Jun 25

A Manifesto for Young Women by Janet Street Porter. Some thoughts.

In today’s Daily Mail, Janet Street-Porter has written a great article outlining her ‘manifesto for young women’, which ends by saying that young women need to believe in themselves. She has some excellent advice, including ‘work like hell at school’, ‘hold your head high’, ‘set your goals’, ‘swap telly trash and internet twaddle for books, exhibitions and live events’. And she reminds us of the evidence from a recent survey that young people today have similar values to those of their parents, valuing marriage and children above wealth and possessions. This is all tremendously encouraging, and I agree with her – our young people are full of natural good sense and have immense potential to lead good lives and to make a hugely positive impact on the world.

I do wish, though, that she wouldn’t dismiss so readily the pervasive influence of the two aspects of modern society about which I have spoken out this week – our focus on a celebrity culture, and the prevalence of sexualised images which effectively objectify women. These aspects form, overwhelmingly, the backdrop to the lives of young people; they linger at every corner, on practically every magazine cover, and young people are bombarded by them online. Celebrities make the news, and images of semi-naked women, posing provocatively, have become so commonplace that we take them completely for granted. They have entered the mainstream, and we are surprised – and not a little put out and critical – when women in the public eye do not conform. (Witness the furore when Hillary Clinton, on a recent visit to Bangladesh, led meetings without make-up, and with her hair simply scraped back.)

The effect of this backdrop is pernicious, and mitigates against the very messages that Miss Street-Porter is communicating. She is quite right – young people do need to believe in themselves now more than ever. But this is hard to do when you are being asked to measure yourself constantly – consciously and subconsciously – against images of female ‘perfection’. Jo Swinson’s Parliamentary Report on Body Confidence, published at the end of May, and which regrettably did not achieve nearly as much media coverage as my comments last week on that one symbolic photo of Kim Kardashian on the front of Zoo magazine, revealed that half of the public suffer from negative body image. The Report pointed out that girls as young as five now worry about their size and appearance, half of girls and one quarter of boys believe their peers have body image problems, and appearance is the largest cause of bullying in schools. It reported that media (43.5%), advertising (16.8%) and celebrity culture (12.5%) together account for almost three quarters of the influence on body image in society, yet the ‘ideal body’ that they typically present is estimated to not be physically achievable by nearly 95% of the population.

It is commonsense that girls – and boys – who worry about their body image, who feel inadequate, and who lack self-confidence as a result, are not in a position to believe in themselves as they could be. They have a major psychological hurdle to overcome, and this is a hurdle which as a society we are not tackling sufficiently strongly, despite the clear and unequivocal messages of last year’s Bailey Report and a growing unease amongst parents and educators about the effect of our laissez-faire approach to the images that our young people encounter. People in the public eye – ‘celebrities’ of every ilk – have a responsibility to make sure that they are helping young people become truly themselves, and it is not good enough simply to point to their admirable financial astuteness to excuse the overall effect of their actions.

We have an opportunity to do something about the oppressive weight of this culture on our young people. We all need to step up to the mark.

 

Jun 24

What sort of schools do we need? Reflections on a debate at the Wellington College Festival of Education

What a stimulating day! It was a pleasure to discuss wide-ranging educational issues at the Wellington College Festival of Education; I sat on a panel debating the question: What sort of schools do we need? For me, the answer is simple – we need great schools. There are, I believe, three main elements to this greatness: schools need responsiveness, outstanding educators, and a strong social and moral purpose.

What do I mean when I say that schools must be responsive? In short, it is that they must recognise that they are educating unique individuals, and while they are right to focus on core skills, enabling all their students to access and operate in society, they also need to spend time identifying and releasing the potential of individuals. Schools in effect need the freedom to be able to create a radically different curriculum, and radically different working practices, to be able to inspire young people and tap into their potential. Schools need to be able to build meaningful relationships between teachers and students, which is an argument for small schools, or at least small units within larger schools; moreover, schools need to be able to offer real choice for parents and young people –different strands of education, multiple opportunities, with ease of movement between them – opportunities for gender-specific groups, and non-age-related groups, for instance – and all of these must be equally and genuinely valued.

Secondly, great schools will be run by outstanding educators. Educators and leaders need to be liberated to pursue their passion and vision for education for young people. How do you grow and develop outstanding educators? Well, you inspire them, you pay them really well, you give them autonomy, you value and you trust them. There is still far too much suspicion about the profession, and we need to move right beyond this.

