Wessex Scene Women's Month Magazine (Edition 2)

WESSEX SCENE

WOMEN’S MONTH +

MENINISM: NOT WRONG, JUST UNEDUCATED 09

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THE HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL WOMEN 20

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DOES THE WOMEN’S GAME RECEIVE FAIR EXPOSURE? 34

E D I T OR f r e ya mi l l ard editor@wessexscene.ac.uk D E PUT Y ED IT OR C ameron ri d g way deputy-editor@wessexscene.co.uk H E A D OF D ES IG N m ac k en zi e B rown design@wessexscene.co.uk D E PUT Y H EA D OF DE SIGN Hannah egert on design@wessexscene.co.uk H E A D OF IMA G ERY he r mi on e cook image@wessexscene.co.uk H E A D OF MA RKETING lau r a s wi n b urn e publicity@wessexscene.co.uk F E A T URES ED IT OR am y p i ck n el l features@wessexscene.co.uk P O LIT ICS ED IT OR z ach ari ah s h ari f politics@wessexscene.co.uk O P I N ION EDIT OR c har l ot t e col omb o opinion@wessexscene.co.uk LI F E S T YL E ED IT OR j u li a b eazl ey lifestyle@wessexscene.co.uk SCI EN CE & T ECH E DITO R LAU R A N EL S ON science@wessexscene.co.uk TR AVEL ED IT OR c he ls ea s mi t h travel@wessexscene.co.uk I N T ERNA T IONA L E DITO R i van morri s p ox t on international@wessexscene.co.uk

WELCOME EVERYONE! This issue of Wessex Scene aims to celebrate all that is wonderful about the women and the men who have and continue to champion for an equal society.

It’s been exactly 100 years since the first group of women were given the right to vote in the UK and every day since we’ve seen women from all walks of life continue to raise that glass ceiling further and further up. Right now in 2018 the five most powerful positions in our country are held by women. The highest paid author in the world is a woman. The second highest paid performer in the world is a black woman.

Women have gone to space, won olympic medals and ran multi-billion pound corporations. Women have redefined expectations, wiped out the barriers and created opportunities for the generations to follow. These achievements across the decades have revolutionised the world we live in today and has opened up possibilities that our ancestors could not have imagined.

Some people believe that we live in a post-feminist society where equality has now been fully achieved. Unfortunately, that is far from the case and although we are on the right path there is still great progress that needs to made before we can call it a day.

So on March 8th, International Women’s Day, let’s all celebrate the great achievements of women past and present from across the globe.

But let us also look ahead at the challenges that are still to come and make decisions to overcome these injustices and inequalities; so that this time next year, we’ll have even more to celebrate.

THE EDITOR

SP ORT S EDIT OR dam i an mead en sport@wessexscene.co.uk SUB- EDIT OR far i h ah ch oud h u ry SUB- EDIT OR J OAN N E L I S N EY SUB- EDIT OR m e gan h art V P D CI E V I E REI L LY vpcomms@soton.ac.uk

FRONT COVER IMAGE BY MARY McGUINNESS WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

WESSEX SCENE | WELCOME

FEATURES ‘GIRL POWER’: SUCCESSFUL FEMALE LED CAMPAIGNS

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BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

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OPINION 08

ENDING POVERTY IN THE UK

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MENINISM: NOT WRONG, JUST UNEDUCATED

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IT’S A MAYBE LATER FROM ME!

POLITICS GENDER PAY GAP

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THE IRON LADY?

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SCIENCE & TECH 16

WHAT IS PCOS AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT?

LIFESTYLE

INTERNATIONAL 23

WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT AROUND THE WORLD

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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THE COMPLEX, GLOBAL PICTURE OF FGM

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SHEIKH HASINA: AN ICON FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN BANGLADESH?

SPORT 33

FEMALE SPORTING ICONS THAT HAVE RAISED THE PROFILE OF WOMEN’S SPORT

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DOES THE WOMEN’S GAME RECEIVE FAIR EXPOSURE?

W ESSEX SCENE. CO . UK @ W ES S E XS CE NE WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

DON’T BE DIM-WITTED, GET YOUR BRA FITTED

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THE HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL WOMEN

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HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TREAT NIGHT

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TRAVEL THE ART OF CULTURAL TOURISM

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ISABELLE EBERHARDT: THE EXPLORER THAT DEFINED CONVENTION

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DEALING WITH CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

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F B . C OM / W S C E N E @OF F IC IAL W E S S E X S C E N E 3

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‘GIRL POWER’

S U CCESS FUL FEMA LE-LED C AM PAIG NS WORDS BY IVAN MORRIS POXTON IMAGE BY HANNAH SHORT 4

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Wessex Scene highlights some of the latest successful female-led campaigns in the UK, following in the footsteps of the women immortalised in the movie Made in Dagenham, who went on strike for more equitable pay in 1968.

‘Jane Austen on the £10 banknote’

When the Bank of England announced plans to replace prison reform advocate Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on the £5 banknote in May 2013, equality campaigners were less than impressed at the prospect of the only woman represented on a banknote being the Queen. Legal action was threatened and over 35,000 people signed a petition protesting against Fry’s removal.

Lead campaigner for the inclusion of at least one historical female figure on a British banknote was feminist activist and journalist Caroline Criado Perez. While her personal campaigning efforts led to appalling social media abuse and threats, they also helped prompt the Bank of England to announce Jane Austen’s inclusion on the £10 banknote and review their selection criteria.

The founder of Women’s Room, an organisation which challenges the representation of women in the media, Criado Perez received civil liberties pressure group, Liberty’s 2013 human rights campaigner of the year award, and was awarded an OBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List for ‘services to Equality and Diversity, particularly in the Media’. In 2017, she also successfully led the campaign to place for the first time a female statue in Parliament Square, honouring suffragist Millicent Fawcett.

‘Stella Creasy, MP, and Northern Ireland women gaining access to free abortions on the NHS in Britain’

Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are some of the strictest in Europe, only allowing abortion in circumstances where there is a danger to life. Consequently, many women travel elsewhere in the UK to obtain an abortion. Until last year, however, they were barred from access to free abortions on the NHS and had to pay, usually costing about £900 a termination. Step forward Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, who introduced in June 2017 an amendment in Parliament to allow Northern Irish women access to free abortions on the NHS in Britain.

With the opposition benches and prominent Conservative backbenchers like Nicky Morgan expressing support, Creasy successfully compelled the government to concede on the issue.

Responding to the government’s change of heart in the Commons, Creasy was delighted, adding: ‘Let us send a message to women everywhere that in this parliament their voices will be heard and their rights upheld.’

‘Plain cigarette packaging’

Successful female-led campaigns haven’t all been related to issues of women’s rights or gender equality. The implementation in 2017 of standardised, green packaging for cigarettes with graphic warnings of possible side-effects from smoking resulted from sustained campaigning by the pressure group ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), led by Chief Executive Deborah Arnott and Director of Policy Hazel Cheeseman.

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Cheeseman has utilised her background in health and housing policy to manage ASH’s policy campaigns, while Arnott is an international expert on tobacco control, an associate professor at University of Nottingham, and was awarded the Alwyn Smith prize by the Faculty of Public Health in 2007. Arnott has been Chief Executive of ASH since 2003, also prominent in the campaign to ban smoking in public places across the UK in 200607 and a much-maligned figure by the pro-smoking lobby.

‘This Girl Can campaign’

One of the most successful female empowerment campaigns in the UK in recent years has been ‘This Girl Can’, funded by the National Lottery and run by Sport England. The campaign was created in response to a survey conducted by Sport England in 2014 which found that 2 million fewer women participated in sports than men despite 75% of women saying they would like to do more.

The campaign has encouraged increased levels of female participation in sport and challenged the lack of self-confidence some women have about their ability to participate. While ‘This Girl Can’ has led through advertisement videos which have been highly successful in engaging women, it’s also increasingly sought to develop a community, sharing experiences on social media of sports participation.

Prominent in promoting the ‘This Girl Can’ brand have been CEO of Sport England, Jennie Price, and Kate Dale, campaign manager and Head of Brand and Digital Strategy for Sport England. Price worked in the environmental sector before joining Sport England in 2007, but has fully embraced the campaign to close the gender gap in participation rates, sharing her own personal experience of being stigmatised for exercising by a man ahead of MoonWalk, a night-time charity marathon.

Already, the campaign which launched in 2015 has been successful in changing women’s attitudes about sports participation – an estimated 2.8 million women have become more active since seeing the campaign, while 250,000 more women are getting active once a week, every week since the campaign’s launch.

