Hello to everyone! Sorry I have been such
an absent blogger recently!
So last week I was selected to attend the
“Women of the World” conference in LONDON, as part of Dove’s “Change makers of
tomorrow” team – which was an absolute privilege. The conference was incredible
and it gave a platform for so many inspiring women from all over the world to
speak about their life experiences and all the amazing things they have been
doing! However ever since I have been pondering why we have so few women in
powerful positions in our society when women are doing such amazing things.
Following that, why do we never hear about all the amazing things that women
have been doing all around the world?
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| A few of the team beside the stage!! |
I have entitled this blog “poor female role
models?” because in terms of media representation of female role models in our
society, the outlook is grim. Just take a look at the front page of a magazine or
tabloid and you’ll find awful role models for young women. Our politicians
wearing some horrendous skirt and shoes that don’t match, our celebrities who
are “gaining 10lbs” or who are looking “less than glamorous with a make-up free
face” So do we have poor female role models?
I completely disagree that we have poor
female role models. There are so many amazingly incredible female role models
in the world today, however we just don’t hear about them, or they simply get
silenced behind the medias blaring horn of judgment.
Last week I attended the Women in the World
conference in London, a conference that gave these amazing women a platform to
tell their stories, seemingly away from the media judgment horn. Let me share
some of the stories of these amazing women, to prove that we have a multitude
of great female role models.
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| Dr Von der Leyen speaking to Tina Brown |
Firstly my personal inspiration, Dr Ursula
Von der Leyen – ever heard of her?
She is Germany’s Minister of Defence, and
mother of 7 and a medically trained doctor, this women is definitely a positive
role model to all young women, who are
constantly told by the media and society that you can’t be a mother and be
successful; you have to choose. If you get a chance, I would recommend a look
at her political policies on the German army, as she is definitely very
switched on in terms of her thinking. She also made amazing reforms in Germany
in her past positions as minister, introducing 2 months of paid paternal leave
that only the father can take, encouraging men to have a more active role as a
dad and allowing mothers to engage more with their career or other aspirations.
She is also fighting hard for a culture shift in society, where more women are
involved in politics, she said “We want diversity. Women are not better than
men, they are different” eluding to the fact that we need a balance of men and
women in high power positions to achieve a diverse society.
As you can tell I was completely inspired
by her, but then I sat back and wondered why I’d never heard of her?
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| Cara onstage, with her shoes off! |
Next someone who is particularily famous
with the youth of today, Cara Delevinge. Cara started out in the media eye as a
Model for Burberry, then moved into acting and recently singing.
As a Dove generation girl delegate I got
the opportunity to meet this wonderful woman, and discovered she was a normal
23 year old female, just like me! When I first saw her, I actually became quite
starstruck, shocked by the fact she was a normal human being, not some robot
that the media has created.
Later when she spoke, she revealed she
struggled with mental health issues, and some self confidence issues when she
started out in her career. To have the strength to speak out and tell her story
to a crowd of 900 people is immense, and I respect her massively for doing so.
Some things that she said really stuck with me, “Flaws are the things that make
us special. The cracks within us make us great and they need light shone into
them”. In our idealistic society, where the media reports on every silly little
flaw of every women in the limelight, it is hard to be able to accept ourselves
as the wonderful women that we are. We need more role models like Cara
Delevinge to remind us that our flaws make us not only beautiful, but they make
us who we are.
However, if you google search “Cara
Delevingne at the Women of the World conference” the first option that comes up
is a daily mail article talking about what Kendall Jenner is wearing to support
her friend at the event, rather than the amazing things that were said or the
incredibly brave women who stood up and told their story to the masses.
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| My horrifying Google search after the conference had finished |
This is the media and their portrayal of a
woman in our society. A woman who could have such a positive influence in the
world and be an amazing role model to young women but instead she is locked out
of her potential by the media’s coverage of her.
Living with a media where our politicians
are judged more on what they are wearing than what they are saying, and celebrities
with an opinion are getting them dimmed down by the media criticism of their
weight and makeup is not a media that I want to engage in. It is not only
damaging to society as a whole, but it degrades the amazing role models that we
do have that should be promoted. So do we have poor female role models?
So in conclusion, we don’t have poor role
models at all, we simply have poor media
coverage of amazing role models.
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