Finally, schools need to have a strong social and moral purpose. Why else have we created a huge educational structure other than as because as a society we believe in schools? I think we often forget that schools have a community and social role, not just a role for individuals to develop themselves. When a child is born we – as a society – enter into a social contract with them which is actually lifelong, whereby we undertake to give them what they need to be successful in society, and they in turn will learn how to give back. All too often, we are afraid to state these expectations of our schools and young people. Schools are meant to educate to change the world for the better. They are meant to have a strong moral purpose

It  goes without saying, that schools also need to be well-funded and free of political interference … a whole other debate resides in this. Essentially, however, we are an intelligent people with the scope for great educators and great schools; let’s just find a way to let them be great.

A simple answer to a simple question … and while the solution will not be so simple to find, if we are strongly motivated by the kind of consensus and determination which I witnessed at the Festival, then we have a pretty good chance of getting there eventually.

 

Jun 20

Aung San Suu Kyi at Oxford: a moment in history

This may be the week of our school Founders’ Day, but I had an important appointment today in Oxford, at the Sheldonian, to watch part of the University’s annual Encaenia celebrations. Each year, a number of distinguished people are honoured at the Encaenia ceremony with an honorary doctorate in their field, and this year was particularly special, for one of the honorands was no less than the Burmese politician, Aung San Suu Kyi, who until recently spent many years under house arrest while Burma – Myanmar – was under military rule. The daughter of Aung San, the assassinated hero of the Burmese independence struggle, she studied at Oxford in the 1960’s, where she met and married her late husband Michael Aris, with whom she had two sons. She has universally been recognised as courageous in her leadership of the Burmese National League for Democracy, especially during her many years of house arrest, during which, in 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”. Now a newly elected member of the Burmese Parliament, she has become a symbol for positive political change.

Up close, Aung San Suu Kyi has all of the quiet, calm, strong presence we have come to expect of her by reputation. She is tremendously inspiring – she spoke beautifully and with conviction after her award, and I had the huge, huge privilege of exchanging a few words with her at St Hugh’s afterwards, in and amongst the crowds. I told her that I was the Head of a girls’ school and that I taught my girls to change the world; she said that women in Burma are strong, but often hang back. She told me to keep doing what I was doing; I told her she was inspirational, and I thanked her. Moments in the presence of a great person create remarkable memories.

And she is a remarkable woman, to have such serenity and yet such determination after her years in captivity, standing in quiet opposition to a political situation which she felt was wrong and which she knew through her sense of duty it was her responsibility to oppose. It is easy to feel in awe of her – and quite right to do so. Her noble political stance has impacted, of course, on her family; she was unable to leave the country to be with her husband in his dying days, for fear that she would not be allowed to return, and she has become estranged from her two sons. Hard though this may have been, we can see and recognise the wider picture: it was for the greater good of her country that she did as she did, and it is for this that she has been honoured, including at today’s Encaenia in Oxford.

Fairytale endings are rare in politics, however. Aung San Suu Kyi may have won a seat in Myanmar’s parliament in April, but it would be a mistake to assume that this marks a fresh, new, sweet beginning to a brand new future for the country. Sectarian violence – clashes between Buddhists and Muslims – has broken out, and the government still has many embedded links to the military. Aung San Suu Kyi has already warned world business leaders, meeting in Thailand earlier this month, against “reckless optimism”, and her message to the hall in Oslo on 16th June, where she formally accepted in person her Nobel Prize, was that the hard work of political reform in Myanmar has only just begun. Tomorrow, she will speak to our Houses of Parliament, and her message is expected to be similar. Transformation does not take place overnight, and there is a fine line between opposition and compromise – a line which Aung San Suu Kyi must tread, trying to effect change without alienating either her supporters or a government which, for all its faults, has demonstrated its willingness to move forward.

She has an enormous task ahead of her. But she is a magnificent example already of what can be done when we hold true to our values.  She more than deserved her honour today.

 

Jun 18

Founders’ Day and the importance of valuing our history

At the end of this week – on Saturday 23rd June – we celebrate our annual Founders’ Day at St Mary’s Calne. For me – for us all – it is arguably the most important day in the school;s calendar: a day when we remember the Founders of the school, and value their legacy. We are indebted to the men and women who had the vision that led to the creation of the school back in 1873, and who have contributed to the leadership and vision of the school since. None of the education for which the school has become known would have happened without the foresight of the original Founders and Governors of the school, who set out with the express intention of developing a school which provided an excellent education for girls. We owe them a debt of gratitude – without them this fine school simply would not exist – and this is why we honour them on Founders’ Day each year.

