Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Just another University of Greenwich blog
The decision to give England women’s team match fees for individual games for the first time has been hailed as a “revolution” by coach Simon Middleton.
In July, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was criticised after it announced it would not be renewing central contracts for the 15-a-side squad.
But on Thursday the RFU said the 35-strong Elite Player Squad would receive an annual fee and a match fee.
“It’s a step towards professionalism in the women’s game,” said Middleton. More
Speed skater Elise Christie has been named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year.
The 27-year-old Scot, who became a triple world champion in March, said: “It feels amazing. I feel like I’ve won the World Championships again.”
Tennis player Johanna Konta finished second and taekwondo fighter Bianca Walkden third.
The England women’s cricket team were named team of the year after winning the World Cup in July. More
Female graphic designers have been producing artwork for the Underground since 1910, yet many remain largely unrecognised.
Some of their work was published under the name of an advertising agency, others were unsigned, and more still simply used their initials.
The Poster Girls exhibition at the London Transport Museum is showcasing the pieces. More
There were no women athletes at the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896, because its founder, Pierre de Coubertin, thought women were “not cut out to sustain certain shocks”.
More than 100 years later, Reality Check finds that women’s participation in the Summer Olympics has grown, but across the Olympic movement, the gender gap still exists.
Enshrined in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) charter is the commitment to “encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels”.
This would suggest the IOC no longer thinks along the lines of Pierre de Coubertin. But let’s take a closer look – starting with the sportswomen who participate. More
A female-only Cambridge University college will now accept applications from transgender students.
Murray Edwards, whose alumni include broadcasters Claudia Winkleman and Sue Perkins, had only admitted women since its creation in 1954.
It will now consider those who identify as female and, where identified as male at birth, have “taken steps to live in the female gender”.
Transgender students applications are being considered for the 2018 intake. More
October is Black History Month and with that in mind we have chosen Shirley Thompson as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Shirley is an English composer who became the first woman in Europe, within the past 40 years, to have composed and conducted a symphony with her New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony written in 2002.
Shirley was born in London to Jamaican parents. Her early musical experience included playing the violin in various youth symphony orchestras in London, and choral singing with local choirs in Newham. She graduated in music from Liverpool University and in composition from Goldsmiths’ College.
After university she composed a body of solo and instrumental ensemble works for concert hall as well as working as a freelance composer of music for TV, films and the theatre. She set up the Shirley Thompson Ensemble in 1994 and this became the main vehicle for her instrumental and vocal works that fused contemporary classical orchestrations with popular and world music styles.
Shirley was the first woman to compose and musically direct music for a major drama series at the BBC and she also directed the film Memories in Mind, which was broadcast by the BBC in 1998. She also co-scored the award-winning ballet PUSH, which premiered in 2005 which has since toured the world in major and prestigious venues.
Shirley has composed for opera, orchestra, contemporary dance, TV and film. Some of her other works include:
In 2010 Shirley was included in the “Power List of Britain’s 100 Most Influential Black People 2010”. In April 2016 she was honoured with the Luminary Award (presented to people of Caribbean heritage) who have made significant, outstanding contributions on an international scale or have brought to prominence issues that affect the Caribbean region.
To find out more about Shirley and her work see her website at http://shirleythompsonmusic.com/
To find out more about Black History Month see the website at http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/
Alhambra Nievas and Joy Neville will both take charge of men’s international matches this year, becoming the first women referees in Europe to do so.
Spain’s Nievas will officiate Finland v Norway in the Conference 2 division on 14 October.
Neville will take charge of Norway’s match against Denmark two weeks later.
The former Ireland captain and Six Nations Grand Slam winner refereed the Women’s Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and England in the summer. More
It was once the domain of outrageous young artists.
But this year the Turner Prize has grown up, shining a light on overlooked older artists, unsensational subject matter and traditional methods.
The exhibition of the four shortlisted artists opens in Hull on Tuesday.
After a rule change, Hurvin Anderson and Lubaina Himid are the first over-50s to be nominated since 1991, while Andrea Buttner and Rosalind Nashashibi are both in their 40s. More
From Damascus and Hama to Aleppo and the seaside city of Latakia, through six years of war in which hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives and more than 12 million have been forced from their homes, the Girl Guides have continued.
Women first started holding Guide meetings in Syria in the 1950s and they are being granted full membership of the movement’s worldwide body this week.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (Wagggs) praised the Syria groups’ “incredible work” at giving their more than 1,000 members “a sense of normality” and “a safe space to play and make friends”. More
Andy Murray practised against both boys and girls in his early years, and went on to play with some of the world’s top female tennis players in mixed doubles. He hit the headlines recently for his comments on gender in sport, including once when he corrected a journalist’s casual sexism. Here, he writes about his hopes for women in tennis. More