#WomenEd Blogs

By Vivienne Porritt   @ViviennePorritt Our team of Global Strategic Leaders were thrilled we gained Registered Charity status before Christmas. It was even more special as these are the charitable objects we want to achieve: to promote equality and diversity for the public benefit by eliminating discrimination on the grounds of gender by raisi...

By Hannah Duncan   @heduncan Combining work and motherhood is possible. It is also possible to thrive and progress in your career. But often, as mother teachers, we feel these things are not possible for us. Too many teachers leave the classroom after becoming mothers (see the MTPTProject's excellent Light Research project where they delve int...

by Lou Doyle @LouiseMesma Whilst the statistics vary depending on the source you use and the definition of what sits in the 'digital' sector, women make up approximately a quarter of the workforce. Even less in leadership roles. Overall, the pace of progress to close the gap is at a snail's pace. Yet we have the inverse of that figure in the educat...

By Neelam Parmar @neelamaparmar1 LinkedIN Welcome to the first of SEVEN blogs from attendees of our inaugural #WomenEdDigiMeet held last week, which we will publish over the coming days. First up, we have Neelam, who asks what makes a #EdTech Leader? I have had this question posed to me many times. For anyone interested in a #EdTech leadership...

by Beccy Fox     @WomenEdTH Three things have happened recently that got me thinking about women in leadership, in particular, women in leadership in international schools. The first was some 'smack you in the face' data: out of nearly seventy applicants for a recent head of school search, only eleven were from women. Eleven out of sevent...

by Kate Claydon     @KateClaydon The role of a headteacher is the most privileged within our profession.  You have the opportunity to shape the culture and ethos of your school, determining not only the academic outcomes of your students but also developing their characters, confidence and understanding of values; sowing seeds that w...

by Kerry Jordan Daus @KerryJordanDaus The 3rd Annual Unconference of #WomenEd is set to excite, challenge and enthuse us all. I am taking a moment, a space, to reflect on Shirley Chisholm's words and the provocation for our weekend: "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair". What does that mean to me? This is timely, as I ...

by Dr Kate Bridge     @KateBridge19 As a female Head of Physics, I am often on my own at the table when mixing with other Physics departments in education.  Society would draw Dr Bridge as a white-haired male in the latter stages of life who is crazy for mathematical differentials. That is definitely not the box I fit in. I am a chal...

by Sian Williams   @principalsian Are you a female leader in England contemplating the Department of Education's white paper, where by 2030, 'remaining maintained schools would change status, to become academies'? Are you leading a standalone school wondering whether a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is really the way forward? Do you have a sense th...

by Abby Bayford @Abby­_BayfordIn March 2022, my life changed in the most wonderful way. After years of infertility, I had a successful round of IVF and found out I was pregnant. I had yearned for this for many years and my mind became preoccupied with thoughts about the wonderful surprises ahead. The surprise I hadn't considered, however, was the f...

by Kerry Jordan-Daus @kerryjordandaus I considered myself a rank outsider. But I had nothing to lose. Well maybe, my pride. But still I gave it a go. I believed I could. So, I would. No, I should. When we reflect on #BreakTheBias, we are facing personal, cultural, and structural barriers to equality. Today, I am thinking about my own bias, the unco...

By Laura Bain  @LaruBain#breakthebias #womenintech #edtech Just as we are shaped and influenced by our environment, so too are technology products as they are developed. When the teams that are developing, designing and deploying these products lack diversity, bias unavoidably creeps in. Examples of gender bias are already evident in Artificia...

By Jen McArdle @McArdleJen I would like to acknowledge and thank the Traditional Custodians of this land and recognise their continued connection to Country. We thank Elders past, present and emerging for sharing this land for us to live and learn on. We thank the Traditional Custodians for caring and looking after this land for thousands of genera...

By Rita Rebizant, @RitaRebizant I spent all of July in a kind of mindless fog, not quite sure what to do with myself. My brain was still full of school stuff but along with it came a lot of deep-seated emotion that I didn't know where to put.  I cried a lot. I couldn't sleep. I sat staring at nothing a lot.  I scrolled through endless Twi...

By Mélissa Villella, Ph.D @MLVillellaPhd   Network Leader @WomenEdQuebec With an Introduction by Lisa Hannay @lhannay1 Network Leader @WomenEdCanada   As Global Strategic Leader for #WomenEd, I oversee the Twitter account for @WomenEdCanada and work alongside all of the networks in Canada and the United States. Our geography makes it...