International Women's Day

On this day (8th March) we celebrate women’s historical achievements and the fight for equality whilst we also continue to raise awareness of the additional struggles faced by women throughout the world simply due to their gender.   

At Metanoia we have strong equality values and are proud of the number of women leaders we have at all levels in the Institute. We continue to foster these values through the newly re-launched Equality and Diversity Committee and through other projects we are involved in such as the Heroines Project https://www.heroines-project.eu/.  

Nevertheless, we recognise the need to continue to strive for equality and inclusivity in all that we do and sadly recognise that discrimination in the workplace and gender-based violence continue to be prevalent in our society.                                

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day  this year is “Choose to Challenge”. We accept this challenge. Together we are stronger and on this International Women’s Day we stand in solidarity with our UK and global peers in the fight for gender justice and equality.  

#ChooseToChallenge  #IWD2021

We have compiled a brief Suffragettes quiz below to remember some of the women who fought for a more equal society.  

Quiz Here  

Link for quiz: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=NGW8TyWs1kCUuSjZfQzqBJ89L7j39q1Iuynt9OMcuwFUNjhCT0dRQ1g5WU5VTFM2UEJRNzBGVjNZOS4u  

 

HEROINES – empowerment of rural women with mental challenges through therapeutic writing 

Metanoia’s Claire Williamson (Director of Studies for MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes) and Dr Jane Reece (Research Adviser) are working on HEROINES, a European funded research project involving Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Finland in delivering a pilot project.

Gender violence is a worrying reality in the European countries involved with this project, which aims to support women to recognise risk and understand the wider context of oppression, as well as inspiring confidence and gaining inner strength from stories of role models and participants’ own creative writing.

With Karoliina Maanmieli and Katri Kluukeri from Finland, Claire and Jane have been developing a curriculum, which reflects on a range of role models who have either spoken or written privately or publicly about their experiences. Role models include Anne Frank (who documented her life in hiding from the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands), Waris Dirie (Somalian author, actress and campaigner against Female Genital Mutilation), Arnhild Lauveng (a Finnish clinical psychologist who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 17), Alma Karlin (a Slovenian writer, poet and collector, ployglot and one of the first European women to circle the globe alone, as well as facing prejudice from her own mother ), Lena Manta (born in Turkey and living in Greece, who has raised cancer awareness) and Alison Lapper (disabled artist, brought up in the care system).

The programme has a trauma-informed approach, building confidence in participant voices as they write and share together in a safe and nurturing environment. Workshops include: Writing through Risks, Writing what we admire, Writing out problems, Writing and your rights, Protecting Women from violence, Writing Resilience, Mapping the Future for women, and Celebrating Writing. The participants will become The New Heroines, sharing their creative work via the project, which culminates in art and writing dissemination events around Europe.

If you would like to know more about HEROINES: https://www.heroines-project.eu/

If you would like to try some of the exercises for yourself: https://www.heroines-project.eu/quick-writing-help/