#SheBelongs

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He For She For all Humans...

Just a little for the record Friday reminder post. Let's give it up again for Miss Watson, taking a good initiative to engage the other 50% of the population and hopefully the start of an impactful movement that can encourage debate and change. 

If you have 11 minutes (you have 11 minutes!) grab a cuppa and listen. And then maybe pop by He for She to find out more about what they are trying to achieve. 

At the end of the day the whole point is not really about labels,  it's about the fact that when it comes down to it we're all humans and that's that, but sadly (a lot of) work still remains to be done in order to call this an equal world, on many fronts. Sexism and sex/biology based segregation is up there as one of the big ones as it affects all of us one way or another. 

(Now this is where I would normally fall into a rant about all the hoopla that followed, the vile websites and comment-fields dedicated to some really disturbing forms of sexism and hate-mail, etc... But for now maybe just take a moment and listen to the speech, browse the website and google gender equality and sex segregation...)

xo

#BanBossy

Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In' foundation have set up the new #BanBossy campaign aimed to encourage people to stop enforcing the notion that boys can be ambitious while girls who take charge are labelled as 'bossy'. 

The idea that a little girl's dreams or aspirations might be silenced or hurt by the fact that we, men AND (vitally) women, dare enforce the stereotype of what girls should and shouldn't be. 

Amongst the women taking part in the campaign Beyonce caught my eye as she stands tall and reinforces her well documented independence by proclaiming she isn't bossy, she's THE boss.

It isn't really anymore complicated then that. Encourage girls and boys alike to take up space, to speak up, to have ambitions! Dare to dream, whoever you are. 

xo

#bossldy

International Lady Day

#equalityalwaysforeveryall

xo 

Book Club - Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

What more appropriate time to finally get around to reviewing Sheryl Sandberg's (COO of Facebook, one of the youngest female billionaires, Forbes power lady, author and champion of women all over leaning in to maximise their potential and happiness) 'Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead', than just after Sony announced they had snatched up the rights and a movie was in the making. 

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Sochi, Qatar, Beijing; stories of sports & human rights

"It is possible even as competitors to live together under one roof in harmony with tolerance and without any form of discrimination for whatever reason."

Thomas Bach, President of the IOC

The Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, are officially open for business. Since the start Twitter has been trending #sochiproblems and journalists, visitors and athletes have been sharing pictures of the somewhat questionable hotels and general conditions they have arrived to. 

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Getting real about women in Hollywood - what all media ladies should take a moment to read

The discussion of why there are so few female directors/writers/strong leads/woman-in-strong-positions-in-media-in-general have been going and continue to circulate without much result to show for it. 

Someone who has decided to get real about this is Lexi Alexander, with a blog post covering some of her thoughts on the underlying issues (all in bullet points and with personal experience to back up her reasoning). 

Any woman in the Media Industry should take a moment and scroll through her post. There is nothing much new or groundbreaking or new in there, really, but it puts together the key points well and bluntly and frankly it's an IMPORTANT reminder of how much we are kicking each other, ourselves, and allowing the boys to do the same. 

 Branded a bitch. Could it be an opinionated lady?

Yes, there's a discussion. It's politically correct and good PR to talk diversity and gender equality. Does this work? No. Is it a real thing with much effort put into it behind the scenes? Mostly nope, it's a PR trick with little thought because everyone's busy, who can be bothered, and shouldn't these girls just accept it and get used to playing hardball already. (that's all sarcasm bthw. Guess I fall in the the 'bitch' category too. Oh well!)

She does share some great background and further reading material though, well worth a scroll. And there's a reminder that if you go a bit beyond just saying the line there are companies and leaders that actually do make a real difference. For example, as Lexi points out, Etsy's (male, as often is the case) CEO Kellan took a moment to figure out his core demographic, why his equality dreams weren't working out, made some changes and bam! Increase in lady engineers was had. 

Bad ass Media winning and leading ladies Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (two of far too few).

No, we don't want freebies. We don't want to be there because you need to meet your quota of race, religion, sex, sexuality and whatever else you put on those application cards. Skills are skills. If the guy has a stronger set he should get the job. But if the girl beats the remaining pile of CVs she shouldn't just be given a chance, she should be entitled to the same level of pay and, crucially, respect, as her male counterparts. Sexism, lame jokes and unequal opportunities pay and promotion wise is not politically or morally right, nor is it profitable or good business. Sort it out girls and boys!

Lexi's post can be found here. 

A collection on 'Why Media Failed the Ladies in 2013' can be found here. 

xo

Same Love, Macklemore & Lewis spreading equality

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis taking a stance for equality. 

'We become so numb to what we're saying... It's human rights for everybody. 

Love is patient. Love is kind.'

xo xo 

P