2013/14 President Says Hello

Hey, everyone. I figured I should do a little 'Hello' spiel to any new faces and to anyone already involved who isn't familiar with me. I'm also going to tie in a little introduction to what the Feminism Society does and how it operates. Please note, anything I'm about to say does not necessarily represent the views of this society or any of its committee or members.

So. My name is Rose and I'm the 2013/14 FemSoc President.  I study English and Classical Studies here at Royal Holloway, and I'm about to re-take my second year. Things I like: cake (you'll learn more about that during any events that require refreshments) photography, peppermint tea, writing, positive attitudes to mental health and gender equality. I also like trying to make a difference in areas of society I feel are problematic (mainly the last two. I don't worry too much about the representation about cake. Although... http://rhul-fem-soc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/food-guilt-societys-tool-to-make-you.html)

So, it was a bit of a no-brainer when I started here to try and get involved with things I thought were important within our SU (that's Student's Union.) I won't go into the inner dealings of GMs (General Meetings) Sabbs (Sabbatical Officers) and heated debates by way of microphone, because I don't want to overload you.

I got involved in second year, because I was too busy thinking I was a super awesome fresher in my first. At the beginning of my second year, I soon realised there were quite a few like-minded people within our union, and I started learning about some really important issues that hadn't really crossed my mind - trans* people's representation, BME representation and LGBT issues. Getting involved with the Feminism Society made me realise that every minorities representation in society interlinks, and it's important for us all to realise that.

For a while, like anything new, I was a little nervous about turning up to FemSoc events as I went by myself, but I can honestly say that now there are at least 6 members who are close friends. And I mean the kind of friends you Skype, not the ones you wave at awkwardly in Crosslands every now and again. So, FemSoc is friendly, and really welcoming. There were loads of great social events last year - we went out for meals, for drinks, hosted Come Dine With FemSoc (that also turned into an impromptu birthday celebration for me) went to SU club nights together and travelled into London for events, amongst others. There was a huge variation, and that's something we're going to continue doing next year - if you don't like clubbing or you don't drink alcohol, totally not an issue. We try to make sure every event is accessible, both in terms of disability and also atmosphere.

As well as social events, most of our sessions are designed to get our members thinking about Feminism as a whole, and also individual issues and how Feminism looks at them. Last year we talked about politics, diets, body hair, sex, porn, mental health, the representation of BME women in the media, Islam and Feminism amongst plenty more. Some sessions the society invited speakers to visit us and lead them, and others we would set up ourselves and just chat about. We also linked up and put on joint sessions with other societies, including the Islamic Society, the Afro-Caribbean Society, the Debating Society and the LGBT society. Like I said before, we work hard at being intersectional.

As well as discussions / presentation events, the society has also worked on campaigns that directly affect our University and its members. It's proposed and passed many motions at GMs (sorry if I've lost you here. I'll post a crib-sheet on Student's Union language at some point to ensure everyone understands why Twitter goes berserk every few weeks) that support other student women. For example, the society wrote to and offered our support to students at a University which was being targeted and harassed by anti-abortion activists, and did the same to a university finding it difficult to set up their own Feminist Society. On campus, we've worked with Sabbatical Officers and Students Union staff to ensure our SU is a zero tolerance union - put simply, it and its staff have a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a huge issue within society, and university campuses don't escape that. We've helped implement an atmosphere that means there are ways of dealing with and reducing the occurrences of these issues, and that students feel comfortable reporting anything.

I plan on writing another post within the next couple of weeks about why I think Feminism is still so important in our world today; there's way too much to include within this. I hope this has been an interesting overview about the society and the kind of things it does - if you have any other questions relating to the society, feel free to send me or any of the committee a message or post in our Facebook group. It would be great to see a lot of new faces in September - I hope this post has sufficiently piqued your interest.

Oodles of feminist love,

Rose Walker

#rhulfemsocelects Communications Officer - Manifesto Time!

Candidate: Victoria Butcher

Hello!  My name is Victoria and I am a committed feminist.  And activist.  I intend to use my skills of communication to provide an awesome level of service to the Feminism Society!  So, as I'm sure you're all wondering, what the hell could I to bring to this role?

