.

Having different views at the table makes for a much healthier company.

To what extent has your gender informed your decisions/ career?

I absolutely love being a woman in business, and I love being not only a leader but also a mom and wife. I work hard as a woman to set clear guidelines as to how I spend my time, so I can do both to the best of my ability.

What do you see as the next trend within your industry?

Much richer experiences: customization of products, messaging, and experiences.

What are your future plans?

I don’t know. A vacation with my family in England? That would be lovely!

PERSONAL BESTS Track on your iPod – anything Beyonce Film – Four Weddings and a Funeral Book – All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr Twitter feed – @businessinsider Best thing about being a woman in 2015 – Authenticity and power!

GLORIOUS OARSWOMEN

2015 has been a history-making year for rowing, with Oxford’s victorious female crews rowing the Tideway on the same day as the men at the University Boat Race. Since 1979, Pembroke’s female rowers have heaped glory on the College: two of our most recent alumni, Eleanor Piggott, (2009) and Brianna Stubbs (2009) are current Olympic hopefuls, and Helena Smalman-Smith (1986) is living proof that success on the river is not a recent phenomenon – since leaving Pembroke she has turned her hand to expedition rowing, raising money for charity with each stroke along the way.

PEMBROKE’S TIDEWAY TRIO Pembroke’s presence in the Blue Boat was particularly strong: Oxford University’s Women’s Boat Club President and Pembroke medic, Anastasia Chitty led the crew, which also included Olympian Caryn Davies, who won Gold for the USA in the stroke seat at the Olympics in 2008 and 2012, and silver in 2004.

She was at Pembroke in 2013 and is now reading for her MBA at Balliol. First year Engineer, Jennifer Ehr, was Cox. Anastasia: The 2015 Boat Race had always been my goal. I’d rowed and sculled for a long time before arriving at Pembroke and started training with OUWBC before term even started as a Fresher. Medicine can be a bit crazy at times, so I have had to make the most of every day. There is enough time to do it all, but not if you waste a minute!

To actually be selected meant a lot to me as the standard was so high. The crew announcement wasn’t until March but I had a good idea after training camp in the Christmas Vac. When I was in the Photo: © Getty Images

boat my only focus was moving as fast as I could with the other women in the crew.

The awareness of making history was for before and after the race when chatting to the media.

My strongest memory from the day was crossing the line and thinking ‘I get to do that all over again next year’. I have three more years at Pembroke and want to carry on rowing throughout! And then, we’ll have to see. I’d love to be able to take my rowing further, but that’s a long way in the future.

Caryn: I'd been rowing for more than 15 years, when I came to Pembroke as part of a Columbia Law School exchange program.

As an exchange student, I was not eligible to compete in the Boat Race and instead I competed for Pembroke M1 in the Headship-winning Torpids and Summer VIIIs. It was some of the most thrilling racing I’ve ever done.

I never had any doubt that I'd be in the Blue Boat this year but nothing is certain until you're sitting on the start line!

Injury or illness can always strike at the last-minute. My strongest memory is sitting on the start line and thinking how glad I was to be in this boat with these incredible women backing me up. We were aware of the historical significance all year, but had to focus on staying internal for our race and our rowing.

Jennifer: The noise that surrounded us on the day of the race was huge, with the BBC’s helicopter overhead and hundreds of thousands lining the banks. Yet, as soon as the race started all I remember was focusing on my boat: steering a good line, executing the race plan and making sure we rowed the long devastating rhythm that had served us so well all season.

Crossing the line was a feeling like no other, and looking down the boat at the

women who had just given everything to make sure we crossed that line first made me so proud.

Knowing that I would be involved in the first women’s Boat Race on the Tideway was a humbling experience; so many women had worked towards the event and to benefit from their passion for equality was an immense privilege. We all knew that these would be momentous occasions for women’s sport in this country, and the pinnacle in a season which had seen tremendous improvement form everyone in the squad.

Millie O’Driscoll is this year’s President of the PCBC. She rowed with the Osiris reserve crew, also successful against Cambridge in this year’s Boat Race: Having turned up at Pembroke absolutely convinced that I would never go rowing (being fond of neither exercise nor early mornings), I was persuaded to attend the PCBC taster day and was hooked from the moment I sat in the boat! I enjoyed two years of rowing at College before I joined OUWBC, on the hunt for new challenges and competitive experiences. Rowing is pretty time-consuming, but as an arts student, it provides much-needed structure to my day.

