We were very excited in our first session to meet 20 amazing diverse young women, working in a variety of different art forms.
A large part of the session was getting to know each other. It was really overwhelming to hear everyone’s stories, and it was really apparent that there is a real need for a supportive network and a place to get advice, grow and develop in a positive all female environment. It was also (perhaps unsurprisingly) apparent how we all lack confidence in some way when speaking about ourselves and our abilities, this is something we will look into in the coming weeks.
We explored as a group what the benefits of an all-female course is, benefits of being female and obstacles and difficulties we have faced. Here is some of what came out of the discussions:
Benefit of all female course:
· Support – understanding
· Honesty – openness about feelings, don’t have to make yourself ‘pretty’
· Differences & similarities
· Feels safe & empowering
· We’re all funny?! – aren’t we???
Benefit of being female:
· Empathetic- the time is now!
· Smashing the ceiling – been pushed down
· Making with a feminine energy
· Stories as women- untold – now we can tell them
· Proud to be a feminist – care about other women
· Can show emotion
· Can have children
· Less stigma on being an individual
· Freedom in art- feminist art
Obstacles and difficulties:
· Female focused art labelled as feminist (angry!)
· Always the ‘one’ female on the bill
· Comments and put downs
· Can’t react/ speak up for feat of being blacklisted/ labelled as ‘trouble’, ‘gobby’
· Stronger male networks
· Female leaders not sharing enough
· Less faith in women (in work place) less likely to take risks
We are really looking forward to working with and developing this fabulous group of women.
Watch this SPACE!
