From Just Like a Prayer, part of A Woman's Place is in the Home for MIF's A Festival In My House... And Yours.
Amongst the shitshow of this year, women gave to us:
Reclaim The Night a-marching
As part of an annual campaign, which was founded by women in Leeds in 1977, students at Manchester University led a march in February. Reclaim the Night is a campaign against street harrassment, sexual assault and gender based violence. Read more here: https://www.facebook.com/ReclaimTheNightManchesterUk/videos/217910962794488
Gal’s tour de France a-cycling
UCI announced this year that a new Women's Tour De France will be introduced, a competition previously only men were allowed to perform in (and receive significant prize money from). InternationElles cycling team campaigned this year by cycling the distance of Tour De France at home on turbo trainers. Read more here: https://www.internationelles.com/home
Greta’s Earth Campaigning
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, continued to campaign during the pandemic. In April, on Earth Day 2020, she spoke about the need to tackle both the coronavirus pandemic and climate crisis together. Read more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQd1PNLL5k
Laverne Cox’s film premiering
Laverne Cox was the Executive Producer behind Disclosure - a documentary which premiered this year, exposing Hollywood's problematic transgender stereotypes (available on Netflix). Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/18/disclosure-laverne-cox-netflix-documentary-trans-representation
New Zealand’s virus clearing
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took early stringent controls and locked down the country to protect against the spread of Coronavirus. She was able to entirely rid the country of the virus. Read more here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53274085
Malala’s Graduation
Malala Yousafzai graduated from Oxford University this year. Malala had previously survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban - she was attacked for her belief in right of girls to be educated. Read more here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/malala-yousafzai-graduation-degree-oxford-university-instagram-cake-confetti-a9574786.html
More girls in education
Over the last 25 years, the proportion of girls being educated around the world has risen to 89%— a 16% increase since 1995. Read more here: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/educating-girls-around-the-world-report-2020/
DOL-LY’S VAC-INNE!
Dolly Parton donated 1 million dollars to fund research for the Moderna vaccine, currently testing at 95% effective. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/17/dolly-parton-partly-funded-moderna-covid-vaccine-research
The Black Lives Matter movement
Urgent Black Lives Matter campaigns took place this year, particularly following the murder of George Floyd. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded by black women in 2013. Read more here: https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/
Weinstein’s con-vic-tion
In March, Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for charges including rape, after numerous women were able to give testimony. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/harvey-weinstein-sentencing-rape-conviction
Women’s sanc-tu-aries
All around the country, women's sanctuaries and spaces were created to support women. In the North West of England, Idle Women began construction of UK’s first Physic Garden dedicated to women and girls. Read more here: https://idlewomen.org/spaces/
And Harris in Vice Presidency
In November Kamala Harris became the first black and south asian women to be elected as US Vice president, a role which exclusively has only ever been held by cis white men. The election result defeated Trump's presidency. Read more here: https://abc7chicago.com/kamala-harris-vice-president-2020-joe-biden-vp/7641318/
Supported by Girl Gang Manchester, Jenny has been raising money for Greater Manchester Rape Crisis throughout the month of December. For more information and how to donate visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ShowerCaroloke