I was incredibly excited about the opportunity to race on the Tideway.

This whole year we've had a lot of attention from the media and the rowing community about the magnitude of the move: on race day our Cox motivated us with calls about making our mark as the first women on the Championship Course, but it wasn't until we were across the finish line that what we'd achieved really began to sink in.

THE PEMBROKIAN 13

Helena Smalman-Smith (1986) has managed a rowing career in tandem with her professional roles. She coxed York City RC to victory in the Britannia Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2007, and rowed the Atlantic with her husband in 2011–12.

HENRY CHANDLER (1851): THE UNLIKELY PIONEER

by Laura Cracknell, College Librarian

Was Pembroke your first taste of rowing, and what was it like then?

Yes: PCBC bears sole responsibility for changing my life! In the 1980s rowing at Pembroke meant, heavy and wooden blades and boats. Lycra shorts and leggings were unheard of and sound systems were rare. But it was fun, challenging, and full of camaraderie.

TWO TO WATCH Eleanor Piggott (2009) and Brianna Stubbs (2009) rowed in the Headshipwinning crew at Summer VIIIs in 2012, and in 2013 won gold at the Under 23 World Championships in the Lightweight Doubles. Brianna is still at Pembroke, reading for a DPhil on dietary supplementation of ketone bodies. She was named an Industrial Fellow with The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 in 2014. Ellie is rowing full time for Team GB. Ellie: I started rowing aged 13 at Bedford High School, and had represented GB at the Junior World Championships the summer before I started at Pembroke in 2009. I have so many great memories from my time at PCBC. The experience of bumps racing was unlike anything I had done in rowing before; there was so much going on – it’s the only race I’ve ever done when you don’t know how long you’ll be racing for… the cox says sprint and you just keep going!

Becoming the World Under 23 Champion with Brianna was one of my proudest moments, and when I graduated I chose to pursue my rowing. I now train with the senior GB squad at Caversham and last year won my first senior international vest, racing in the lightweight quad at the Senior World Championships in Amsterdam. I’ll be representing GB at various international regattas this summer, culminating in the World Championships THE PEMBROKIAN 14

in France in September. Winning my first international medal at senior level at the World Cup in 2014 was unforgettable and having my family there to watch the racing and the medal ceremony made it particularly special. My dream would be winning a medal at the senior World Championships, and a seat in the GB team for the Rio Olympics.

Brianna: I started rowing aged nine, and at 12 was the youngest person to cross the English Channel in a rowing boat as part of a crew with my Dad. I first rowed for Great Britain aged 16 in the GB v France match and won my first international medal at the Junior World Championships a year later in the Junior Coxless Four.

I decided to take a year off between the preclinical and clinical parts of my medical course to concentrate on my international rowing. Winning the gold medal was the ultimate reward for all the work we had put in: it was one of my proudest moments, listening to the national anthem and my name being announced as a ‘world champion’ in three languages! My dream would be to stand on the medal podium at the Olympic Games.

There are only two spaces for lightweight women currently so even to make the cut, and race at the games would be phenomenal.

I am training as part of the GB squad alongside my DPhil in Physiology and am hoping to race in the World Championships in France this summer; it would be fantastic to win a medal.

What was it like to row the Atlantic with your husband?

Much less worrying than doing so with someone I hadn’t been living with happily for over 20 years! In hindsight, we were probably a bit too gentle with each other and if either of us had been doing the event with anyone else, we probably would have pushed ourselves harder. That said, just being in a 23-foot boat for 75 days is quite a struggle against the yuckiness of the living conditions and the challenge of the environment.

By contrast, the 160km Tour du Léman à L'Aviron (around Lake Geneva) is just your average one-day endurance event. I spent the last couple of hours of this year’s race, the fifth time I’d done it, just counting up to 100 strokes again and again, which is an effective way of pushing through the pain. The weather conditions in Geneva were awful in 2012, the year we’d finished the Atlantic, but I remember thinking to myself, “The rain water splashing all over my cereal bar is fresh not salty, so I can still eat it, and in another six hours I’ll be in a hot shower!”

How does it fit with the day job?

Short expeditions fit in very well – it’s nice to have something to aim for! Over the summer I will be taking part in a 100km race in Holland, and then a four-day expedition rowing round the island of Bute.

And, having coined the phrase “expedition rowing”, I’m eager to give more people the opportunity to take part in this challenging and enjoyable form of rowing in the UK, so I’m about to launch PaddleducksRowing. co.uk, offering rowing expeditions on the Thames and beyond.