The day is a very full one, with a Church service, Leavers’ Concert, champagne receptions, a special lunch, our annual prizegiving and a special afternoon tea, followed by an emotional Leavers’ Service and – this year, for the first time – a farewell tea for leaving staff. The Lily Ball, for leavers, their parents and their guests, will round off the day. Whatever the weather, the day is normally an amazing one. It is an opportunity to congratulate our Year 13 Leavers, and to honour their achievements, as well as for all of us to take visible, obvious pride in the school. Moreover, we allow all of those connected with the school to feel the privilege that we feel to be part of this great school.

I remind the girls each year that we should never take Founders’ Day for granted, or see it is just simply another school event. Founders’ Day is extremely important for the school for two reasons: firstly, it is a day on which we celebrate achievement – our many achievements, individual and collective; second, it is an important occasion for the whole school to be together, to do things together, and to remember that we are an important and strong community – the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts. In the Founders’ Day church service, there is a section towards the end when the whole school stands and we pledge ourselves – we make a commitment to do the right thing, to be honourable and to carry out the intentions of our Founders, namely to respond to their goals for a real education, for the stretching of the individual, and for learning and preparation for a successful life. We say all that together because it is important to say it all together. We need this occasion in the year just to remind us that we do not work, or live or play in isolation. We do it as a school – a great school which has stood the test of time and which has a great, great history.

I am looking forward to Saturday.

Jun 16

Madwomen or mothers of invention?

My eye alighted on this letter in last week’s Sunday Times, addressed to the Editor from Lynnea Shrief, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire:

“Your article “When mums go mad” (Style, last week) contained out-of-date information about me and my children. Furthermore, I understood it would be about my placenta encapsulation business, not about my mothering skills or preferences. It portrays me and other mothers like madwomen. But if everyone stayed average all the time, never questioned the norm and had a “go with the flow” attitude, methods in science, mothering, birth, schooling and so on would never improve and the human race would never evolve. I find it ridiculous how car makers and pharmaceutical companies get praised and awarded for coming up with new and innovative ideas and designs, or vaccines and drugs. Yet when a mother comes up with a different way of raising her children, she is criticised and made a mockery of.”

You can read the original article (if you subscribe to The Times online). Its title, “When mums go mad” should give you a clue to the tone taken by the journalist, and while it is fair to say that some of the approaches adopted by the mothers discussed in the article would not suit others, it is surely entirely wrong to condemn them out of hand. Our society is very quick to criticise those who do not conform; it is even quicker to lambast mothers, whatever their choices in parenting and mothering. Mothers are often caught in an impossible place in what they choose to do – open one of our tabloid newspapers and you will see them criticised for not remaining at home with their children; open another, and you will see them criticised for not bringing enough stimulation into the home by working.

Ms Shrief – who has also posted a long and revealing comment online about how she felt she and her family were treated by the journalist and photographer who visited her – feels, quite clearly, betrayed by those who interviewed her. Reading the article carefully, I can imagine very easily that the conversations reported were actually considerably longer and more balanced, and I can certainly see no evidence of neglect of children, or abuse; on the contrary, the mothers presented seem genuinely and honestly to be forging paths dedicated to doing the very best for their children. If this is so, then why are we criticising her, rather than holding her up as an example (one of many, many examples) of how to go about the very complex – and hugely important – task of parenting?

Whether you agree with Ms Shrief or not, she has the right to her opinions, and the right to be valued for her strong motivation to do the best for her family. She is also spot-on in her comment about progress: if everyone stayed the same, then the human race would indeed never evolve. Let us value diversity.

 

Jun 13

The house of dreams: pioneering work for girls in a Mumbai orphanage

This week’s Sunday Telegraph magazine, Stella, contained an uplifting article by Sally Howard, which I have yet to find online; if you can find it and read it, do. In it, she describes a visit to Shraddhanand Mahilashram, an orphanage for girls in Mumbai, India, where girls are taught to be independent, confident young women, and the story she tells is one of hope and determination to carve out a better future for some of the most disadvantaged in society. Education is an important part of what is provided for the girls in the orphanage; and the girls are encouraged to develop skills which will be of practical commercial use to them in the world in which they will grow up. I was struck – as, clearly, was the author – by how the orphanage prepares for this future, quoting Unicef’s Aniruddha Kulkarni talking disparagingly about the current trend in Indian orphanages and other institutions for teaching traditional handicraft skills as part of their core activity: “Girls weaving sari borders make great pictures for brochures aimed at foreign donors … [but] what use are such skills to young women in the cities of a booming 21st-century nation? Institutions have to be relevant. They have to give children the skills they need to be part of India’s success story.”

