In September 2018, I was pleased to offer a workshop at the Contemporary Women Writers Annual conference. The theme of the conference was ‘Writing Wrongs’ and I offered a session riffing on this theme entitled ‘Righting Wrongs for Women in Academia’. The workshop was a space to share strategies, experiences and thoughts on how to shift academic organisational culture, where 1 in 4 professors are women and where BME women are particularly underrepresented.
At the Institute of Fundraising conference, 2018, I delivered a ‘Coaching Taster’ workshop, based on a ‘skills share’ approach.
I introduced participants to some basic coaching principles and models and then asked them to pair up to be coach and coachees with one another to test out their new skills!
The participants were fantastic and the room was ‘buzzy’ as they supported one another through some work-related issues. One participant stated she may even have found new career through the process!
It was a pleasure working with charity fundraisers who devote so much of their time to working for their charities and to allow them to spend little time on themselves.
I am excited to be collaborating with former colleagues at Northumbria University on this film season at Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. Four films are being screened throughout February and March to celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8th) and the centenary of the first women gaining the vote in the UK:
16 February: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (Mary Dore, 2014) tracks the histories of second wave feminism in America, from NOW to WITCH, through interviews with the women involved and archive footage of them in action. Introduced by Julie Scanlon and Rosie White.
22 February: Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014) chronicles the three-month period in 1965 when Dr Martin Luther King led the campaign to secure equal voting rights culminating in the Selma-Montgomery march. Introduced by Mel Waters and Victoria Bazin.
1 March: The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996) is an example of New Queer Cinema, following the life and loves of a black lesbian documentary-maker. Introduced by Anamarija Horvat and Sue Regan.
8 March: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Alexandra Dean, 2017) sees the Newcastle premier of this fascinating documentary about the Hollywood actress and inventor. The screening features a Live Q+A with Susan Sarandon as Executive Producer talking about her new film.
Tickets and times at the Tyneside link above!!
February marks LGBT History month in the UK and LGBT History Project North East are again putting on a fantastic day of talks and activities to mark the occasion.
I am so pleased to be contributing a session with Louise Evan-Wong, Director of the LGBT Fed, on ‘North East Lesbians and the Women’s Liberation Movement’.
In 1976, women gathered from all around the country in Newcastle, well, Ponteland to be precise, for one of only 10 national Women’s Liberation Movement conferences. 1500 women attended to consider the ‘direction of the WLM’. In this public talk organised by the North East Labour History Society, I drew on my interviews with some of the organisers and attendees as well as archival research to tell the story of how the conference came to Ponteland, why it was significant to the region and the national WLM.
The talk was a reprisal requested by NELH Society after I gave it at their joint symposium in October 2017 with Northumbria University for the NELH Golden Jubilee year.
In October 2017, I was thrilled to bring together two of my passions – gender and coaching – in one place. I created and delivered a bespoke session for coaches and HR professionals attending the Coaching Exchange, Newcastle.
The Coaching Exchange is a welcome and relatively new initiative organised by Kate Shahid of Kate Shahid Coaching and Consulting. Kate is the North East regional co-ordinator for the Association for Coaching and the Exchange offers continuing professional development for coaches and Human Resources professionals. It is a place for learning and reflection on various aspects of practice.
In the session on Gender and Coaching, I encouraged participants to consider various ways in which the social construction of gender may impact upon coaching practice. We discussed how we might allow and account for gender in our coaching strategies and techniques. Among the things we touched on were differences between equality and equity, on imposter syndrome and unconscious bias, the impact of language and media in influencing our perceptions and on gender in organisational cultures.
The event was attended by over 30 coaches and HR professionals from the North East region and I was energised by their contributions. I look forward to the next Coaching Exchange!