Nichomachean Ethics and Fragments.

However, alongside his scholarly pursuits he suffered from ill-health and this, coupled with his inability to publish any ‘serious work,’ became a theme that followed Chandler through his life (as was annoyance at his fellow Dons).

Henry William Chandler is not a name well known in Oxford, let alone the wider world. Yet, at his death he was allowed the singular honour of being interred in Holywell Cemetery, burial place of Heads of House and other noted Oxford luminaries. For a man whose best-known work was a textbook of accents in Greek, it was a mark of the respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.

Born in London in 1828, Chandler’s early education must have been somewhat lacking, as it was only at the age of 20, through his own efforts and hours spent in the Guildhall Library, that he was allowed to matriculate at Pembroke in Literae Humaniores, later taking a First. Having arrived, he never left, being elected to a scholarship in 1851, a Fellowship in 1853 and finally dying in College in 1889.

By 1867, he was Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. He was highly regarded as a Tutor, and some of his lectures were published (although this may have been to avoid having to give them again – he had a lifelong dislike of public speaking). He also became an avid book collector, particularly of Aristotle’s

Whether down to over-fastidiousness, ill-health or the burdens of teaching, Chandler never managed to produce a great work on Aristotle, as was his intention.

Instead, the book that he would be lauded for was A Practical Introduction to Greek Accentuation, first published in 1864, and which quickly became the standard work on the topic. He did publish two bibliographies of Aristotle, in 1868 and 1878, but in a turn of events familiar to many modern scholars, someone else beat him to the publication of what should have been his life’s work, a definitive edition of Aristotle’s Fragments. While he published many pamphlets as time went on, he must have been seriously disappointed by this failure, and therefore much cheered in 1884 when he was appointed a Curator of the Bodleian Library, a job that he regarded as extremely important, unlike

his Professorship, which he told the Royal Commission in 1877 was ‘perfectly useless’.

The timing of his Curatorship could not have been more significant, as the Bodleian was facing serious challenges. Space, money and cataloguing were all in question, but most of all, the issue of lending had once again arisen, and Chandler would make this his great cause.

There is a curiously modern resonance to many of Chandler’s pamphlets published in the mid-1880s, as they grapple with issues still relevant to the Bodleian today.

Even after taking over the basement of the Sheldonian Theatre, the Library was pressed for space, and it wouldn’t be until long after Chandler’s death that the New Bodleian – now the Weston Library – would help with some of this overcrowding. Money was tight, particularly for staff, and there were questions over where the Library should be targeting its limited resources. But, the single greatest question was over the lending of books and manuscripts from the Bodleian’s collection.

The practice had actually been going on since the 1850s, but it was only in 1876 that

Photo: Greg Smolonski THE PEMBROKIAN 15

Despite never speaking in Congregation, and rarely at meetings of the Curators, he published extensively on the matter.

Pamphlets flew around Oxford giving Professor Chandler’s opinions on the matter, and despite his assertion that “The habit of acting in droves may suit cattle; it cannot be commendable in reasonable creatures”, his opinion carried weight.

Eventually, Congregation agreed with him that lending should not be permitted without their express permission, enshrining in Oxford academic culture the principle that the Bodleian (unlike its counterpart in Cambridge) does not lend.

Chandler’s pamphlets are lively, considered works, with arguments set up and knocked down in the best traditions of classical rhetoric. He is acerbic, witty, and firm in his views, bringing piles of evidence to support his case. His passion for books and the Bodleian leaps from the page, and his

piece for Cassell’s Family Magazine in 1886 takes the reader on an imaginary historical tour of the building, pointing out all the wonders and treasures to be found there.

Despite his objections to lending, he was very much of the opinion that scholars should not be barred from using the Bodleian, quite the opposite in fact.

His advice was to turn to the very latest technology to ensure everyone who needed access could have it. The science of taking photographs had progressed rapidly in the nineteenth century, and Chandler was one of many in Oxford who was fascinated by it. He took many of his own pictures, developing them himself, and, as might be expected in such a methodical and thorough scholar, he gained a detailed knowledge of all parts of the process.

In the 1870s, the British Museum Library created their in-house photographic studio, and Chandler was keen for the Bodleian to follow. This, for him, solved the lending problem: anyone who needed a copy of a manuscript could pay for it to be photographed, rather than have it transcribed or borrow it. His proposal was that most of the technical work should be carried out by the University Press, with only the camera studio set up at the Bodleian itself.

