Category: Gender

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – February 2019

On By In Gender, Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month, LGBT

February is LGBT History Month and with that in mind we have chosen Nicola Adams as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

 Nicola is a British professional boxer. She fought (and won) her first bout at the age of 13, but it was four years before she found a second opponent.  In 2001, she became the first woman boxer ever to represent England, in 2003, she became English amateur champion for the first time, and she retained the title at the next 3 championships.

She was the first English female to win a medal in a major tournament taking silver in the bantamweight division at the European Championships, she also won silver at the World Championships in 2008 and in 2010 this time at flyweight.

However Nicola struggled to continue her boxing career due to lack of funds. She worked as an acting extra on soap operas such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and EastEnders, and worked as a builder before the International Olympic Committee backed funding for women’s boxing in 2009.

In November 2010, she was victorious in the first ever GB Amateur Boxing Championship and in 2011, she won Gold at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships. In July 2011, the BBC included her in a feature on “6 Promising Britons to watch in the Olympics”.

At the 2012 Olympics Nicola claimed the first Olympic women’s boxing gold medal, she defended her title at Rio 2016 and became the first British boxer to defend an Olympic title in 92 years.

In 2017 she turned professional, having signed with promoter Frank Warren, winning her first professional fight.

In 2012, she became the first female boxer to receive an award from the Boxing Writers’ Club of Great Britain when she was awarded the Joe Bromley Award for outstanding services to boxing. She was also the first woman ever to be invited to the club’s awards ceremony.

In 2013 she was awarded an MBE and in 2017 an OBE 2017 for services to boxing.

In 2016 Nicola was named Number One in the DIVA Power List of the UK’s most eminent lesbian and bisexual women.  She is openly bisexual, and was named the most influential LGBT person in Britain by The Independent in 2012.

She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

To find out more about LGBT History Month see here https://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/

To find out more about Nicola see here https://nicola-adams.com/

Corrie star in ‘historic’ female BAME Shakespeare play

On By In Diversity, Ethnicity, Gender, Race

Shobna Gulati

Former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati is part of the “first ever company of women of colour” performing Shakespeare on a major UK stage.

The Globe Theatre in London described their staging of Richard II as “historic”.

Stage, TV and film star Adjoa Andoh is playing the lead role of king while Gulati will play the Duke of York.

The play will explore a post-Empire and pre-Brexit Britain and will reflect on identity and ownership.  More

Andy Murray: Women praise tennis star for role in fighting sexism

On By In Gender

Amelie Mauresmo and Andy Murray

Following Andy Murray’s announcement that he will retire this year, many prominent women – inside and outside of tennis – have praised him for taking a leading role in fighting sexism.

From calling out journalists, to becoming one of the first leading men’s tennis players to employ a female coach, he has hit the headlines on numerous occasions.  More

New childcare course aimed at men launched in Highlands

On By In Diversity, Gender

Child playing with toys

A Scottish university is trying to encourage more men to consider jobs in childcare.

Only 4% of those working in early years and childcare are male, according to the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).

It is piloting a 12-week course for men, with the classes run in evenings to better suit those already working in jobs during the day.

Those who complete the course have the chance to gain an HNC in childcare.  More

Watchdog bans ‘harmful’ gender stereotypes in adverts

On By In Gender

1950s stereotypical housewife uses vacuum cleaner while holding up her husband who's lying on sofa

The UK’s advertising watchdog has said it will ban “gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence”.

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) said harmful stereotypes in adverts “contribute to how people see themselves and their role in society”, and can hold some people back.

The ban will cover men struggling with household chores or girls being less academic than boys.

The rules come into force in June 2019.  More

Cresta Run: Women allowed to race iconic track in Switzerland

On By In Equality, Gender

A woman races down the Cresta Run in the early part of the 20th Century

Women will be allowed to race down the iconic Cresta Run toboggan track in Switzerland this season after an 89-year ban was overturned.

They had been allowed to race on equal terms with men until the 1920s when it was deemed medically dangerous.

However at a St Moritz Tobogganing Club meeting members voted by a two-thirds majority to allow women to ride the Cresta Run again and become members.  More

Kitty O’Neil: Wonder Woman Stuntwoman dies at 72

On By In Disability, Gender

Kitty O'Neil in 1977 and doubling for Lynda Carter

Kitty O’Neil, a stuntwoman who was Lynda Carter’s stunt double on 1970s TV series Wonder Woman, has died in South Dakota at the age of 72.

O’Neil, who lost her hearing when she was five months old, also doubled for Lindsay Wagner on The Bionic Woman.

Her other credits included Smokey and the Bandit II and The Blues Brothers.

O’Neil’s success as a stuntwoman led her into the world of speed racing and she set a land-speed record for women in 1976 – which still stands today.  More

Emma Clarke: FA backs call to honour first British black female player

On By In Gender, Race

The British Ladies team photo from 1895

The Football Association has backed a call to honour Emma Clarke, Britain’s first black female footballer.

The Bootle-born player first featured for the British Ladies’ team in 1895 and went on to appear at stadiums such as St James’ Park and Portman Road.

Now Anna Kessel, sports writer and co-founder of Women in Football, wants Clarke to receive wider recognition: “A blue plaque on her childhood home would be brilliant.

“It would also be lovely to see the ground on which she made her debut recognised. I know English Heritage have rules about where a plaque can be attached – on an existing original building – however there are no existing buildings left on the pitch in north London where Clarke played. Maybe English Heritage could rethink their criteria.   More

Female referee Sara Cox to officiate at Premiership Rugby Cup match

On By In Gender

Sara Cox

Sara Cox will become the first woman to referee two top-flight English teams when she takes charge of Northampton v Wasps in the Premiership Rugby Cup on Sunday.

Cox, 28, was made the world’s first professional female rugby referee in March 2016 when she earned a central contract with the Rugby Football Union.

She was the first woman to officiate a second-tier men’s game in England when she oversaw Cornish Pirates’ meeting with Doncaster Knights in the Championship in March.

Cox, who gave up her own playing career because of injury, is scheduled to get her first experience of a men’s international this autumn, working on the sidelines of Hong Kong v Germany and Kenya v Germany, while she will also take charge of France Women v New Zealand Women on 9 November.  More

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – November 2018

On By In Gender, Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month, Transgender

During November Transgender Awareness Week takes place week beginning on the 12th finishing with Transgender Day of Remembrance on the 19th.  With this in mind we have chosen Ash Palmisciano as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Ash is an actor and is best known for playing Matty Barton in Emmerdale. He is the first transgender actor to play a transgender character in the soap.

Ash was initially an adviser on the storyline working with the charity ‘All About Trans’ whose work relates to achieving positive representations in the media of trans people.  However during the time he was on the set he was invited to audition for the part and was offered the role.

Ash thought that as he has a similar background to the character he could really empathise with his character, but also, as an actor, it was a fantastic first job to work on a soap like Emmerdale.

He is also hoping to be a role model for others to show that although you might have a past and a bit of a journey to be who you are, you can achieve your dreams and ambitions.

Ash has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and was the first transgender actor to appear on the RSC stage. His other work includes Summer In London at Theatre Royal, Stratford East and Boy Meets Girl for the BBC.

Find out more about Ash here https://twitter.com/Ash_Palmo and about Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance here https://www.glaad.org/transweek