‘Crowdfunding – women successful than men’

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Finally, it’s worth reflecting on research in 2017 which concluded that globally, women were 32% more successful than men in reaching crowdfunding targets and in the UK 29% more successful. This may be partly because men tend to seek higherfunding targets, but the average each individual backer provides also favours women.

Crowdfunding has offered female entrepreneurs a new, more accessible market to raise investment from and as such, helps level the business playing-field. However, next perhaps in successful female-led campaigning is for women to break increasingly into the $1 million+ funding targets, with 85% of UK campaigns raising more than $1 million male-led.

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WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

BRE AST CANCER AWARENESS WORDS BY AMY PICKNELL IMAGE BY MARY McGUINNESS Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the UK, with over 50,000 women being diagnosed every year. Around 350 men are also diagnosed with breast cancer annually.

When checking, follow the TLC rule – touch, look, check, and remember that breast tissue includes not only the breast itself, but the upper chest and armpit. It is so easy to make a habit of, it takes less than 5 minutes and could save your life.

Although the body positivity movement has been somewhat successful in encouraging women to feel more comfortable in their own skin, many women are still not in tune with their bodies and spend a minimal amount of time looking at it. But with 1 in 8 women developing breast cancer at some point in their lives, it is vitally important that women regularly check their breasts and spend time getting to know their own anatomy and what is normal for them, so that they are hyperaware of any changes.

The main risk factors for developing breast cancer are age and gender. Women over the age of 50 are much more likely to develop breast cancer, so free mammograms are offered to try and detect cancer early before it fully develops. Although you can’t help being a woman or getting older, there are some lifestyle choices that may affect your risk factor. Some lifestyle factors that increase the risk are:

Most breast cancers are detected by people being ‘breast aware’ and taking the initiative to see their GP if they notice anything unusual. A woman’s breasts undergo many changes across her lifetime, so many people can brush off their symptoms as insignificant or just assume it is a natural part of their development. Some changes can be so small that they can easily go undetected without closer inspection. Some common early warning signs to look out for are: • • • • • • • •

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L UMP – it may be visible or can just be felt beneath the skin CH AN GE T O S IZ E OR SHAPE – one breast can be larger or lower than the other CH AN GE T O S KIN T E XTU RE – skin may look puckered or dimpled CO L O UR CH A N G E – breast can look red or become inflamed CH AN GE IN N IP P L E S – change in size, shape or colour? Has it become inverted?

N I P P LE DIS CH A RG E – unusual discharge from nipple R AS H OR CRUS T IN G – particularly around the nipple area P E R SI S T ENT P A IN – although not necessarily a symptom in itself, if you notice any unusual or persistent pain in your breasts, get them checked to be safe as it could be associated with another symptom

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• •

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ALC OH OL – drinking alcohol on a regular basis increases your risk of breast cancer, the more you drink, the more at risk you are. Southampton researchers are trying to raise awareness of this at screenings and clinics.

W E I G H T – putting on weight in adulthood and being overweight or obese after the menopause increases your risk.

T H E PI LL – being on the contraceptive pill only slightly increases your risk of breast cancer, but this quickly decreases once you stop taking it. (This is the same for Hormone Replacement Therapy or ‘HRT’).

It must be noted that breast cancer in younger women is rare, and the majority of pill users are in their teens, twenties and thirties.

PRE G NANC Y – the risk of developing breast cancer increases slightly after a woman gives birth, no matter their age. This is likely to be due to hormone changes, however this decreases after a few years. Overall, pregnancy reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. The more children a woman has, and the younger she starts a family, the greater the decrease in risk. Staying physically active, especially after the menopause, and breast feeding can also slightly reduce your risk of developing breast cancer.

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

ENDING PERIOD POVERTY IN THE UK WORDS BY MEGAN HART IMAGE BY EMILY BEASLEY On the 20th December 2017, hundreds of people dressed in red carrying witty, well-illustrated signs, gathered opposite Downing Street to protest for #freeperiods.

For most of us, periods are a nuisance. They’re painful, annoying, and all-around unpleasant. However, the majority of us are privileged enough for them to be just that. When our time of the month comes, we take it for granted that we can pop into our local shop and buy a box of tampons. Personally, I can’t say that this makes me feel particularly lucky – after all, tampons are hardly a luxury item – but 1 in 10 girls simply cannot afford sanitary products, and are reduced to skipping school and taping toilet paper to their knickers each month.

How come we weren’t aware of this? Well, not only are most of us too privileged to even consider the fact that some girls don’t have access to what is, for us, a human right, but thanks to the ridiculous stigma and taboo that surrounds menstruating, lots of these girls are too ashamed to tell even their family about this problem. Why have we been made to feel so ashamed and embarrassed about a normal bodily function experienced by half the population? I’m sure that, for many of us, unexpectedly getting our periods or having a tampon leak was one of our biggest fears at school. It’s an awful feeling, certainly not conducive to learning, and these girls are facing this every single month. In fact, 49% of girls have missed a full day of school due to their period. This is unacceptable, and it needs to end now.

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Amika George, an 18-year-old student, started the #freeperiods movement in April last year. She is fighting for all 208,000 girls eligible for free school meals to be given free sanitary products as well. Amika teamed up with The Pink Protest, a group of female activists, to help abolish the stigma that surrounds periods and to ask Theresa May to make this goal a reality. In an article for The Guardian explaining her #freeperiods movement, Amika George said, ‘as we live in a world where periods are euphemised and belittled, and blue liquid is preferable to actual blood on TV adverts for sanitary towels, it’s no surprise that they cannot and do not ask for help.’

The approximate cost of this mission is £4.78 million, which – amid reports of a Brexit divorce bill costing £45 billion – is nothing. If toilet paper is provided for free in schools, then why aren’t sanitary products too?

What can we do to help? Well, there’s a #freeperiods petition, we can donate money through the Free Periods website, and we can write to our MPs. Most importantly though, it’s time to start talking about periods and help break the taboo for good.

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Meninism No t W ro n g, Ju st Uned uc ated WORDS BY ALI TREANOR IMAGE BY ABI BARTHEE

Most of the time, I don’t disagree with what meninism stands for. What scares me is that people are still willing to identify with it. Because they’re often not wrong, just uneducated – and if you’re reading this and getting angry, without really knowing what meninism is, then you’re demonstrating the reason meninism exists. People see the word feminist, or feminist ideas, and get angry without knowing anything else about them. In response, they then might find themselves identifying with the term meninist – the ‘opposite’ of feminism – without realising that their opinions are often either feminist or misogynistic.

But first, some background. One of the most controversial topics of the moment, meninism actually started as a group of men supporting women’s rights movements back in 2001. It then resurfaced as the hashtag #MeninistTwitter before spiralling into a social movement criticising radical feminism. Those using the hashtag could be divided into three camps – people using it to highlight real problems men are facing, then those using it to criticise feminism, and then finally people joking about ‘meninism’ by suggesting inconsequential ‘problems’ to highlight women’s issues.

The first group, the most prominent group when the hashtag went viral, highlight some incredibly important issues. Domestic violence against men, fathers’ rights and divorce issues, suicide being the largest killer of men under the age of 50… The list goes on. And these need to be addressed. Where they miss the point is by not understanding that feminism stands behind these issues also. They all still hark back to gender inequality, the belittlement of ‘feminine’ traits. Suicide is the largest killer of men because it is not ‘manly’ to connect with other people on an emotional level, to talk through feelings or even acknowledge mental illness. Some people still think a man couldn’t experience domestic violence or rape. This group is fighting for the same ideals feminists rally for.

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These people are feminists – they just don’t know it.

Those using the hashtag to criticise feminist ideas show the real, fundamental problem with the movement. I’m talking about the ones wearing ‘Meninist’ jumpers or campaigning against the Women’s Marches. Their only point is to oppose feminists, rather than make any social change, and at the same time, they fail to represent men.

In these areas, there is often little support for men of black and minority ethnicity, trans/gay men or male victims of rape. But the most terrifying aspect this movement shows is that people are still willing to identify with an identity that refuses to acknowledge problems with society that have existed for generations. Gender roles, the effects of systematic sexism on mental health, the pay gap. Simple ideas that a little empathy can now show to be out of date. This isn’t Victorian times – the facts are out there, walls are being broken down – making a change doesn’t require the Suffragettes. Meninism allows people to hide misogyny behind the banner of a social movement, much in the same way that outspoken misandrists proclaim themselves feminists and give feminism its man-hating image.