By late 1888, he and the Controller of the Press were in correspondence about the technical details and the various methods of processing. This work culminated in yet

another pamphlet, published in 1889. In it, Chandler estimates the costs of setting up a studio, and compares the merits of wet plates (poor) against dry plates (excellent). He also mentions therein that as early as 1887 pictures of manuscripts were being taken at the Bodleian (thought to be in reference to The Arabian Nights, requested by the explorer and Arabist, Sir Richard Burton). It is carefully considered, and Chandler’s enthusiasm is apparent.

He addresses the question in the same rhetorical manner as he had the Bodleian loans problem but also displays a great knowledge of the minutiae of photography.

He speaks of his own experiments, as well as the work of professionals, and leaves the reader in little doubt that this marvellous technology can only do wonderful things.

It is dated 12 April 1889.

On 16 May, he was found dead in his rooms in College.

The inquest, held ten or so days later, found that Professor Chandler had consumed a lethal dose of prussic acid, but there was uncertainty as to whether or not he had intended to take such a high dose.

Photo: Greg Smolonski

the Library decided it needed a specific statute, written in Latin, to formalise the arrangement. In 1886, the then-Librarian, Nicholson, sought to clarify exactly what the statute meant, and in an extraordinary turn of events, it was found that whoever had drafted the statute had used the wrong Latin verb. Instead of gaining permission to lend, the curators had only gained the ability to borrow from the Bodleian.

The subsequent debate opened the whole question of lending once again, and Henry Chandler became the leading figure in opposition to the idea.

The liquid might also have been taken to ease stomach pains, from which Chandler continually suffered. He was also accustomed to taking large amounts of chloral, supposed to help his chronic insomnia. A confusion of the two liquids might have been possible. Whatever the cause, he was found in his rooms by the Master’s wife and his funeral was held a few days later, with many Heads of House attending, as well as the Vice-Chancellor.

Subsequently, Chandler’s Will uncovered a rather odd bequest – he had left his entire Aristotelian library not to the College, but to the Master’s wife, Sophia Evans.

Whether Mrs Evans had expressed any interest in his Collection we shall never know, and she immediately gifted all the books to Pembroke, on the condition that they be kept well, and kept together. If either of these conditions were broken, the books were to revert to the Bodleian, and a letter is sent each year – right up to the present – reassuring Bodley’s librarian that the legacy is still intact.

Engraving of the Interior of the Radcliffe Camera 1836 THE PEMBROKIAN 16

As well as this fine collection of rare books, Chandler’s greater legacy to Oxford must surely be the championing of photography.

Just a few years after his death, the first studio was set up, and its descendent, the current imaging studio, has just moved

into its new space in the renovated Weston Library. It is still providing surrogates to allow distant scholars to access books, and to protect originals from frequent handling.

What is most striking about Chandler’s writings, both on the Bodleian and photography of manuscripts, is his prescience – or perhaps it would be better to say that not much has changed since his time. We now worry about how we will store so many digital images, and how we will preserve them into the future, rather than how long a wet plate negative will last, but the issues of cost, practicalities and convenience remain. Equally, as a Librarian, his writing on the Bodleian anticipates many of the problems that libraries continue to face: space remains an issue, as does delivery of vast quantities of material from storage space to readers.

Oxford continues to restrict access to protect Collections, just as Chandler proposed. And his writings on the subject catalogue – an endeavour that he saw as expensive and foolhardy – sound familiar to any Librarian who has wrestled with the problem of where to classify a particularly complicated title.

Chandler was a man of contradictions. He devoted his life to teaching and researching Greek, and yet wrote in 1878 that Greek

was “dying”. Having collected one of the greatest private Aristotelian libraries in the country – if not in Europe – he only ever published two slim bibliographies on the subject. A man passionate in print, he declared himself unable to speak in Congregation on the subjects that meant most to him. And for a man whose working life was devoted to the study of the past, he showed singular foresight about the latest of modern technologies.

One of our recent projects in the library, funded by The Wellcome Institute, has been to digitise a collection of medical manuscripts that may have belonged to Thomas Clayton, the first Master of Pembroke. Many of Pembroke’s projects rely on philanthropic giving: we also have other images of library treasures to show, as well as archive material photographed several years ago thanks to the generosity of The Helen Roll Charity and up until now only available on request.

It is encouraging to think that, like Chandler, we are anticipating future needs, and hopefully rising to meet them.

