#WomenEd Blogs

by Gemma Molyneux @GHOEnglish The anxiety of taking a career break to extend parental leave is exacerbated by the belief that a gap in work history will be a setback to future success.  In the same way, achieving temporary flexibility can also feel like stepping 'back' or 'down' from your career. There's a myth that you have to make a choice b...

by Katie Ridgway @MissMeeks14  #BirthdayCelebration

At #WomenEd we often talk about impact and with the movement’s fifth birthday around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the profound impact being part of this group has had on me. 

This time two years ago I had never heard of #WomenEd, but lost in a twitter spiral one evening I found an advert for an event entitled ‘A Journey of Discovery’ which was being hosted at a local school by a group called Women Leading in Education. I attended alone, sat on a table at the front alone and listened to a talk by Mary Myatt and a group of other fantastic women about their journeys in teaching and leadership. This would be one of the last times I attended an event in solitude; one impact of the #WomenEd community is that it becomes very easy to make friends!

I had never felt so inspired so two weeks later I signed up for another event and on a scorching, sunny day in June I took a drive to Middlesbrough, caught up with the curiosity of what amazing stories I would hear at the regional summer conference.

From the moment I was handed a copy of ‘How Remarkable Women Lead’ I knew I had found a place I wanted to be. That day I became enthralled in the conversations surrounding the gender pay gap and reducing diminishing language. listened attentively and learnt a lot.

by Vivienne Porritt @ViviennePorritt

We started WomenEd because women's voices on twitter were often silenced, harrassed or our views were not valued. It's one of the reasons we included a mic in our logo. So we encouraged women to tweet and to write blogs to tell our stories and share our lived experience. 

One of the reasons we wrote 10%braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education was to ensure the voices of our community reached women who are not on twitter. And over 30 voices are included in Being 10% Braver which, joyously, is published this December - you can pre-order and it's a great Christmas present! And we are delighted to share more opportunities for our community to write and to be heard.

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 Katie Ridgway @MissMeeks14

‘What-if’s’ and ‘maybe’s’ move erratically through my mind. Tonight, sleep eludes me, like it will be for many of my colleagues in the education sector. I have an anxiety disorder and have recently completed a course of CBT, but right now my breathing pattern strategies are of no help to me.

By Sean Harris @SeanHarris_NE   #HeForShe

Two key events happen for me at the end of 2020. Another comic-book super sheroe gets a big screen release in Wonder Women 1984 in December and I return to the classroom after working at Ambition Institute. We read regularly about our profession haemorrhaging good teachers. Since the first lockdown, I’ve struggled to sit on the side-lines. The work of WomenEd, and several inspirational female school leaders are further drivers for me returning into the classroom.