Well.  A few things....(I would hope)

 - As a very organised individual, I would be a dedicated Communications Officer who would not only keep an eye on all our social media channels but focus on new and innovative ways we could get publicity.  After all, the joys of feminism need to have as much representation as possible!
- I'm quite creative and would utilise these abilities for poster making and anything else that needs to be done in the role.  I love to write so would hope this would strengthen my role as Communications Officer.
- Inevitably, communication is key and I would make sure to always take direction from the rest of the Committee where needed but also be able to go away and get on with any publicity related matters.
- Most importantly, I'm a very social person and have excellent communication skills which would be incredibly important for a role like this.
- On a more personal note, I also really like embarrassing Christmas jumpers with animals on them (current fave: two loved-up swans) and there are not enough Communications Officers wearing ridiculous clothes like this.....

I'm hoping I can bring a bit of fun and creativity to the committee and will do my up most best to be a valued member of this awesome society!

Vote for me!

Thinking about running too? Email your manifesto to rhulfeminism@gmail.com

ELECTIONS ARE ON OCTOBER 25TH AT 6PM (SO COME ON TIME), IF YOU HAVEN'T PAID YOUR MEMBERSHIP YOU CAN NOT VOTE OR RUN SO PLEASE PAY.

IF YOU ARE NOT TAKING PART IN ELECTIONS PLEASE COME AT 6:15pm INSTEAD!

Results from the RHUL Student Parents and Carers Questionnaire 2012

This April we started a Better Care to Learn Campaign as part of our Royal Holloway Women Against Cuts campaign as it had been highlighted that single mothers were going to be hugely effected by the governments cuts . We created a questionnaire for the student parents and carers of Royal Holloway, University of London to get an idea of what studying at Royal Holloway was like for them.

We wanted to find out how these students coped with the complicated balance of studying and home life, as they were under represented in our Students Union. This is not unusual - demanding commitments make it difficult to engage in extra-curricular activities. 


To make sure we were including all students at Royal Holloway, we released a questionnaire which was sent to all departments and forwarded to their students. What was revealed was a clearer picture of the demands of a Student Parent and Carer at Royal Holloway, the time management required and also the essential support of an extended family. Here is a general overview of the questionnaire.


All of these answers are anonymous. If you are or have been a Student Parent and Carer at Royal Holloway, University of London, and would like to contribute and answer a questionnaire, please email rhulparentscarers@gmail.com and we'll send you a copy for you to complete in your own time. Your answers will be anonymous too. A huge thank you very much to all of our respondents for having taken the time to answer this questionnaire.

General Overview of Results: About the Students Parents and Carers, and their Dependents 

• All of the respondents were female
• All primarily parents
• Aged anywhere between 21 and 47 (average age 29 years)
• Their children were aged anywhere between 18months and 10years (average age 7years)
• 40% of the respondents had more than one child
• 60% were married or engaged

About their studies

• They had chosen Royal Holloway for it's reputation and proximity to their homes and schools
• They were in all years of Undergraduate study: 1st, 2nd and 3rd year.
• They spent on average 50 hours a week looking after their dependents, and 40 hours a week on their course (varies according to essays due)
• They all relied on their extended family to help looking after the children
• The younger Student Parents and Carers were worried about repaying their Student Loans
• The older the children and the more settled the Student was (married, owning their home, older) the more able the Student to cope with the complicated study/home balance. Even so, they had to make sacrifices to other areas of their life such as socialising, and the holiday periods were extremely busy for them.
• For the other  younger Students, younger children combined with the absence of a supportive partner added considerably to the stress of studying. For these Students an online support network would be very useful for communication with others in the same situation.
• 80% had thought of leaving University. They stayed due to the drive to be able to get a good job after University to provide for their children or due to approachable tutors and an interesting course.
• The stresses of their commitments had lead to weight gain, panic attacks, fatigue and poor immunity to colds such as tonsillitis.

Support on Campus

• None had used Little Echoes, the on-site creche, because it was too full when they applied. None needed an on-site creche as they had found alternative arrangements.

• None had need for a Breakfast Club on campus, as their children were too old or being taken care of elsewhere.

• The lecturers and tutors gave the impression of having no time, which lead to the Students feeling uncomfortable about bringing up their situation if they needed extra support. However, a few lecturers and tutors were very approachable and this was clearly appreciated by the Student Parents and Carers.

• The older Students who appeared more settled relied on their lecturers and tutors only for academic support, and some were in the 20% who had never even mentioned their dependents to the academic staff.

• The younger Students however wanted to be able to approach their lecturers for support, advice or even guidance to support services in relation to their academic course, their time commitments and their health. For these Student Parents and Carers, an online network was essential, as were approachable staff.