Such a focus at the orphanage also liberates the girls, giving them the means to break free of the cycles which have prevented them from having the same range of choices as boys. The sad – and shocking – truth is that girl babies are still less desirable than boy babies. The birthrate of boys compared to girls in India is still suspiciously high; people talk of the 8 million ‘missing girls’, the number of female foetuses estimated to have been aborted over the past ten years because they were not boys. Boys have – still – the potential to bring greater financial security to their families, and, when they marry, to bring a wife (plus dowry) into the family to contribute to the domestic labour. Girls, on the other hand, are costly – they are raised to the point where they are sent off in arranged marriages, plus dowry, to provide labour for another family. It is little wonder, while these expectations remain in place, and while girls are not given the skills to provide financially for themselves, that newborn girls are more likely to be abandoned by their parents, and that orphanages such as Shraddhanand Mahilashram will continue to have a role to play in helping to support them.

As with the issue of forced and early marriage, which has finally been outlawed in the UK, and has been the focus of worldwide attention through the Commonwealth, for too long people have shied away from criticising cultural practices which have disadvantaged or harmed girls, for fear of seeming to be culturally insensitive. In actual fact, any practice which harms girls or their life chances is wrong, and we must not be afraid to say so. In this world of instant communication, and easy connection, we have to find ways not just of passing on this message, but of helping to break the cycles of poverty which allow them to become embedded.

We have so much to do …

 

Jun 11

A small victory for Afghan equality

It is so easy to get caught up in day-today issues, and to lose an awareness of what is happening in the world. We take so many of our rights for granted, and we are so quick to challenge perceived injustice, that we can sometimes lose a sense of perspective about how lucky we are, and how other people do not have the same privileges that we do. It can take a news story from another part of the world, another culture, to humble us into a sense of reality, and this is exactly what happened when I read this article recently: “Women’s net cafe is small victory for Afghan equality”.

This story highlighted the success of a women-only internet cafe in Kabul, a project set up by a small Afghan non-profit organisation, Young Women for Change. The reason an internet cafe for women is so important is that it allows the women who use it to connect with the outside world in a way which is often denied to them in their homes, and – unfortunately and worryingly, increasingly – in their communities. Mixed internet cafes are intimidating places for Afghan women – as the author of the article describes them, they are “frequented mainly by underemployed men sitting around watching porn and harassing female customers” – and so the institution of a women-only zone is liberating and empowering.

The real victory, however, is not in the setting up of the cafe, but in the fact that a third of the 45 members of Young Women for Change are actually young men, who volunteer their time to speak to other men about women’s rights and to make changes that suit women (including this cafe). In a country where women suffered terrible abuses under the rule of the Taliban, and where it is feared that as international support withdraws in 2014, a repressive conservative regime may be reintroduced, the fact that young men are willing to speak up for women’s rights is tremendously encouraging.

No-one – man or woman – should accept a situation where any other human being faces discrimination, violence, restriction of liberty and injustice just because of their gender. The story of this Afghan internet cafe has a spark of hope within it. Let us hope that it lights a beacon.

 

Jun 07

Dedication to the lives of others: the way to bring harmony to the world

I very much enjoyed listening on the radio to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon during the National Service of Thanksgiving in St Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday, as part of the celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Ever thoughtful, Rowan Williams, reflecting on the Queen’s 60 years of service to the nation, took the opportunity to remind us all that it is our responsibility to look out for others, to serve others, and to dedicate ourselves to the life of others, for this is how society functions: alone we are only a shadow of ourselves, and together we are richer and fuller.

This latter point was the point he made most eloquently: that by dedicating ourselves to others in society, we are not entering upon some hard and unrewarding path of self-denial, but rather enriching our lives and bringing greater joy into them. As we start the process, he said “You will begin to discover that the other person is a source of nourishment, excitement, pleasure, growth and challenge. And if we broaden this out to an entire community, a nation, a commonwealth, it means discovering that it is always in an ever-widening set of relations that we become properly ourselves. Dedication to the service of a community certainly involves that biblical sense of an absolute purge of selfish goals, but it is also the opening of a door into shared riches.”

Dedication to others is severely underrated in our world, where the mantra of ‘greed is good’ often still underpins much of how people act. Yet this kind of selflessness is essential to our survival. As the Archbishop put it, “This alone is what will save us from the traps of ludicrous financial greed, of environmental recklessness, of collective fear of strangers and collective contempt for the unsuccessful and marginal – and many more things that we see far too much of, around us and within us.” Looking out, beyond ourselves, to our collective social good, can and will make a difference to the world.

The Queen is a shining example of dedication to others, of duty and of service. The point that Rowan Williams made was that she has also found joy in this process, and so can each of us. We need role models – our children need role models – of people who are doing precisely this: reaching out beyond their own selves to impact on the wider life of their community: “Moralists (archbishops included) can thunder away as much as they like; but they’ll make no difference unless and until people see that there is something transforming and exhilarating about the prospect of a whole community rejoicing together – being glad of each other’s happiness and safety.”