Find our manuscripts online at: www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/ THE PEMBROKIAN 17

JOHN BRATBY / JEAN COOKE: WHO IS SLAVING AT THE KITCHEN SINK?

by Sarah Hegenbart, Curator of Art

abusive, and ended in divorce in 1977. By forcing her at the start of the marriage to give up her last name, Bratby pointed out very clearly to Cooke, ‘You belong to me’.

Jean Cooke's Cinema Paradiso appears courtesy of Piano Nobile, Robert Travers (Works of Art) Ltd.

The re-discovery, in the Pembroke College library, of John Bratby’s A Woman Painting in a Studio was the inspiration for the recent exhibition John Bratby/Jean Cooke: Who is slaving at the Kitchen Sink? After cleaning and restoration work had been undertaken, a riddle behind the work remained: who is the female painter depicted in her studio?

Research into the work of John Bratby enabled us to contextualise the painting, which holds a special place among the works in the Pembroke JCR Art Collection.

We soon realised that John Bratby’s wife Jean Cooke – a painter in her own right – might be a likely candidate for the model.

Bratby frequently painted portraits of his family members, which provides evidence for the hypothesis that the woman in the painting at Pembroke is indeed his first wife, whom he married in April 1953. From early on, their relationship was violent and THE PEMBROKIAN 18

Cooke made the decision to return to her own name on 13th May 1966, and issued a statement to the Royal Academy in which she expressed the wish to go back “to my original name of Jean E Cooke to preclude any more of this ridiculous Bratbys vs Bratbys in the critical columns.” Whilst this decision resulted partly from pressure from her husband, it indicated at the same time the emergence of her own artistic persona. This episode also illuminates the fierce competition between the couple. Bratby could be extremely jealous of Cooke’s work, which he often over-painted or demolished; and would denigrate his wife by depicting her as an old and haggard woman, rather than a woman in her thirties.

Bratby could be extremely jealous of Cooke’s work, which he often over-painted or demolished...

The exhibition at Pembroke set out to explore the work of this artist couple with two crucial aspects driving the display: (i) the nature of their relationship and how it resonates in their work and (ii) the question of aesthetic influences. To what extent was Bratby, a famous ‘kitchen sink’ painter, influenced by Jean Cooke (who, whilst acclaimed for her work, did not achieve similar commercial success) and vice versa?

Who was slaving away at the kitchen sink? The exhibition enabled a critical

aesthetic comparison of the two artists; and asked whether the undoubtable underrepresentation of female artists arises solely out of aesthetic judgement, or is it the product of limitations on women imposed by society.

To what extent was Bratby... influenced by Cooke?

In 1971 feminist art-historian, Linda Nochlin famously asked ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’. The impact of women’s domestic circumstances on their careers may guide us towards an answer to Nochlin’s question. In this edition of The Pembrokian, as we celebrate the admission of women in 1979, perhaps we can infer that great women artists – and for that matter great women students – could not blossom until they achieved the institutional support to fully realise their potential.

Claudia Zwar, Art Fund Committee Chair: The process of staging John Bratby/ Jean Cooke: Who is Slaving at the Kitchen Sink? has been a new, and enormously rewarding experience.

When the John Bratby painting was discovered, I had only just joined the Art Fund Committee as the JCR Art Representative.

I wouldn’t have believed then, and still find it hard to believe now, that a committee of undergraduates and Fellows could put together a public exhibition comprised of loans from the Royal Academy, the Piano Nobile Gallery in London, and from private collections. As we planned for this exhibition, the Pembroke JCR decided to open the gallery to the public. It seemed fitting that our Collection, so long hidden from the public eye, should be seen by non-College members and our opening hours are run and staffed solely by members of the JCR.

All aspects of this exhibition were dependent, firstly upon Sarah’s hard work, and the energy and commitment of the Art Fund Committee. Special mention must go to Natalie Harney, who designed our website from scratch, and created a pictorial diagram of the paintings once they were hung so that visitors could better read the labels. We also relied on our incoming Art Fund treasurer, Clio Zauner, who worked tirelessly to organise the shipping and hanging of the works from locations across London and Oxford.

Natalie, Eleanor Trend, and I all helped Sarah design the layout of the exhibition, so as to build a pictorial story about the artistcouple’s tempestuous relationship.