It’s this misunderstanding, the breakneck speed at which opinions can pass around society without their accompanying facts, and the short time people take to post an angry rebuttal which leads to meninism, straight pride, All Lives Matter and a whole host of other unnecessary ideas. Anger that could be channelled towards making things better, rather than returning the 2020s to the 1920s.

If you’re reading this angrily, fully educated on meninism and with your own opinions, regardless of whether you agree with me or not, then thank you. Differing (educated) opinions open conversation, and right now, that’s the way forward.

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WORDS BY JOANNE LINSEY IMAGE BY HERMIONE COOK 10

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It’s a MAYBE LATER FROM ME!

I am expected to have a child… but what if I choose not to? Does that make me unkind? Unlovable? A monster? Of course not, it is my choice. Why should women conform to this out of date stereotype? Oh yeah, it’s because we are female…

This ideology that is ever present in our society screams out a modern-day tale of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (I mean, have you seen America recently?!) where the female body is belittled to its biological function. Whilst Atwood depicts an extreme version of American society, it is an issue that affects females in every nation. How long do we really have until this dystopian nightmare becomes a reality?

It is no secret that women have been repressed – just look back through history – but the expectation to have a child purely to fulfil a role is just as bad. You could be a gifted businesswoman, or artist, or engineer, forever shamed for not having a child and being labelled ‘selfish’… but how is it? Tell me, why should females conform to gender roles, why should we not reach our full potential? It’s about time that each gender became equal in their potential as all can achieve.

As of 2015, The Telegraph reported that ‘the average cost of raising a child in the UK (to the age of 21) is £230,000’.

I can hear the heart attack you are having right now! I’m not trying to put you off from having children, but you must be rational about it – that is a lot of money. Would you prefer to live a comfortable life where you can give your children everything or worry every day that you will not be able to feed yourself and your mini-me?

Furthermore, raising children is hard, period. Having a bundle of energy running around, being chatterboxes and crying means that you are going to have to channel the young person you once were to keep up with them. There is no book that can ever prepare you fully for raising a child, you must learn through experience.

It will be a rollercoaster of emotions for all involved and whilst I personally want to put off having kids to gain more experience in life, it does not mean that I look any less forward to it. Women have the choice to have/not have children when/if it feels right.

We have a choice. We have a future. We are not concubines. And finally, we refuse to be walking wombs.

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G EN DE R PAY GAP WORDS BY LISA VEIBER IMAGE BY ABI BARTHEE

The Gender Pay Gap has been a popular topic in recent years and the research about it has substantially increased.

It came under more scrutiny after BBC’s China Editor, Carrie Gracie, resigned after accusing broadcasters of an illegal pay culture which discriminates women. Indeed, Iceland has become the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay men more than women, in a move to completely eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022. In comparison, the United Kingdom still had more than a 20 per cent difference in pay based on gender in 2014.

Moreover, in January 2018 the Office for National Statistics published that the gender pay gap for full-time workers would be entirely in favour of men for all occupations. But why is that?

First, the pay gap will not be the same depending on the age group of the workers. Indeed, with the same qualification, men and women will start with roughly the same salary. It is only increased when people advance in their job. Overall, women’s pay grows less than men’s and stops growing earlier than men’s pay, still according to the newest results of the Office for National Statistics.

The Office further stated that while 36.1% of the difference in wages can be explained by differences in characteristics, for instance occupations, and that 9.1% can be explained by the difference in working patterns, as men are more likely to work full-time than women, a substantial 63.9% of the gap cannot be explained. This cannot be fully explained by culture too. Indeed, Northern Ireland has a gender pay gap below 0, meaning that women earn more than men on average. Yet, the fact that more women work in the public sector which pays more, rather than private sector, where men dominate the workplace, is one factor of this strange figure.

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Furthermore, it has recently been announced that women in UK are losing out on £140bn a year due to the gender pay gap and one woman will miss out on an average of £9,112 each year. The information emerged after the government published results on the first 527 films on the salary difference between male and female employees.

Indeed, 500 of the UK’s largest companies still works on a large gender pay gap basis. For instance, men are earning 53 per cent more per hour in budget airline EasyJet. This seems quite unjustified, considering an Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970 in Parliament which prohibited less favourable treatment between men and women. The same act was superseded in 2010 with the Equality Act, comprising now differences in races, religion, sexual orientation and age.

The survival of the gender pay gap is even more surprising as more than half of new university graduates are women, but they still are a minority in mathematics, computer sciences and engineering, the degrees with the top earning potential. Indeed, in European countries women are substantially more educated than men, according to the World Economic Forum, yet it doesn’t mean it is translating into earnings later on.

Another factor is that women have been offered less opportunities in managerial and seniors positions, as well as in political positions. In Part of Women in the Labour Market, in 2012, only a third of senior managerial roles were taken by women in the UK, placing it just above the EU average.

Furthermore, only 65.8% of women choose to work while having a young child, explained partly by the lack of partWOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

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time jobs opportunities in countries such as the UK, but also by the parental leave policies specific to each country.

Those policies don’t only depend on their leave length but also on the percentage of wages paid. Indeed, in the UK women can have a 52-week maternity leave, but only 39% of them are actually paid for the full amount of time.

On average women in the UK receive only 90% of their average weekly income in the first six weeks, after which it decreases.

the gender pay gap. Last year, newspapers said that the pay gap probably won’t be resolved for another 170 years. Yet, Iceland has taken the step forward to do something about it. While, the Prime Minister is requiring firms to publish their data, no legal action is set for those discriminating women. This might be a step in the right direction, but there is still little equality in the matter. A radical change of mind needs to be attained, before we have true opportunities and equality.

Politicians have been trying to close the gap. Indeed, Prime Minister Theresa May asked smaller firms to disclose their pay details after the government introduced a legal requirement for companies with more than 250 employees to publish data on their gender pay and bonuses next April.

The Prime Minister has also urged companies to help women progress in managerial roles so as to ensure better female representation at senior levels.

Still, with more policies such as those found in the Scandinavian countries and Iceland, the UK could close WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

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WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

THE IRON LADY? WORDS BY STEVEN DIBBEN IMAGE BY JUSTINE VINUYA The first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Hilda Thatcher, led a political career steeped in controversy.

Some view her positively as the “Iron Lady” because of her uncompromising politics and leadership through 11 years in power, others despise her. Her famous statement “The lady’s not for turning” marked her as a stout political figure, providing an impression of integrity that can be easily equated with a view to women being powerful and independent to subvert male hierarchy. But can she really be a suitable role model for women?

Firstly, I must point out that it is not only regressive, but sexist, to presume that Mrs. Thatcher is a positive role model for women simply because she herself was a woman. If this was the case it would be safe to assume that Adolf Hitler was a role model for all men because he too was a man. The sex of Mrs. Thatcher is not enough to make her a suitable role model, it is what she did that makes the difference. From here I will attempt to put my own politics aside, allowing events and statistics to speak for me where we determine what actions Mrs. Thatcher took, what these show about her personality, and if they warrant her status as a role model for women.

Although I cannot include all events from an 11-year period, here are some epitomising Thatcherism: •

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A focus on Monetarist policies, believing it was the expansion of the money supply that caused inflation and so sought to control it. In practice between the last quarter of 1978 and 1980 the M3 measure of the money supply grew by 32.8%. She later denied her emphasis on Monetarism – “It is not a doctrine to which I’ve ever prescribed” (1985).

Politics marked by deregulation, flexible labour markets, privatisation of state-owned companies (e.g. North Sea Oil), and reducing trade union power. Oversaw two recessions.

Unemployment rose from 1.4 million in 1979 to 3.2 million in 1984 amid recession, figures exceeding the Great Depression. The figure remained high – over 2 million by 1990.

Deregulation – exchange controls abolished in 1979.

1986 Big Bang reforms removed restrictions on Stock Exchange, enabling capital to flow more freely and allowing foreign ownership of UK firms.

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• •

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Corporation Tax reduced from 83% to 40%. 1989 Community Charge or “Poll tax” was widely unpopular.

Council houses privatized – 1979 average house price over £21,000 compared to £60,000 by 1989 and trend continued.

Reflected growing consensus against Trade Union’s high wage demands – 1980 budget announced £12 a week benefits cut to families of those on strike. In the 70’s 13.2 million people – 1 in 4 – were members of a union, this reduced by 1990 to 9.8 million.

1988 Section 28 – prevented local authorities or school’s promoting homosexuality.

IRA – Survived assassination attempt and claimed she would not negotiate with terrorists. Declassified documents reveal she secretly negotiated to end hunger strikes. Trident nuclear missile submarine system bought, Falklands war won, sought continued British presence in Hong Kong – conceded in 1997 issuing sovereignty.

