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"The key thing about human rights is protecting and respecting the people whose views you fundamentally disagree with and don't like, and in return they do the same for you." |
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Who were your role models when you were young?
There were teachers I guess. it's just this thing teachers do; they can spot your potential and develop it. Although I can think of one of the things that catapulted me:
There was an English teacher who supported the school Debating Society. Public speaking is very important in this job. but then I realized that yes he had given me training; I just didn't notice it at the time. The other thing I remember a Teacher doing was encouraging me when I used to go off-piste during English in the 6th Form. I would look at the question, completely ignore it and write about something else. He would say, "That's really interesting. Write more about that, don't worry about the question." That's a really important thing: feeling empowered to develop your agenda.  |
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Are you a feminist?
Yes. I wish more women would call themselves feminists. In fact, I wish all women would call themselves feminists - and men. |
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How would you define feminist?
A feminist is a woman, or man, who believes in equality for women and men.
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Would you highlight any one disadvantage, as either more important or as more achievable?
One of the interesting things is how many people fall into many more than just one of those groups. Say an older women with a disability, or an older black woman with a disability. So I think the more important question is to address multiple disadvantages. When I was at CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group), we did a piece of work called "At Greatest Risk". I didn't write it, I was just the Chief Executive at the time, but I was very struck by the book. It really brought home to me this constant multiplicity of disadvantage that people face.
If you looked at Housing for instance; who was disadvantaged with regard to access to housing? People who lived in the wrong place, spatial disadvantage. Who were more difficult to house? It could be related to marital, cultural or economic status, or relationship problems. Doing that piece of work really gave me an insight into the types of multiple disadvantages, and what drives it. As well as how it is approrpiate for you to respond.
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Memorable Life Event
My work with Child Poverty Action Group - partly because it's most recent. It was an immensely, intellectually, interesting job to undertake. Working within an organization that had a tremendous reputation to trade on, and therefore tremendous access to people who make decisions, at a time when policy thinking was absolutely in the territory we wanted to influence.
However, the happiest job I ever did was with the National Council for One Parent Families, working with so many women
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The most surprising event in your life?
How much attention we were able to create around a campaign we ran about universal benefits. We were able to force that debate to happen. I was very pleased about that. Nobody was very interested in universal benefits. We whipped up a campaign out of nowhere; very successfully for a time. We weren't actually trying to do anything more than keep the importance of universal benefits in the spot light. They were not under threat at the time, although they are now.
Since then there has been a very nasty attack, with child benefit sliced off at the top. But the legacy we have left behind is a group of organizations that can come together quickly to fight that.
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) worked on keeping ideas alive. When you are not working towards a particular policy your issues are not the hottest quite a lot of the time. So what you're doing is keeping a space open that says this set of values is valid in the political process and we are never going to let it fade away.
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Your Role Models For Today?
Yvette Cooper - I think Yvette is an absolute star; she's brilliant at what she does. She is rational, calm, very authoritative, and well researched. Yvette is very principled, and I think she's a very impressive performer.
Michele Obama - I'm very taken by Michele Obama and her ability to reach out to people. She came to visit a school in Islington around the corner from my office. I met those girls after they had seen her and they were absolutely bubbling. You could see how she had raised their sights. What I saw in terms of the reaction from those girls she had done something very inspirational there.
Cherie Booth - She gets a bad press, but I've always liked Cherie. She is a hard worker and never swerves in her commitment to the things she believes in. She's a very warm person, and makes women who meet her feel good.
There are others - those are off the top of my head.
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Advice for young (wo)men starting out:
(has also a relevance for young men starting out)
First and foremost - it is never too late... Whatever you want, hold it in your head. It may be 10 years or more, but when the moment comes you can go for it, you'll be ready.
Don't be frightened of being be a feminist; people will attack you as a woman. You need to protect yourself, and feminism is the way to do that.
I still think that, as a woman, you have to work harder and do more. In both public and private lives, domestic stresses still are a factor. Your appearance - don't be surprised if it attracts attention that you have to address.
Surround yourself with supportive people; friends, colleagues and family who want to see you succeed are very important.
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©2011 christina@christrainers.com
Christina
Woman on a Mission
Diversity and Leadership Consultant
Alumnus Women of the Year 2008/2009
www.wwom.org |
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