This exhibition is testament to what I see as something of a renaissance for the Gallery and Art Fund Committee. In the past year we have gained a great deal of public attention, involved far more students in art at Pembroke, and shown that we are a Gallery to be reckoned with in the Oxford art scene. I feel privileged to be a part of it, and can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

Sarah Hegenbart is Curator at Pembroke College. Sarah advises the JCR Art Fund Committee on possible new purchases and has recently organised a series of art school and gallery visits.

She is currently a PhD candidate at the Courtauld Institute of Art and her research examines Christoph Schlingensief’s ‘Opera Village Africa’ (2008 – ongoing) in Burkina Faso.

She was responsible for curating Christoph Schlingensief’s first solo exhibition in the UK and Juergen Teller’s Pictures and Words. Sarah co-edited, together with Sven Muendner and Benjamin Eastham Mythos Berlin – A London Perspective, which accompanied the exhibition of that name and was part of the Frieze Art Fair in 2012.

The exhibition in the Pembroke Art Gallery was launched to the public with a celebratory lecture by Tate Britain Director Penelope Curtis, in Hilary Term 2015. It comprises a selection of works from the Royal Academy of Arts, the Government Art Collection, Piano Nobile Gallery and various private collections.

THE PEMBROKIAN 19

CULTURE, EDUCATION, IDENTITY A Personal Perspective, Dr Serra Kirdar (1994)

I

was at Pembroke for three years as an undergraduate, and then did a Masters in International Comparative Education, which was when I started to understand that educational systems are a vital component of how governments and countries create citizenship and identity.

My thesis was a comparative study between Saudi Arabia and Israel, looking at primary education in both countries, and how education is used to create a sense of identity: Saudi Arabia used education to create its national ‘Saudization’ campaign, and Israel uses education to bring people together – Sephardic, Russian, Ethiopian, but all with a Jewish identity.

Dr Serra Kirdar’s academic career and interest in education and women’s empowerment in the Middle East has translated into an involvement with various philanthropic ventures as well as numerous publications. She sits on the board of the New Leaders Group at the Institute of International Education, the International Advisory Council of the Asian University for Women, the Steering Committee of the Emerging Market Symposium, Green Templeton College, Oxford University and is also a board member of the Iraqi Women’s Fellowship Foundation, as well as a Life Fellow of St Antony’s College. In addition to her support of women’s issues and education, Dr Serra Kirdar is also a staunch supporter of the Arts and is a Patron of the University of Arts of London and Art Dubai, the British Film Institute and a board member of the Caspian Arts Foundation.

She is also chairman and co-founder of COPIA Luxury Lifestyle and Communications based in Dubai: www.copiabubble.com THE PEMBROKIAN 20

I found it fascinating, as I had been going through my own identity issues having grown up in the West, with parents who had straddled two worlds. For my DPhil, I decided to focus on ten very high achieving Arab women, who were precursors to change in their respective industries and who had had similar crosscultural educational experiences. I wanted to know how these women married their different identities and the role education played in their empowerment. I was much more westernised than the women I interviewed, but nonetheless wanted to understand how they dealt with the discrepancies, the ‘otherness’. These were women who had broken barriers in part of the world that needs strong female role models. I interviewed each woman and heard their stories, and through their stories I started to find my own.

With all of the women I researched, their fathers were their biggest supporters.

Their mothers were more conservative; ultimately they worried about them getting married. This was very similar to my own experience. Cool and emancipated as my mother was in her own life, she worried about my sister and me. My parents were

outliers in so many areas; I think that they didn’t want to be outliers in how they brought up their children. That was where they expected me to subscribe to a culture and a lifestyle that just wasn’t compatible with my upbringing. My parents had blended two cultures to make their own identity – they travelled the world and were able to take a wonderful mixture of a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Predominantly, we were global citizens.

I grew up in London and went to very different educational institutions to that of any of my parents' friends. Education was a huge motivating factor in my family – my parents never emphasised achieving wealth, but have been huge proponents of education. This created some identity problems when it came to personal issues: I knew people from different worlds, was friends with all sorts of people based on their intellect, their energy, their creativity.

my parents... have been huge proponents of education.

I look at women and I think what do we need to do? My main focus is on women in the Arab world, the Gulf States, but one can also expand this and apply it to the emerging market worlds where culture still very much can hinder the progress of a woman – not in a quantitative way but in terms of perception both in the professional sense and also at the nuclear level of the home – the dynamics between men and women in the family. These women need mentors. These women are getting more degrees than men, so education is not the problem. Once they have these degrees, what’s happening? Are they being educated to be better wives and better mothers, to be trophy wives? Or, are they being educated with the intent that they are actually now getting in the driving seat and driving their own destinies?

