As a distant relative of Suffragette Minnie Lansbury, who died for the cause, suffragism is a subject close to my heart. Whilst a hundred years ago some women finally got the right to vote, many more would have to wait another decade to have the equal vote. How can we help tomorrow’s women further close the equality gap and get into traditionally male dominated professions?
Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Maths

A great place to start for any budding scientist is to check out STEMettes: STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. This great organisation supports young women in those subjects and into their chosen careers. STEMettes also run events, mentoring programmes and exhibitions introducing young women to the amazing women leading the way within these industries.
Politics

Lately a great many young people have become increasingly interested in mainstream politics in the UK. With many people now also calling for the voting age to be reduced to 16 how can young women get involved in politics?

Start by having a good look through The Centre for Women and Democracy’s website. There is a lot of useful resources and links. Furthermore they are currently running the People2Parliament educational project.

If your school doesn’t run a debating club, how about starting one? Talk about the big issues in your school, what you’d like to see change and how it could be done.

Future Learn are also running a FREE online course: Beyond the Ballot: Women’s Rights and Suffrage from 1866 to Today. So get yourselves signed up!
Film

Recently Natalie Portman called out the ‘all male nominees’ for Best Director at the Golden Globes. This was in protest at the complete lack of female representation within that category. In fact it’s been quite a while since the ONLY woman to have ever won the award (Barbra Streisand) got on stage:

“I was the only woman to get — did I hear right, yes — the only woman to get the best director award. And you know that was 1984 — that was 34 years ago. Folks! Time’s up.”

Although Into Film is primarily aimed at schools and teachers. It is also a great place to start looking at resources for students. There’s also a lot of information about careers in film and recommended film lists.
Inspirational stuff to check out:

Listen to some fantastic interviews with influential women on Desert Island Discs:

Sheryl Sandberg http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08z9b81
Inga Beale http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07bb1vl
Dr Dame Sue Ion http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b072ht0p

Finally did you know that the UK Parliament has a YouTube channel? Take a few minutes today to watch a few short videos from women talking about how Parliament has affected women today:

Holly Dinsdale

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