Valued hard work and self-improvement. Christian with emphasis on traditional nuclear family.

In conclusion, it is clear many of Mrs. Thatcher’s actions are steeped in hypocrisy or irony when comparing personality and policy. She valued hard work yet took from many their source of income, her tenure reached record levels of unemployment and oversaw two recessions, and she conceded over issues like the IRA and denied her monetarism. She failed to admit fault over any of this. The message is clear: integrity is a valuable quality in a leader, but only if the causes the integrity promotes achieve positive outcomes, and where otherwise the individual can admit and learn from their errors. If not this trait is worthless, reduced to mere arrogance, and such a person with so much pride can never be a suitable role model for any group.

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WHAT IS PCOS

AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT? WORDS BY SAVITHA KARTHIKEYAN IMAGE BY AVILA CHIDUME

Po lycys t i c ovary sy ndrome (PCOS) is a common hormo n a l d i s o rd e r t h at a f f e c t s 1 i n e ve ry 5 w om en. Despit e t his, there are lot of qu estion s t h at a ri s e i n p e o p l e ’s mi n d s re ga rd i n g PC O S t o whic h w e do n’t yet have answers. Ex perts a re n o t s u re o f i t s c a u s e , a n d t h e re i s c u r rent ly no ‘c ur e’ fo r the condition. 50% of wom e n w h o h ave P C O S a re n o t awa re t h at t h e y h ave t h e c o ndit io n, y et it is the most common cau s e o f f e ma l e i n f e rt i l i t y a n d i t c a n l e a d t o t yp e 2 diab et es, high blood pressure, high cho l e s t e ro l , mo o d s w i n gs a n d d e p re s s i o n .

SY MPTOMS Symptoms of PCOS vary between every individual and sometimes go unnoticed. Common symptoms are:

Instead, the follicle remains as a cyst. Women looking to become pregnant face difficulties due to the irregular ovulation and also the risk of miscarriage is high.

• • • • • •

Resistance to insulin can also lead to weight gain which makes the PCOS symptoms worse as excess fat causes the body to produce even more insulin.

Irregular periods or absent periods Excessive body hair and facial growth Weight gain Thinning of hair Acne or oily skin Some women also have a higher chance of getting skin tags around the neck, and get more dandruff frequently.

INSULIN RESI S TA NCE A ND PCOS The pancreas produces a hormone known as insulin to control the amount of sugar present in the blood. Women with PCOS are resistant to insulin, so the body produces extra insulin to compensate.

This becomes an issue because excess levels of the male hormone known as testosterone are produced by the ovaries when high levels of insulin are present. The elevated testosterone levels result in the excess of androgen-related symptoms such as the thickening and darkening of facial and body hair, and it interferes with the development of the egg follicles in the ovaries.

In every menstrual cycle, the follicle should break and the matured egg should be released, but, for women with the PCOS, this process doesn’t always happen correctly.

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H O RMONE I M BAL ANC ES Women with PCOS are found to have an imbalance of certain hormones that includes: •

•

• •

Testosterone – This hormone will be present in excess. Testosterone is often thought of as a male hormone but all women produce a small amount of it.

Luteinising hormone (LH) – This hormone is also present in excess. LH simulates ovulation but when present in high levels, it causes an abnormal effect on the ovaries.

Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) – This would be present in low levels. SHBG is present in the blood and binds to testosterone to reduce the effect of it.

Prolactin – The problem with this hormone only arises in some women with PCOS, in which case it will be present in excess. Prolactin simulates the breast glands to produce milk in pregnancy.

G ENETI C S Sometimes PCOS runs in the family: if a woman’s mother, WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

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sister or aunt have PCOS then the risk of her developing PCOS is often increased. There may be a genetic link to PCOS, but the specific gene responsible for it has not yet been identified.

DIAGNOSIS The initial diagnosis starts with blood tests to determine the relevant hormone levels which may be followed by an ultrasound scan that can show if there are a number of follicles in the ovaries. When someone is diagnosed with PCOS, they are either treated by their GP or referred to a specialist.

TR EA TME NT PCOS cannot be completely cured, but it can be managed.

There are different treatment options. The commonly available treatment options are: Lifestyle changes Women who are overweight have an especially high risk of developing long-term health problems. By losing excess weight, the condition can be improved. The NHS suggest that even a weight loss of 5% can greatly improve the condition. Regular exercise and eating a healthy balanced diet can enable women to achieve these weight loss goals.

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Medications The contraceptive pill may be recommended to induce regular periods.

For women trying to get pregnant, a medication known as Clomifene is usually recommended first. This medication helps in the release of an egg from the ovaries.

Another commonly prescribed medication is Metformin.

This medication, which is often used to treat type-2 diabetes, lowers the amount of glucose released by the liver into the blood and improves the body’s response to insulin. The resulting improvement in testosterone levels helps to reduce PCOS symptoms.

Nutritional therapy Glycaemic index (GI) represents the rise in blood glucose levels after eating specific carbohydrates. Foods with a low GI help to prevent blood glucose levels from rising as steeply, so they are thought to be helpful to women with PCOS. Low GI foods includes many fruits such as avocado, non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats that includes oily fish like salmon, and whole-grains. Magnesium rich foods such as dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds are important to be included in a regular diet as magnesium deficiency appears to be linked with insulin resistance.

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DON’T BE DIM-WITTED, GET YOUR BRA FITTED WORDS BY JULIA BEAZLEY IMAGE BY MARY McGUINNESS As of 2016, The Telegraph reported that 1/3 of UK women still buy the wrong sized bra. 70% of 2000 surveyed women claimed to prefer to wear an old grey bra which feels like a second skin than an expensive new purchase which turns out to be uncomfortable. Buying a new bra should be a huge treat, an exciting luxury! It shouldn’t be something that costs an arm and a leg but somehow ends up gathering dust in your underwear drawer.

How many times do we need to be told that we’re wearing the wrong bra size? From personal experience, I know how easy it is to be wearing a bra that is completely the wrong size without realising. It was only until last year that I was professionally fitted and discovered the horror of wearing the wrong band and cup size on a daily basis. That is often the case before you get fitted: you don’t realise how uncomfortable you are until you wear something comfortable that fits you perfectly!

I know that a lot of women are concerned about getting their bra fitted because they don’t know what it entails and how intimate the fitting will be, which is totally understandable. I went to Boux Avenue to get my free professional bra fitting. The staff were friendly and understanding despite her attempts to hide her alarm at the state of the bra I was wearing. The way they measure your

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bra is just getting you to strip down to your current bra and they measure around and over it. They do remember that ‘regardless of what the tape measure declares your underband to be, certain factors affect your size; the style of bra, the fabric, the shape of your bust and, of course, your own chosen preference.’ They remember your own personal preferences so even if the measure says one thing, you have the ultimate and final say on all elements: style, colour, shape and size.

A lot of the places that offer professional fittings do sell quite expensive bras, however they are guaranteed to fit you perfectly. It’s undeniable that Primark bras are cheaper, but as much as you think your bras may be absolutely fine and perfectly comfortable, what harm will a free fitting do? A third of women frequently discard a purchased bra as soon as they get home and discover it doesn’t fit properly. Don’t be lulled into the trick of pretty bras. Lace is the biggest trick of all. I often found that I would look at the prettiest bra and get the size that was the closest to what I thought I was. I’d get home, excited to try it on but then realise how uncomfortable it actually was.

The Telegraph also claims that you should be wearing a ‘fresh, clean bra every day.’ I think this is a bit unnecessary and highly depends on what you have been up to that day.

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It is more expected that if you’ve been to the gym that day, you should wash your bra but if you’ve just been wearing it for support and did a food shop, don’t feel under any pressure to wash it afterwards. If you’re finding that with more expensive, detailed, lacy bras they come out of the washing machine slightly stretched, why don’t you try putting them in a pillowcase? It works out brilliantly if you need to wash your sheets too. Place your bra inside a pillowcase and make sure that you have secured it inside.

Put it in the wash as you would normally and you will find that you are protecting it from getting caught on other clothing. If you have spent a lot of money on this new, nicely fitted, pretty bra then do all you can to protect it and make it last as long as possible.

Boux Avenue has a student discount with UniDays of 15% off, both online and in store. They also offer free returns with a simple and easy form, like ASOS. You pop over to the Post Office and will get your money back so there’s no need for you to feel obligated to just keep the bra that doesn’t feel completely comfortable.

There really is no excuse. Treat yourself and get fitted! You never know until you try!