• The early release of timetables for course choices, and the accessibility of course content such as lecture slides online were very important in facilitating their studies.

#LiberateSURHUL

On the 29^th of May 2012, the Students' Union Annual General Meeting at RHUL voted to introduce four liberation officers onto our executive committee: a Disabled Students Officer, Black & Ethnic Minority Students Officer, LGBT+ Officer and Women & Marginalised Genders Officer. To many at other universities, this won't seem like a big achievement – many Students' Unions already have these officer positions, and to those with any interest at all in liberation, the necessity of their existence is obvious. However, the successful passing of this motion was the result of a sustained campaign to convince students of the importance of putting liberation at the heart of what SURHUL does. SURHUL has traditionally been a very inward-facing union, with a focus on student activities and internal politics rather than on campaigning, and the introduction of these officers is a massive step forward.

The introduction of these officer positions, and particularly of the WMG officer, has been a major aim of RHUL Feminism Society this year. Our members have attended NUS Women's Conference, as well as many feminist events where they have spoken with other students, and have often been faced with dropped jaws when they told others that SURHUL was entirely without a Women's Officer – especially considering the rich feminist histories of Royal Holloway and Bedford College! Whilst the creation of the Feminism Society in the last academic year was fantastic, we were aware that it was not enough for us to run Women's Campaigns from inside our society, and that in order to truly “liberate SURHUL” we needed someone to represent the interests of women at the heart of the Union. The creation of the WMG Officer will allow NUS Women's Campaigns to be co-ordinated from within the Union, as well as ensuring that issues of gender equality are taken into account in every decision the executive committee makes. In a Union where, over the last few years, we have had bitter arguments over the introduction of women's officers, women-only votes for NUS Women's conference delegates and the introduction of gender-neutral toilets and the use of gender neutral pronouns in General Meetings, this truly represents a massive step forward.

An incredible amount of work went into the campaign to introduce liberation officers. Meetings and working groups were held over several months with interested groups in order to produce the motion that was taken to the AGM. It is probably not a controversial statement to say that this was probably the most campaigned upon motion that a SURHUL GM has ever seen, and the fact that such effort was expended in trying to convince students of the value of liberation shows how important this motion was to the people involved.

When it came down to it, the main arguments raised against the motion were administrative and bureaucratic: that, for example, the introduction of new officers would make the executive committee too large. In the end, however, the 100+ students present at the meeting decided that liberation is much more important than issues of bureaucracy, and the victory was by a landslide majority. The fact that an amendment to make the officer positions non-voting was voted down shows that the students in the room had genuinely been convinced of the importance of liberation groups having a genuine say at the heart of Union affairs.

There is still much work to be done to truly “liberate SURHUL”. The new positions will not come into effect until the academic year 2013/4, and in the next year, the Equality and Liberation Officer who currently sits on the executive committee, as well as all liberation activists on campus, will need to work hard to build energy and awareness around the liberation campaigns in order to build towards a position where these roles can elected next year. Royal Holloway Feminism Society will continue to be involved in building awareness around women's issues, and also – importantly – of issues of intersectionality. We are proud to have been a part of passing an historic motion for SURHUL, but we know that the fight does not stop here.

RHUL Feminism Society would like to thank everybody who was involved in the creation and success of this motion. We'd also like to thank the fabulous Kelley Temple, NUS Women's Officer Elect, who came along to lend her invaluable support to the motion.

CALLING ALL STUDENT PARENTS AND CARERS

Royal Holloway Women Against Cuts: Better Care to Learn Campaign

How often have you thought about dropping from your course?
How many times have you had a panic attack over the stress of your responsibilities?
How often have you sat in a room full of students and felt tired, not because you spent your night getting drunk, but you spent it looking after your dependent when they took ill?
How often have you felt guilty for studying and leaving your dependent for a few hours?
How often have you had to ask for an extension, because you haven’t finished the last essay due to responsibilities?


his is your reality, and we can only imagine the rest. But we need to know the rest. The on campus Nursery “Little Echoes” is being closed and moved, the government Care to Learn grant was almost eradicated and the courses at RHUL are designed for students without dependents.Please download and answer this questionnaire, it is anonymous and will take 10mins. Then email it back to us at rhulparentscarers@gmail.com. We need this input, to make sure you can complete your course, that you have equal opportunity, and that you have support throughout your time here. We need to know what you think.

If you study at RHUL with a Student Parent and/or Carer, please  pass this on. Thank You.