The real change needs to happen in the home. Today’s women are charting their own path, through education or employment, and the generation who are really going to understand this are their children. I think that the best education I can give my son is for him to see a woman who makes decisions and is empowered.

It felt like there was no point to my own education, unless I was going to apply it to my own child. So I have chosen to be the mother who picks and drops and takes and hangs out with his friends, and watches football and goes to karate. I feel great about it and have no resentment or guilt.

The best way for this shift in our culture is to understand that are multiple ways for things to happen. It doesn’t have to be the old-fashioned ‘anti-men’ rhetoric.

another, and this gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction. I’m currently in the process of creating a platform of like-minded women who have the crosscultural perspective and are authentically living their empowerment. I want to create a platform to discuss issues at a real level: not education, not qualifications, not quotas – they are already enforced. It’s not as simple as representation: women sit on the Federal National Council of the UAE, but there’s still a problem. I’ve been invited to spearhead the 30% Club in the GCC and I want to further these discussions to understand where the problem really lies.

Today’s women are charting their own path... and the generation who are really going to understand I’m now at the point where I want to take this are their children the women’s conversation to a new level and harness my strength. My position straddles the Middle East and the Gulf Corporation Council countries that I know very well, and the more western platforms that I have access to. I am in a great position to connect people who will benefit from one

Downtown Dubai, © Jason Mrachina

My parents’ biggest worry was that I going to end up being this lost soul. And they’re absolutely right in a way, because I don’t fit, I’m not English, I’m not American, I knew I was different, and I just embraced the fact that I was different with a twist,

and that became my thing. It’s important to be straight up, stand your ground and live who you are, but it’s also a negotiation.

Does that mean one has to bend down?

No! It’s not a feminist or a gender thing, it’s a life thing.

PERSONAL BESTS: Track on your iPod – it changes depending on the mood! at the moment Firestone (Kygo) or Sia (Chandelier) Film – Scarface Book – Khalil Gibran, The Prophet Twitter feed – don’t do Twitter Best thing about being a woman in 2015 – Today, women who remain true to their self and uphold their rights are recognised for it.

High Street, Oxford © David Fisher, 2015 (www.fisherstudios.co.uk)

‘High Street, Oxford’ appears courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, commissioned for the SECURE TURNER’S OXFORD campaign: www.ashmolean.org/turner

THE PEMBROKIAN 21

Proud of Pembroke? In our April e-news we asked our alumni what made them proud of the College. Here are a few (anonymous) responses:

@PembrokeOxford

With such a wealth of successful, informed, expert Alumni, we dedicate the back page to an expert recommendation, between friends...

Michael Berliner (2004), Producer at Pico Pictures and Content Coordinator for the Guardian Media Network, was named as one of Screen Daily’s UK Stars of Tomorrow in 2014. Michael’s career has consistently been recognised through a range of nominations and awards. His suggestion is for a ‘rom-com’ with a twist – perfect for the inevitable rainy day that forms a quintessential part of the British summer ahead.

It’s done more thinking about its reason for existence than most places of academic learning, and has acted accordingly.

I was admitted with limited academic qualifications, but without an MA I might never have become a Headmaster of an HMC College. Nor enjoyed being Captain of Boats, Stroke of ISIS and a member of the college Teasel Club

Obvious Child in the UK, which we’re really excited about. We’re in post-production and have a guaranteed cinema release – so watch out for it! Before the feature film we made a pilot for it called Emotional Fusebox, which got a BAFTA nomination for Best Short Film earlier this year. You can watch the trailer at www.vimeo.com/ picopictures/emotionalfuseboxtrailer Hope you like it!

Pembroke manages to blend academic and social spheres in a way that promotes scholarship through mutual support and recognition. This was true while I was a student, and I think it is reflected in the alumni community as well.

It is a College where lasting friendships are made.

Acceptance by the College in 1953 allowed me to become a member of the greatest university in the world, to study the subject I love and gave me access to a most rewarding career; at Pembroke I made lifelong friends in what must have been among the friendliest and least class-bound social environment in the university ...it was highly instrumental in shaping the person I am today and the college's constant development continues to inspire me.

Experience or enthusiasm? siasm… but let’s As a 33-year-old mayor I’d better go with enthu see what I say after a few more years at this.