You’re still on the fence about getting fitted? It’s free – you won’t be wasting money. There is no pressure afterwards to buy a bra there and then. You can happily peruse. When you get fitted, choose a shop that you think you will buy bras from afterwards. You will then know for certain which styles of bras from that shop will fit you perfectly.

The measurement is not awkward unless you make it awkward. If you pick a highly rated, luxury brand to do your fitting, this will be an expensive buy however it is likely to last much longer than any ill-fitting bra from a cheaper brand.

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THE HABITS OF

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN WORDS BY SOPHIE OLVER IMAGE BY EMILY BEASLEY

‘I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.’

– Estée Lauder

University, work, love, exercise, health – often life seems to be asking for just that little bit too much. We often find balancing the things we care about and choosing the right priorities extremely difficult. However, there are extremely successful women out there who serve as an inspiration to us all. Women who have put in the hard work, defied stereotypes, and are now absolutely killing it. Here’s how they do it:

Defy adversary

If you want something, go get it! Believe in yourself every single day, and don’t let anyone stand in your way. J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series as a single mother on welfare benefits, despite multiple rejections from publishers, and the series has now sold over 400 million copies. Don’t let anyone put you down.

Make the first move

‘Power is not given to you. You have to take it.’ – Beyoncé.

You aren’t going to land your dream job by doing nothing, be pro-active. In 2017, only 17% of start-up businesses had a female founder. If you’ve got an idea, make the first move. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, her advice to women was: ‘the woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.’

Befriend your co-workers

Building trust in people is one of the most important things in getting to the top. If you spend time getting to know people, you can learn how to communicate and work best with them. Also, stay connected; you never know whose help you’ll need in the future.

Self-love

‘Do you want to meet the love of your life? Look in the mirror.’ – Byron Katie. Self-love is so important in success.

Look in the mirror every day and give yourself some credit; you’ll go a long way.

Make your bed

Start every morning with an accomplishment. The small sense of achievement you will get from making your bed will get you going for a successful and productive day.

Cameron Diaz and Gretchen Rubin swear by it.

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Exercise

Working out is a great way to de-stress and have fun, whilst keeping healthy. Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, plays tennis for an hour every morning before embarking on the long day ahead.

Make to-do lists

With a busy schedule, it’s easy to forget what needs to get done. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, writes down her schedule by hand, believing it to be more effective than digital calendars. Every day, Lauren Conrad, entrepreneur, writes a to-do list in her bedside notebook. Evidence suggests that people are 33% more likely to complete their goals if they write them down – something so simple can make all the difference.

Put your phone down

Susan Sontag, writer and film-maker, told people not to call her in the morning, so she could get work done.

Alternatively, Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, never takes any electronics into the bedroom, so that she can get quality sleep.

Have some me time

Many successful women swear by meditation. Kerri Walsh Jennings meditates for 10-15 minutes every morning to focus herself for the day ahead, and now she’s won three Olympic gold medals. Alternatively, take a bath! Emma Watson makes self-care a priority, taking a bath every single day.

Understand that you can’t balance everything, work out your priorities and have a little self-love, and you might just start to see a twinkle of success in your life.

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HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TREAT NIGHT Now that deadline season is beyond us, we can actually think about all the healthy changes we were going to make in the new year. Fear not, however, as chocolate is not banned from this occasion – we are talking about healthy changes to the mind, which means you can take liberties with a tub of ice-cream… or three.

You know you deserve it, so here are a few essentials to ensure your night in is as beautiful as you!

Bathtime It wouldn’t be a girls night if it wasn’t kicked off with a Lush bath bomb for you to soak in. For any vegans out there, you will be pleased to know that Lush is a cruelty-free brand so winwin! Alternatively, if you’re in halls, before a luxurious shower, make sure that your towels and bathrobe go in the dryer to be extra toasty. Then hog the shower with some Dove shower gel and foam up!

Hairca re Give your hair some love after all that dry shampoo and condition it with a moisture-renewing brand. If you’re already waiting for that next loan to drop, Alberto Balsam is a cheap but fancy option, or you could always splash the cash on the John Freida Frizz-Ease line. Afterwards, massage a bit of argan oil on the ends if you want to give your hair some extra care – a very cheap and common product that can be found everywhere on the high street, from Poundland to Primark!

WORDS BY CHARLOTTE COLOMBO IMAGE BY AVILA CHIDUME 22

Skinca re You’re probably wondering why all of this is relevant? If you look good, you feel good. You don’t always have time in your day-to-day life to take a step back and strictly follow the beauty regime you can plan out, but on your night in you have the time. You need to look after yourself inside and out.

So, the next step is a face mask – any mud or sheet mask are most effective on the skin, but no need for the cucumbers as they don’t actually do

much and we students can’t afford to waste food. Pore strips are a no-no as yanking half your face off is NOT part of treat night!

F ilm We all know Netflix is a given in this choice, so you can go one of two ways: the really cute and conventional chick-flick (preferably from the 90s), but that isn’t for everyone. In the 21st century, we’re past stereotypes.

I myself am partial to a good oldfashioned documentary: preferably by Louis Theroux and preferably about serial killers. For some reason, it’s soothing looking into the psyche of a criminal whilst munching on snacks.

Food The world is your oyster my friends, but my advice would be to treat yourself to something you haven’t had to cook yourself: you won’t have time after your pampering. Lucky for you, I spent the last year scouring Southampton for the perfect cheesy chips, and that is a prize presented to Sal’s Kebab house – the right consistency of grease and potato and the cheese isn’t too potent. Cheese and carbs is always a winner.

On to… dessert. If you really feel like splashing the cash get Sprinkles Deliveroo’d, but I would recommend getting your own bottomless-pit supply of a share pack of chocolate and Ben and Jerrys (chocolate fudge brownie, naturally). Give yourself another Halloween. Why not?

F ina lly…

Get all the blankets. All the cushions.

All the throws, quilts dressing-gowns, bed-socks and anything relatively warm onto your bed, or if you’re lucky, your couch. Become the human burrito you were always born to be and don’t move until the next morning.

I hope this treat night guide is handy to those of you who struggle to turn off after a long day of revision. Everyone deserves a night of relaxation!

WOMEN IN PARLIMENT AROUND THE WORLD Most Women IN PARLIAMENT / GOVERNMENT:

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), as of December 2017, the East African country of Rwanda is the nation with the highest percentage of female members in its lower house – of the 80 elected seats within the parliament, currently 49 of these (or 61.3% of the total) are held by female representatives.

The country with the highest percentage of female members in its upper chamber is Belgium, where 30 of 60 (or half ) of the indirectly elected members of the Senate are female. However, the Senate now plays a very minor role in the country’s federal legislative processes, and only holds around ten plenary sessions each year.

LEAST Women IN PARLIAMENT / GOVERNMENT:

Four different countries currently have the fewest female members of parliament according to the IPU data. Yemen (275 seats), Vanuatu (52 seats), Papua New Guinea (106 seats), and the Federated States of Micronesia (14 seats) all have no female elected representatives in the lower houses or single chamber of their parliaments.

FEMALE HEADS OF STATE / GOVERNMENT:

Heads of GOVERNMENT

Heads of State

According to data gathered by Women in International politics in March 2017, there are 20 women holding the office of either head of state or head of government around the world. This represents 6.3% of the total number of 315 world leaders – a slight fall from 2016 when there were 22 women occupying such positions. Out of these 20 countries, the UK is unique in having both a female Head of State (The Queen) and a Female Head of Government (Prime Minister Theresa May).

When considering Heads of State alone, 13 women worldwide hold the post of the highest representative of their country (7.3% of the world’s 178 Heads of State). Of these, 7 hold office in European countries. Notable female Heads of State from other countries include 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has been president of Liberia since 2006, and Hilda Heine, who was elected president of the Marshall Islands in 2016 and is the first person from the Islands to be awarded a doctorate degree.

Of the 137 Heads of Government in office across the world, only 7 of these (5.1% of the total) are women. As with Heads of State, most of these are located in European countries, including Erna Solberg (prime minister of Norway) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In Africa, the only female Head of Government is currently Saara Kuugongelwa, the Prime Minster of Namibia, who was elected in 2015 and previously served as the country’s Minister of Finance. In Asia, Sheikh Hasina Wajed (elected in 2009) is currently serving a third term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh, while Aung San Suu Kyi (who was appointed as State Counsellor of Myanmar in 2016), has been accused of complicity in the oppression of the Rohingya in the country’s Rakhine state.

