'Ello 'ello 'ello!
Back in March I was fortunate enough to attend Southbank centre's annual W.O.W (women of the world) festival. If you ever find yourself in the capital, I can't recommend swinging by Southbank centre enough! Since moving to London for uni two years ago, this wonder has been like a second home to me and leaves me in awe and bursting with inspiration every time I leave. They run various weird and wonderful events, there truly is something for everyone!
This festival was a week long, although I only bought a Saturday pass - a little heads up to fellow students, we fall under the concessions bracket, so can go to most events for a fraction of the price!
TOP TIP: Use the elevator - when you arrive at each floor, a choir sings the level you've reached and changes key at each stop.
Wait till you reach level five!
Back in March I was fortunate enough to attend Southbank centre's annual W.O.W (women of the world) festival. If you ever find yourself in the capital, I can't recommend swinging by Southbank centre enough! Since moving to London for uni two years ago, this wonder has been like a second home to me and leaves me in awe and bursting with inspiration every time I leave. They run various weird and wonderful events, there truly is something for everyone!
This festival was a week long, although I only bought a Saturday pass - a little heads up to fellow students, we fall under the concessions bracket, so can go to most events for a fraction of the price!
TOP TIP: Use the elevator - when you arrive at each floor, a choir sings the level you've reached and changes key at each stop.
Wait till you reach level five!
The first event I attended was a 'WOW views on the news' panel. Jude Kelly, campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and Domino Pateman discussed current affairs and set the tone for the day. They covered recent atrocities that occurred in India and explored the global inequality of the sexes.
Here's a snippet of the panel.
Afterwards, a delightful American woman took to the stage and forced the audience to step out of our comfort zone and be vulnerable. Over the course of 20 minutes, she asked us a serious of yes/no questions, both silly and incredibly raw. We were all asked to stand up as she began to read through the set of questions, one by one. If we had experienced said event, we were asked to remain standing - if our answer was no, we quietly sat down.
The answers ranged from "have you ever been caught having sex?", "have you ever said "I'm never drinking again"?, to the more intimate "have you ever had an abortion?" and "have you ever lost a parent?". Besides the soothing voice of our conductor, you could hear a pin drop throughout the entire exercise. The idea was to show us that we weren't alone, that people in this very room are going through the same things as us. It was beautiful.
Afterwards, radio personality and the ray of sunshine that is Gemma Cairney took to the stage and broadcast her documentary about the way young girls in the UK experience and perceive the world around them. It was heartbreaking to hear girls as young as nine speak about the pressures they feel growing up in a world inundated with photo-shopped images and being exposed to sexual lyrics and references. Everyday sexism founder Laura Bates and rapper Little Simz joined her on stage and shared their thoughts on the matter. The event was riveting and such a vital conversation to tackle!
Next, I went to a workshop called 'man up or man down' all about combating sexist language. We focused on how gender inequality is seamlessly woven into our everyday language. It was led by feminist writer and progressive publisher Cat Crossley - who I might add what absolutely phenomenal! I left feeling enraged (for all the right reasons) and empowered. We were dared to challenge people from now on when we hear sexist slurs. Here's three examples off the top of my head:
1. Apparently, the most common 'justification' is "oh you know how women can be" - call them out on their shit! "No I don't actually, enlighten me" *then glare with daggers*.
2. Or if you hear someone derogatively exclaiming "don't be such a pussy", act as though you're on their side and retort "yeah, don't be such a vagina" - their baffled look will be hysterical and hopefully make them think twice next time!
3. & Finally there's the classic "I'm sorry if I offended you" - to which there is only ever one response: "If?!"
Remember: society is language, language is society!
The penultimate event I attended was the reason I went out of my way to go to the festival in the first place - Kate Mosse's how to get published workshop. The one and a half hour masterclass was undoubtedly the most fascinating event I've ever been to, in terms of my writing career. The amount of questions that were answered was outstanding and I felt a rush of adrenaline throughout - I couldn't wait to get home and write away!
I was initially planning on sharing the notes that I furiously jotted down during the workshop, on various numbered napkins, notepads and programmes, in this post. However, this post is already one of my longest ever written - no worry, I'll dedicate an entire blog post just to her words of wisdom in the near future!
Here's a glimpse of what's to look forward to, this was written in the event programme: "Find your writing voice as a woman, how to negotiate the process of finding an agent and getting published, the pros and cons of independent publishing and how to achieve what you want as a woman writing without compromising what you want to say."
The final event I attended was women and immigration - a subject very dear to my heart. "Brits think that, on average, immigrants make up to 24% of the population. Actually, it's closer to 13%. So why do we hold such a skewed view of immigration?". Whenever the discussion of immigration comes up around friends, family or colleagues, things can get heated pretty quickly - I tend to either walk away or ask, politely, if the subject can be changed. The way I hear some people talk about immigrants makes me cringe and rage, I often think they forget they're humans too! This discussion was brilliant and explored a heart wrenching story about a female refuge's plight and struggle with racism and adapting to living in a country with low tolerance for immigrants - unfortunately, it's one of many.
The panel consisted of Ghada Rasheed from women for refugee women, Roma community support worker Ewelina Pawlowska, Diana Nammi, Director and founder of the Iranian and Kurdish women's rights organisation and winner of the woman on the move award special jury prize, Maria Patsalos, immigration specialist at Mishcon de Reya and Ayah Omar from the network of Eritrean women ("the north Korea of Africa").
The festival was exceptional and I felt truly privileged to be amongst so many inspiring and courageous women!
P.S: I HAVE to mention, if you do make it to Southbank in London you must try the dinky doughnuts! As you exit the Southbank centre, turn left and walk towards the OXO building - follow your nose and you'll find the street vendor who sells the best doughnuts in the world. (10 for £2 & word to the wise, they only accept cash!)
P.P.S: ^ I'm not sponsored, I just really love doughnuts and could talk about these particular ones until the cows come home!
