SunGen and Vote100

SunGen’s meeting on 14th March focused mainly on what we are going to do over the next few months as part of the university’s wider agenda to celebrate 100 years of the Representation of the People Act.  Bryan Talbot has created a logo for us to use, although it seems this web site wants to make the colours more neon.

Already, we have marked International Women’s Day with a panel discussion, and on 18th March, PhD candidate Heather Askwith gave a workshop as part of the Creative Writing Festival to explore dystopian fiction: ‘No Votes for Women’. This sell-out event encouraged writers to think about a world where women didn’t have the vote. Scary thoughts!

The full list of events is here:

• 8th March – IWD, 3pm Prospect 007
• 18th March – No Votes for Women: writing dystopian fiction with Heather Askwith
• 26 and 28 June – Rosette and banner making for Years 8 and 9.
• 23 June – 3 July – EqualiTeas
• 9-11 July – Open air screenings of Suffragette and Made in Dagenham, St Peter’s square.
• Late July – gender equality in schools networking event for female secondary school teachers.
• November – local female MPs’ public talk about women in politics.
• November – getting into politics: public networking event with local councillors.

We came up with a list of academics from the around the university who could present short, interactive sessions for the schools events in June.

We discussed how we could take part in the Equaliteas events, and Kim Gilligan agreed to contact local networks to gauge interest.

The film screening events are being organised by colleagues in Media.

Graeme Thompson is organising the November events through is contacts with local politicians, but SunGen will be involved once this is more settled.