FEMALE SUFFRAGE While most countries around the world have long granted women the right to vote and participate in democratic processes, there’s one country where major obstacles still remain. In the Vatican City, the only citizens allowed to participate in the election of the Pope (who is Head of State) are Cardinals. Given that women are currently unable to become Cardinals, they are effectively barred from participating in elections, although Pope Francis’ more tolerant views on issues such as gay marriage have generated hope that reform will be made.

Saudi Arabia is the latest country to have legalised female suffrage, through a royal decree issued by King Abdullah prior to municipal elections in 2015.

WORDS BY CAMERON RIDGWAY

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST WORDS BY LISA VEIBER IMAGE BY NELLY MAIR Recently, women’s rights has been a popular subject in the Western media with the debate of consent. Some female personalities such as French actress, Catherine Deneuve, have themselves attacked women’s right of consent, backing it up by the illogical argument that this will lead to an imbalance in women-men relationships. While Western countries now debate women’s consent and the gender pay gap, the Middle East is disparate concerning their female citizens’ rights.

Historically, the Middle East gave women more rights than in the West including the right to own and manage property, to sue and be sued, to enter into contracts and conduct businesses; rights which were granted to Western women only relatively recently. Nevertheless, family law and inheritance gave fewer rights to Middle Eastern women. There’s a clear irony as the same Islamic law since its provision advanced women’s rights against the norms in the 7th century, but leaves them at a disadvantage today. Indeed, child marriage, the duty of obedience and difficulty to get divorced, has become part of the everyday life of women in Middle Eastern countries ruled by the clerics.

Still, politics has tried to reduce those inequalities and has been key in promoting equal rights between men and women in the Middle East. Charismatic nationalists such as Turkish Kemal Ataturk in 1920s, Tunisian Habib Bourguiba in 1950s, the Shah of Iran in the 1960s and even the Marxist ideology in Somalia has helped women to achieve legal equality with their male counterparts.

Unfortunately, some of those countries have cancelled those reforms after the resurgence of the power of the conservative clerics since the 1970s, leading to an unstable and problematic legal status for the Middle Eastern female citizen. For instance, Iran now enforces a strict dress code with harsh criminal penalties.

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Even the most unequal country, Saudi Arabia, has granted women more rights since the new millennium. Indeed, in 2001 women were allowed to get their first personal ID card, and in 2006 this right evolved, allowing women to obtain them without the requirement of the permission of their guardian. Also, the 2013 reforms allowing them to ride bicycles and motorbikes have now gone one step further, as of this year, women will be allowed to drive cars and obtain a driving license by themselves. They have also been granted the rights to enter professional football matches in three stadiums.

Morocco, a more Westernised country, has only updated its family law recently, now allowing divorce due to irreconcilable differences for both men and women. It was only 5 years ago, following a teenager’s suicide, that they repealed the law allowing a rapist to avoid prosecution by marrying his victim. Also, it’s important to note that Egyptian women gained the right to vote in 1956, less than a decade after Belgium which only allowed full voting rights in 1948, and 15 years before Switzerland finally granted female suffrage.

The Middle East were more advanced in women rights than the West was historically and have been faster to grant rights in the past 5 years than the West. Although Western countries may rejoice and try to influence the Middle East in following their examples, they should not forget that they are still lacking some fundamental rights including equal pay and the cultural norms of consent.

Moreover, Middle Eastern countries are tending towards the development of the same conservative religious movement that took place in the 1970s, with the rights lost today likely to be more difficult to get back.

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THE COMPLE PICTURE The World Health Organisation (WHO) has led international efforts to tackle the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). They say that it ‘reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women’.

The WHO classifies FGM into four types, such that FGM practices range from excision of the clitoris, labia minor and majora, and narrowing of the vaginal orifice, to surface scraping and cauterization, and anything in between. The definition is also not restricted to acts against children, although the WHO notes that that it ‘is nearly always carried out on minors’.

The WHO’s definition has been a model for recent anti-FGM laws passed around the globe.

The UK’s Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 specifically criminalises such practices, as well as taking people overseas to undergo them, or helping an individual to carry out such practices on themselves. In keeping with the WHO definition, the law does not distinguish between girls and adult women, nor does it exempt self-desired cosmetic surgery or genital piercings. Currently, NHS guidelines require the discovery of female genital piercings to be recorded as incidents of FGM. The law is similar too in Kenya, where a doctor has filed a petition in the High Court this year to have it declared unconstitutional. In an interview, she claimed that ‘There are many women who have been jailed in the last three years… many women are making the decision later on in life, and they are being harassed and jailed’.

She went on to question why ‘Women can decide to drink, to smoke, women can join the army, women can do all sorts of things that might bring them harm or injury’ but cannot choose to undergo ‘Female circumcision’.

Despite FGM having been portrayed as something that some African men, empowered by a patriarchal culture, inflict upon unwilling girls, the reality can be very different. The notion that FGM is almost entirely restricted to Africa, for instance, is one borne from misleading statistics, now out of date, on FGM incidence by country. In the past, the only data available was for countries predominantly in Africa, and so FGM was thought to almost exclusively occur there.

In February 2016, however, following the availability of data for Indonesia, Unicef published a report showing that the total known incidents of FGM now stood at 26

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EX, GLOBAL E OF FGM over 200 million women and girls, a significant increase from the previous figure of 125 million. All of a sudden, over 30% of known incidents of FGM were estimated to have occurred in Indonesia alone, where the country’s head Islamic clerical body declared in 2006 that female circumcision was a religious obligation.

Reports from those campaigning and educating on FGM within such countries, as well as data from studies, also paint a different picture as to who’s carrying out FGM and why. Mothers, having undergone FGM themselves, want their daughters to do likewise. Often in Africa, girls happily undergo such practices as part of coming-of-age ceremonies, carried out by elderly women. For some cultures, the tissue removed is seen as masculine, and the girl finally turned into a woman with its removal. This mirrors that of coincident male coming-of-age customs, where tissue removed from the penis is considered feminine. Inevitably, those who have undergone such practices don’t see themselves as victims, nor the cutting as mutilation.

A large component of the drive to eradicate FGM has been on health grounds. The WHO states that ‘FGM can cause excessive bleeding, swelling of genital tissue and problems urinating, and severe infections that can lead to shock and in some cases, death, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of perinatal deaths’. Health benefits, however, like cleanliness and removal of germ-trapping folds of tissue, form some of the motivation for carrying out FGM practices, despite a lack of evidence for them existing. Further complicating these efforts, a significant contributor to the risk of death and harm from FGM is the use of crude, unsterilized instruments, used in unclean environments by those without medical skill, and without post-care such as taking antibiotics. Pressure to end FGM based on these issues though, has led to medicalisation of such practices becoming a significant problem. In Indonesia, while traditional FGM practices mostly consist of scraping or rubbing, medical practitioners are applying knowledge from well-established male circumcisions, WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

making incisions and removing small amounts of tissue as part of package deals to circumcise children of all sexes.

In the other direction of travel, a court case in the US is making news because of women from an Islamic sect arguing that they should be allowed to ritually nick the genitalia of their community’s girls, in place of more traditionally invasive custom. Although, as is often noted, there’s no mention of female circumcision in the Quran, the sect considers it to be an Islamic tradition, just as with male circumcision, which is also not mentioned in the Quran. It’s worth remembering though, that Islamic teachings derive not merely from the Quran, but also the Hadith, or collections of recorded sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, over which considerable debate continues to take place within Islam as to their individual authenticity and their correct interpretation.

The women of the Islamic sect’s legal team argues that the nicks they propose will be far less invasive than routine male circumcisions that are widely carried out in the US, and should be permitted as an accommodation to their strongly held religious beliefs.

WORDS BY DAVID STANLEY IMAGE BY AVILA CHIDUME

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SHEIKH HASINA: AN ICON FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN BANGLADESH? WORDS BY TABASSUM RAHMAN Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the only female leader among the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 57 member countries, and the second female prime minister of Bangladesh. She’s regarded as one of the leading female political figures for women’s empowerment.

Women’s Education:

‘I believe that only the right kind of education can make a girl self-reliant economically, socially, and emotionally.’

Sheikh Hasina’s empowerment of Bangladeshi girls and women is evident in her education policies. Bangladesh has invested heavily in education at all levels. Firstly, primary education is compulsory and free of charge for everyone.

As a result, overall enrollment in primary schools rose from 60% in 1990 to 98% in 2016. Hasina has placed an emphasis on girls’ education by providing the opportunity for girls to receive stipends and scholarships for schooling until the 12th grade. Consequently, women are now well represented in the classroom; the female-to-male high school enrollment ratio is now 53:47, a pronounced increase from the 35% to 65% divide prior to 2009. This, in turn, has resulted in marriage rates for girls under 15 dropping by more than 35%. Bangladesh also plans to eradicate this practice entirely by 2021.