Refreshing and liberating; and food for thought. Time, I think, for a renewed purpose and action.

 

Jun 04

A marvellous day – and a tremendous cause

What historic times we are living in! Yesterday – the day of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on the Thames – may have dawned grey and cold, and the rain may have caught up with us all before the afternoon was out, but there was no denying the fact that everyone who was present on the riverbanks or the bridges of London shared in marvelling that this was an occasion that would not happen again in our lifetime, if ever. For a monarch to reign for 60 years is an amazing feat of longevity; to have done so, as our Queen has, with dignity and honour, through the vicissitudes and upheavals of the twentieth century, is remarkable. The Thames was covered – literally, covered – in boats of all shapes and sizes, and the view downriver as they passed and the flotilla grew in front of our eyes was breathtaking. Canaletto’s 1747 painting of the Royal Pageant may have communicated similar vibrant colours, but it could not communicate the music, the cheers, and the roar of excitement when the Royal Barge came into view, with Her Majesty aboard. The crowds were there to honour the duty she has demonstrated to her country, through thick and thin, and they were not to be dissuaded by the weather.

 We – girls, staff and parents from St Mary’s Calne, along with girls and staff from other girls’ schools (amongst whom I counted at least two other Headmistresses!) – were celebrating on Waterloo Bridge, from where we had a super view, but our purpose was a dual one. We were there to honour the Queen, but we were also there to support the work of Plan UK, and in particular their ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign. This campaign, about which I have written before (and will continue to write, as I believe passionately in it) is all about highlighting – and changing – the fact that 75 million girls across the world are not in education, and yet all evidence shows that when you educate a girl, you make a significant difference not only to her life, but to the life of her family, her community and even her country.

The Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth, has been a great advocate over the years for female empowerment in the developing world, and her endorsement earlier this year at the meeting of the Heads of State of the Commonwealth countries in Perth, Australia, of Plan’s campaign to end early and forced marriage was a huge boost to community workers across the world who have been trying to end this harmful and abusive practice. Thus there was a great synergy in play when Plan UK was chosen by the Royal Household to be one of only three charities to line the bridges during the Royal Pageant. To be a part of it was amazing and inspiring in equal measure; the girls present on the bridge know that while much has changed for women in the world in the past 60 years, much more must change in the next 60 years, and it will be up to them to make the difference that the world needs.

Yesterday was a landmark – a celebration of the present and past. Standing on Waterloo Bridge amongst the crowds, I knew – and so did they – that it was also a call to move forward to a better, stronger, fairer future. Help the cause; support Plan today!

May 31

Our young people need YOU. The importance of mentors.

Earlier this week, at an excellent Footdown Leadership Forum, I came across a super organisation which mentors young people to prepare them for the world of work: SATRO. Based in Surrey and the South East, it reaches out to 15,000 young people each year (5,000 primary pupils and 10,000 secondary pupils), through a combination of programmes, festivals, workshops, challenges and one-to-one mentoring. Its Chief Executive, Dr Beccy Bowden, with whom I had an excellent and mutually affirming conversation, is clearly passionate about the need to get young people engaged with business (and, vice versa, business with young people) from an early stage, and clearly what she is doing is working.

A good mentor is someone who helps young people look up from, and beyond, the limitations of their daily lives, and helps them to aspire to a successful and fulfilling future in work. The SATRO mentoring programme focuses on students who are underachieving at school, and provides these young people with a trusted adult who can challenge them and coach them so that they can move out of negative patterns of thinking and start to explore genuine options for their future in work. Businesses benefit from these relationships too, as the mentors themselves learn a huge amount by engaging directly with young people, as well as improving their communication skills. The sense of satisfaction that comes from giving to the community and transforming a life is, too, immeasurable.

Why, though, do young people need mentors from the business world? Firstly, parents alone cannot prepare their children to be truly independent and ready to play a role in the wider world. Although most parents want their children to become independent, shades of emotional conflict – the desire to keep our children safe and protected – can hold them back. Moreover, young people need – really need – other adults to give them different perspectives on the world, and to help them understand its complexity. Without the willing engagement of other adults – adults in work, with views and experience to share – the lives of our young people are poorer, and their development harder. I firmly believe that it is our collective responsibility as a society to bring up our children, and we all need to be involved.

So … if you aren’t already mentoring a young person in some way, pick up the phone. Your time, your enthusiasm and your wisdom are all needed. Enrol today in the task.