IWD: #InspireInclusion…
Davina McCall recently posted a story sharing her frustration that ‘the performative shite from many every IWD makes me want to vomit.’ And I share her feelings. There are lots of people out there – women included - who get on the IWD bandwagon making a noise and espousing support, and yet who do very little actual practical work to support other women and raise them up. It needs to be part of our DNA or core purpose. Davina’s call to ‘Keep/Start speaking up and amplifying voices that are often ignored’ is an important one, and her question ‘Are you showing up for everyone or just those who serve the status quo?’ is a challenge to us all with the work that we do.
Over the many years I’ve worked in girls’ education #InspireInclusion has been a fundamental part of who I am, and at the heart of all I’ve done. I’d say it is part of my DNA. Perhaps it was first engendered by the girls’ grammar school I went to in Trafford, from age 7 until I was 14, with the nuns inspiring us that we could do anything we chose with some hard graft and enthusiasm? Although I probably have to credit my Mum, for choosing to send me to a girls school in the first place, following her own experience of girls’ education in London, and for the environment she and my Dad created for us at home where we were encouraged to believe there were no limits to what we might like to aspire to do. I’ve always tried to create that sort of environment wherever I’ve worked and, indeed, with family.
I come from a long line of feisty women. My Nana Bright came over to the UK from Germany just before the war, telling people she was Swiss not German and, on the untimely death of her husband, she fought to keep her 5 children under the same roof, working several jobs to make ends meet and ensuring they all got apprenticeships. Those 5 children all went on to have successful careers and families. Her only daughter, my aunt, worked in early computing, with punch cards for the Electricity Board in Kent, and then went on to introduce personal computers to Lloyds of London. It is lovely to see my niece now enjoying coding…
On my Mum’s side, Granny King was an entrepreneur who, as well as running a boarding house, whereby two of her daughters met their husbands, ran her own successful upholstery and soft furnishings business producing, among other things, curtains for Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. Her sister, Hilda, was the first person to travel along the newly built and not yet opened M4, on her bicycle, saying she ‘wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about’. And there are many more stories of course - lots of intrepid, fearless, risk-taking, creative women in my lineage.
So perhaps it’s no wonder that in June 2018 I enjoyed celebrating the 100 years since the first British women won the vote by taking a coach load of girls and colleagues from my school to experience the wonderful march with hundreds of thousands of other women through the streets of London to Parliament Square. My closest friends and colleagues share this feminist passion, and it runs through both the leadership work I do, much of it with the Girls’ Schools Association and its members, and in the Menopause Awareness raising sessions I run. I want everyone to feel they are included and belong in the environment in which they live and work, and not just women.
I want a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Not only is it a moral imperative, it makes for a more positive community, society, and world. People who feel they belong bring a positive energy to all those around them. It makes for a better and more productive workplace and homelife. As a geographer, it makes both economic and social sense.
Perhaps it’s also unsurprising that I feel strongly that everyone can, and should, be able to seize opportunities to make the most of their gifts and talents, regardless of any ‘protected characteristic’ or social or economic barrier. We should be able to be blind to those differences and #InspireInclusion in all that we do. Of course, that’s currently too simplistic and, while we can’t yet do that, we need to be allies and advocates for those who aren’t always included and don’t feel they belong in order that we can move closer to this vision happening. This is why I’m so grateful for my involvement with Diverse Educators and their mission to create ‘a collaborative community that celebrates the successes and amplifies the stories of diverse people’, to ‘be where you are celebrated not tolerated’. The Menopause Awareness mission forms a part of the intersectionality found among this fabulous group of people. And so I’m looking forward to joining the IWD day event in Cambridge on Saturday 9th March, alongside a number of other IWD events over the next couple of weeks, including #WomenEd online.
Actions speak louder than words, and the message from IWD is for change to #InspireInclusion 24/7, 365 days a year, every year, not just on one day or month. That vision I have sustains me to take action every day. I want everyone to feel they are included and belong in the environment in which they live and work. I want a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. It takes energy and commitment, and we can do this together.
What are you planning to do this IWD and how can you sustain this into the future?
What will you do to #InspireInclusion – not just this IWD but every day?
Whose voice, often ignored, can you amplify?