Women’s Political Empowerment:

Bangladesh is also famous for the political participation and empowerment of women. As well as Sheikh Hasina, now in her second term as Prime Minister, women hold 50 seats in Bangladesh’s National Parliament and 12,000 local political offices. Also, the opposition leader (Raushon Ershad), speaker and deputy speaker are women. It is unsurprising then, that the World Economic Forum ranks Bangladesh 7th in the world in the political empowerment of women.

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Of course, Sheikh Hasina being female doesn’t guarantee her as an all-virtuous figure of women’s empowerment. In 2014, her re-elections violated the Bangladeshi Constitution due to the Awami League’s (AWL) abolition of the caretaker government system which ensures a neutral body of technocrats oversee fair elections. In their response to protests against the 2014 re-election process, Hasina and The AWL have been accused of human right abuses from extrajudicial killings, to mass arrests and state-sponsored violence against opposition activists, including a concerning number of Bangladeshi women, and the house arrest of former Prime Minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia. Moving on from 2014, sexual violence against women remains prevalent in Bangladesh with the county’s rate of women being raped 5 times higher than India’s. Despite Hasina aiming to eradicate formal child marriages by 2021, there are still laws that allow rapists to rape and then marry minors under the clause of special circumstance (for example, if the rape resulted in pre-marital pregnancy).

Although attacks on Bangladeshi atheists aren’t new, another distressing concern is the sexual violence against atheist women possibly committed by state forces. Female atheist blogger Nirala was gang-raped for 3 days by socalled investigators, in the excuse that she had been taken to be interrogated about her writing. If the rapists had any association with the AWL, this is hypocritical and shameful considering the AWL is a secular party. Moreover, there are concerns regarding the repatriation agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, whereby refugees start to go back to Rakhine State in Myanmar, a home destroyed by state violence and mass rape for many women and children.

In conclusion, it is, of course, important for the women’s movement to see more women in positions of leadership.

The more women in high-profile leadership roles, the more society gets used to women’s right to social participation and presence, and Sheikh Hasina is a clear example for Muslim women in particular. However, simply by virtue of their gender, not all women are feminist icons, nor are they necessarily more likely to be morally upright, or law-abiding.

This is especially the case with Sheikh Hasina’s violation of the Bangladeshi Constitution in her 2014 elections, and reported state-orchestrated violence on civilians.

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

THE ART OF CULTURAL TOURISM WORDS BY CHELSEA SMITH IMAGE BY FIONA LIU

Different cultures around the world inspire travel. Our curious and inquisitive nature takes us to contrasting places across the world, away from our bubble of Western culture. When we are fortunate enough to be able to step into someone else’s culture, their world, we have a responsibility to respect the country’s norms and ways of life. This is especially important when they differ from our own. Religious norms and cultural boundaries often ask for our Western fashions and behaviours to be left at home – in many areas of the world, this particularly applies to female travellers. To be accepted into the cultures we are so eager to explore, it is only polite and respectful to adapt to them. Let’s be part of them instead of gawking on the sidelines.

The best way to make sure you don’t make a fool of yourself and stand out like a sore thumb is to be prepared. Do your research before your trip. What are the local norms and laws?

Are certain places or foods sacred? Are there any codes of conduct you should follow, like whilst visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia? Doing this kind of research will help you fit in seamlessly and avoid any embarrassing encounters or even legal complications.

Remaining sensitive to religious connotations and traditions on dress code and staying on the conservative side of the wardrobe is best to avoid causing offense. If you are travelling solo as a woman it is especially important to look after your safety and avoid unwanted attention by matching local outfits. In places where religion runs deep, it’s best to keep your shoulders covered and steer away from the mini skirts, veering towards the maxi option instead. A scarf or sarong is so multifaceted whilst travelling, wrap it around your

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shoulders at markets, or cover your hair in temples, and then use it as a blanket on the chilly plane home.

In some places, it’s not just a matter of offending the locals you came to visit but you also must be careful not to end up in legal troubles. This doesn’t just apply to the furthest throws of the world either. In Barcelona, roaming from the beachfront in a bikini is illegal and can land you a fine and in Florida many of the beaches have bans on thongs, also landing you a fine. While many of the laws will just end up having you removed or banned from the area along with a hefty fine, in some places, it’s taken much more seriously. For example, in Thailand taking a selfie with partially exposed breast or ‘under-boob’ can end up with up to five years in prison.

Ignorance of the law is no defence, so do your research, act respectfully, and if you are still unsure look around you, copy how the locals dress.

Thousands of women travel safely every year, in groups, with partners, and solo. Never be scared or put off exploring somewhere new because of your gender. By dressing appropriately and avoiding drawing too much attention to yourself with flashy clothes or even expensive jewellery, it is possible to blend in and become fully immersed in the numerous and wonderful cultures humanity has to offer.

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

ISABELLE EBERHARDT THE EXPLORER THAT DEFIED CONVENTION

The illegitimate, enigmatic, exploring activist; unafraid and undeniably fascinating. This is a story of a woman who was not to be held back by her gender, her parents, her ties to an artificial European culture she didn’t feel a part of, her money, or lack thereof. In the few pieces I’ve read in research of Isabelle Eberhardt, I am quite simply awestruck. Eberhardt, both criticised and praised, was a whirlwind of life and a restless spirit.

This incredibly talented woman was fluent in 6 languages by 16, crossdressed herself into employment and across the seas to land in Algeria where she perhaps either adored or hated life, most likely equal measures of both. Algeria, nevertheless, was home for Eberhardt, where she finally found some sense of meaning in her existence.

Eberhardt, the illegitimate daughter of a Russian aristocrat, was born in and raised in Switzerland by the family tutor Alexandre Trofimovsky. The illegitimacy surrounding her birth followed her throughout life, tearing her away from convention, introducing an aurora of rebellion that shaped her and her legacy. Trofimovsky raised Eberhardt a boy, dressed in male clothes she wandered around the European towns she grew to despise.

Eberhardt was extremely close to her mother who she described in her journals as the ‘white light’; it was perhaps her parent’s abrupt death when she was 22 years old that drove Isabelle’s lust for change: her escape from Europe and from the culture to which she didn’t belong. Due to the illegitimacy of her birth, Eberhardt was left penniless after her mother’s death, and so she returned to cross-dressing, donning sailors’ clothes, until she was hired at the docks and eventually made her way across the sea to Algeria.

“I will never be content with a sedentary life; I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere,” Eberhardt in The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt.

Eberhardt found freedom from her strives in the isolation of the desert.

Here in the emptiness, her youth and sex meant nothing, she just became part of the desert, that’s all she was, a desert explorer. Not a girl, or a crossdresser, or rich or poor, nor the child of an affair. Eberhardt was the desert and the desert Eberhardt.

I almost feel as if my words cannot do her justice, as a writer herself, she so often eloquently painted a story of her life in her diaries, which were published after her death in a freak flood in the desert. Her death as unique as her life. She was strong-minded and independent, way before her time.

Here is a woman, dressed as a man, in a blatant defiance against her society.

WORDS BY CHELSEA SMITH IMAGE BY EMILY KILMARTIN

Whilst I am awed by this woman I can’t help but wonder if she was happy, or whether her adventurous life was an elaborate disguise against the inner turmoil over identity and anger of societal demands? Personally, I think she was a woman of extreme highs and lows, her personality was perhaps a veil for the struggles she may not have even realised she had. Some have even gone further and diagnosed Eberhardt with bipolar posthumously. Either way, Isabelle Eberhardt is an inspiration for fighting against convention, for not letting anything stop you from travelling or doing anything you want. Even though we’ve come a long way equality since Eberhardt’s time, we could all use a bit of her spirit, her fire that meant she didn’t let her gender hold her back. Everyone can and should travel. Stand proud and explore.

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WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

DEALING WITH CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES WORDS BY CAMERON RIDGWAY IMAGE BY JAMES WORSFOLD Cultural differences have always proven to be a difficult issue when travelling, as a failure to respect the cultures of the country that you are heading to, or a lack of awareness of its laws and expectations, could be disastrous in a number of ways.

One country that has repeatedly hit the news for such issues is the United Arab Emirates. Although most travel to the UAE is without incident every year, there have also been a number of stories of misperceptions of women as well as myths about the exact situations that they will face.