60 SECONDS WITH...

PETE BUTTIGIEG (2005)

House of Cards or West Wing? inspiration. And House of Cards for fascination, West Wing for let’s not forget Parks & Recreation.

@PeteButtigieg

Revolution or Evolution?

Evolution for finches, revolution for France.

Before I reach 40 I’d like to… more election.

Write one book , read many, and win at least one

Paper image: FreePSDfiles.net

NEWS,VIEWS, SCHMOOZE...

This page is for alumni to share their news and update us on their whereabouts and life events. Further, if anyone is interested in promoting their business here, by offering exclusive alumni discounts, we welcome all contributions.

Please contact Sophie Elkan in the Development Office

BENEDICTA NORELL (BLANQUET, 1989)

US grunge or Britpop? al upbringing, Grunge. Granted, Oasis was a big part of my music a much bigger way but Soundgarden and Nirvana were with me in in my garage band days.

THE PEMBROKIAN 22

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Three years ago, after a decade in Stockholm, I returned to Oxford with my family, and became a student again. I gained my MA in Creative Writing from Brookes University last year and recently set up Oxford Creative Writing Services at www.oxfordcws.com. We edit and teach all types of fictional prose and are offering a 20% discount for alumni.

Word or deed? ut words are Words without deeds are intangible; deeds witho r is that your mayo unintelligible. One thing you learn quickly as e you make a befor deeds need to be deeply informed by listening s. decision, and richly communicated after ward If you aren’t yet following us on Twitter: (@PembrokeOxford) then please do! Plus who knows who you may find following Pembroke?

DAVID BEDFORD (2005) & RACHEL BLAKE (2006)

Congratulations to David and Rachel who met at Pembroke and became engaged after David moved to China. They are currently working there in ZKIS, an International School in Weihai, where David is the school Principal and Rachel is the Head of High School. They were married last July in Rachel’s home town of Studley, and were joined by lots of friends and family, including some old friends from Pembroke.

Pete Buttigieg took office as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, on 1st January 2012 and has just won re-election with 78 % of the vote. Last year, he was named to a Rodel Fellowship by the Aspen Institute in recognition of his achievements as one of America’s most promising young political leaders.

Have you heard of the Bechdel Test? It evaluates whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man at any point in the story. Last year, ESPN blog FiveThirtyEight examined 1,794 popular films released between 1970 and 2013, and found that just 53% passed the test. And in 2014, only 7% of the 250 top grossing US films had a female director.

Very depressing statistics – but, there’s currently a promising trend of films with strong female voices and female-focused stories coming through, which may offer the first hints of redressing the balance.

Just look at Bridesmaids, Frances Ha, or the new all-female Ghostbusters reboot shooting this summer.

In keeping with this issue, I thought I would recommend a brilliant recent femalefocused film that you may have missed – Obvious Child. It’s a romantic comedy

about twenty-something stand-up comic Donna, who gets pregnant after a one night stand, loses her job, and then discovers that the only appointment available at her local abortion clinic is on Valentine’s Day. This might not immediately sound funny – but like the film Juno, it doesn’t turn away from serious issues and cultural taboos, tackling them head-on in an honest and touching way, giving a very human, moving look at the issues involved. As a New Yorkset talkie, this will particularly appeal to Woody Allen or Lena Dunham fans.

I have a particular love for Obvious Child as I see it as a good comparison film for my own debut feature, a comedy called How To Live Yours, starring Broadchurch’s Jodie Whittaker. Backed by Creative England’s public funding, it’s about a woman who has moved into her mum’s shed and is refusing to move out after the death of her twin brother. It’s been picked up by the same distributor that handled

Obvious Child is available now on DVD / Bluray, and online at blinkbox, iTunes, Film4oD, Virgin Movies, EE, TalkTalk, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

THE PEMBROKIAN 23

Are you in touch with Pembroke?

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our w website has breaking news and also information on all our cours plus Fellows’ research, student life, events and much more. courses, www.pmb.ox.ac.uk All a at www.pmb.ox.a

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we also need your email (and a current postal address) to send you invitations, and other College news. we’ve almost 3,000 followers on Twitter @PembrokeOxford, and can be found there daily, tweeting or retweeting anything we think may be of interest or relevance to the Twittersphere our event photos (and news and event information) are posted on our Facebook page (Pembroke-College-Oxford-Alumni) – you don’t need an account, but if you have one, it’ss worth Liking the page to receive updates are any of your alumni friends not receiving emails / publications? Please help us by asking them to make contact.

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