Despite what many expect, you are not expected to wear a burka, headscarf or veil when you travel, and sexual harassment is not pervasive throughout society. It is true, however, that there remains a number of cultural misunderstandings that exist in the UAE over women; both UAE residents and visiting foreigners have in the past been guilty of stereotyping or misinterpreting. It is also true that there are still those in the UAE who misjudge the attitudes and role of Western women in society, as well as foreigners who are guilty of stereotyping the role of women in Dubai.

While such perceptions may detract from the appeal of travelling to a new country, such as the UAE, for the first time, it is possible to clue yourself up on any potential issues before leaving. The Travel Advice pages maintained by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are a useful starting point to find out about any overriding concerns 32

that you should take into account, and more specific information can be found on online travel forums and by talking to travel experts and agencies.

The advice given by many is that, despite the UAE being one of the more liberal Middle Eastern countries, unwanted attention in some form is inevitable and will be something with which women (especially solo travellers) will have to tolerate. Dressing modestly, saying that you are married when asked, or wearing a wedding ring are all actions that can make travelling as a woman easier and stave off any unwanted attention. Dressing modestly will also help when it comes to being accepted by locals who, while often too polite to criticise, will appreciate your desire to respect their customs.

As with any destination, however, travelling still can have its risks. There have been reports of women being followed by men in cars or being mistaken for prostitutes, regardless of how they look or are dressed. Take caution, especially when travelling alone – avoiding direct eye contact with men, sitting in the women’s section of public transport, not sitting in the front of taxis with male drivers and asking a woman first if you need help, such as getting around, can all help reduce the risks.

Perhaps one of the best deterrents for any unwanted attention while in the UAE is to act confidently. While a new destination can be unnerving, getting clued up in advance will greatly help with this.

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

FEATURES | OPINION | POLITICS | SCIENCE & TECH | LIFESTYLE | INTERNATIONAL | TRAVEL | SPORT

FEMALE SPORTING ICONS THAT HAVE RAISED THE PROFILE OF WOMEN’S SPORT WORDS BY DAMIAN MEADAN IMAGE BY AVILA CHIDUME In a world largely dominated by male sport, it’s even more important for aspiring female athletes and casual viewers to have role models, an inspiration to look up to and follow. In celebration of Women’s Month, Wessex Scene has picked out some of recent history’s best examples.

The Williams Sisters Tennis

Between them, they have over 100 women’s singles titles, gold medals from the Olympic Games and have shared the honour of being recognised as the very best in the world at what they do.

Undoubtedly, the Williams sisters have helped raise the profile of the women’s game and stand as a perfect example of professionalism, putting aside their noted rivalry in singles competition to enjoy almost a half-century of victories in doubles competition.

Susie Wolff Motorsport

When announced as the Test Driver for Williams Martini Racing in 2014, Susie Wolff rekindled the debate surrounding female competitors in Formula 1, and motorsport as a whole.

Only five women have ever qualified for a Grand Prix in the sport’s 58-year history, an appallingly low minority when one considers over 1,000 entry slots have passed on that time, but Wolff gave a new belief to the next generation that it was possible to match the physical ability and preparation of the male drivers, a concern raised by one former World Champion.

Though she never made a Grand Prix start for Williams, Wolff set up an initiative in her retirement, ‘Dare to Be Different’, which encourages female participation in all areas of motorsport, from competition to marketing and beyond in a bid to re-shape the industry.

Though the Lionesses would be knocked out in the cruelest of circumstances at the semi-final stage by a late own goal against Japan, their performance raised the profile of the women’s game at home and gave them new credibility abroad, with a ripple effect that will have undoubtedly led to wider participation at grassroots level.

Jessica Ennis-Hill Athletics

The BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award winner was one of the stars of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but her career has done far more to exemplify to aspiring athletes the product of discipline, hard work, determination and inner self-belief is success.

Her comeback to win an Olympic Silver medal in 2016 after missing the indoor season with injury perfectly epitomised this tenacity, and her ability in events such as the Heptathalon certainly helped to raise her profile professionally and that of the sport.

The popularity of sport is a result of the individuals that take part in it, and though female competition has been unfairly under-represented in the past, these athletes all provided a role-model for grassroots athletes, and helped correct the wider world and demonstrate the value of the women’s game in their fields – Susie Wolff even chose to prove the point further and take the men on at their own game.

Their contribution is commendable, and the legacy they continue to leave behind looks set to keep women’s sport on an upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.

The England Women’s Football Team

It seems unfair to apportion credit to any particular member of group of players from the England national side, which rose to prominence in 2015 with a superb performance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

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WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

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WORDS BY HANNAH BEESON IMAGE BY HERMIONE COOK

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

FEATURES | OPINION | POLITICS | SCIENCE & TECH | LIFESTYLE | INTERNATIONAL | TRAVEL | SPORT

DOES THE WOMEN’S GAME RECEIVE FAIR EXPOSURE? The short answer: no, I don’t believe that they currently do.

Well over half of the headlines on the BBC Sport page are dedicated to the news in men’s sports. I think it becomes obvious to see that the focus on women’s sports simply isn’t there. Not only in the news, but there is a significant lack of general support and focus for women’s sports. But why is that? And what is being done to change it?

Admittedly, it’s not like there are no headlines at all dedicated to women’s sports. Going back to BBC Sport, there’s some focus on women’s hockey and football. On the Guardian’s sport page, however, I struggled to see any headlines on women’s sports. It’s the same situation on the Telegraph’s sport page, as with the Independent. Why then, is there such a lack of content?

Part of the reason is that it’s somewhat a vicious cycle. With so much focus on men’s sports in the headlines, particularly on football, rugby and cricket, readers tend to find themselves drawn to those articles. In turn, the readership on those articles is so much higher because they’re at the top of the page, and so the news outlets churn out more of the same to keep their readers ‘happy’. But what if, for those readers who want a bigger variety of sports news, the reason that we focus so much on men’s sports is simply because those articles are there, not because we actually want them, and so we unintentionally give off the impression that we do want them?

To counteract this focus, some headline sports are trying to find ways to increase female participation through other means, and it’s really wonderful to see. Just because the media focus isn’t quite there doesn’t mean that the effort isn’t being made.

The Women in Sport organisation is one prime example of how they’re trying to better the environment for women playing sport and bring women’s sports to the focus. Their mission states that ‘Our vision is a society where gender equality exists in every sphere. We’re advancing gender equality through and within sport; empowering women and girls through sport and the sport sector’. Each year they are funded by Sports England to further their understanding to transform sport for women and girls. They also get involved with partnerships with county sports in order to further enhance this aim.

There is also the Women’s Sports Foundation. They advocate equality and sport and state that ‘We believe that sports are a birthright and we use our powerful voice to advocate for

WOMEN’S MONTH MAGAZINE

equality in sports for every girl and woman. We speak out for safe, equal playing fields for school-aged and elite athletes around the world and promote female leadership in all areas of sports’. There are plenty of organisations and groups which are trying to better the world of sports for women. But this is not enough - the media can help.

England hooker, Amy Cokayne, recently gave an interesting interview with the BBC about the gradual development of women’s rugby, and how it is slowly moving in the right direction. Although the momentum following the recent World Cup in Ireland was huge, she’s hoping that it doesn’t drop off and that more countries decide to follow suit. Under a new agreement between England’s players and the union, players will receive a match fee and training payments for the first time, demonstrating that steps in the right direction are gradually being taken. But the lack of media focus on the World Cup compared to other men’s events is still a vital influence in the redirection of the public focus, and her frustration at seeing the stadium much emptier at their games compared to the men’s games is understandable.

I think we can all agree that there are some powerfully influential female figures in the sports world, one prime example being Serena Williams. It could also be said that despite this she still doesn’t receive the recognition that some of the top male tennis players receive, which some recent high-profile interviews demonstrate. In one of them, the journalist leading the interview said to Andy Murray that ‘Sam [Querry] is the first US player to reach a major semifinal since 2009’ at which point Murray interrupted him to say ‘male player’. The journalist, flustered, said ‘yes, first male player, that’s for sure’, seemingly forgetting that both Serena and Venus Williams, as well as Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe, have all reached grand slam semi-finals since Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final. This frustrating example, where a male athlete has to speak up to make sure that women’s achievements in sports are not forgotten, is just one of a long history of the dominance of men’s sports, especially within the media.

Many have acknowledged that much of women’s sports simply does not bring in the revenue that men’s sports does; but why is this? Is this because there is no media focus to draw the readers and fans to the sport? Perhaps if this changes, the big divide between women’s and men’s sports will also change and start to lessen.

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