women

How To Vote Towards Gender Equality on June 8th

~ hollycharlottecampbell ~ Leave a comment

Originally published by Grazia here.

The state of politics in the world today can seem, at best, murky. It can be difficult to know who to trust or which party really upholds women’s interests. With the government calling on us to vote again on 8th June, we need to make some sense of the chaos and quick.

So, where do we start? Last month, Theresa May announced a shock snap election (despite promising to not hold one until 2020), in which she was debatably driven by her parties’ lead over Labour. An election win would enable the Tories to more easily pass their favoured Brexit related legislation. The announcement provoked calls for ‘progressive voting’, with the Green party tactically pulling out of crucial election seats to help Labour topple the Tories. This is in the context of the UK’s unrepresentative first-past-the-post electoral system, where the number of votes cast for a party does not determine the number of seats they will win in parliament. No wonder many of us are suffering from ‘world-whelm’! It’s enough to disaffect us from politics altogether, which is what we saw with the sense of ‘Bregret’ from voters who cast a protest ‘leave’ vote in the EU referendum but regretted it once the economic reality had set in.  If there is one thing we have learnt from the UK’s political turmoil, it’s how powerful your vote actually is. As 2018 marks 100 years since women were granted the right to vote and with women’s rights at the forefront of activism today, we must recognise that every vote makes a difference. It is important now more than ever to make the right decision towards gender equality on June 8th.

Amongst this political pandemonium, here are 3 ways that you can vote towards gender equality in the upcoming election:

  1. Vote for a party who show that they are actively challenging issues that affect women. This is how the main parties have voted on women-related policies:

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2. Vote for a female MP, regardless of party, in support of gaining more female representatives in parliament. This could work towards equalising the disproportionate amount of men currently upholding seats. Here is how the gender imbalance in parliament looks at present:

Source: http://www.womensequality.org.uk/why-we
Source: http://www.womensequality.org.uk/why-we
Source: http://www.womensequality.org.uk/why-we

However, whilst a representative proportion of women in parliament may constitute equality this does not necessarily mean that those women will vote in favour (or at all) of women-specific legislation. For example, Theresa May did not vote for equal pay transparency, whereas Jeremy Corbyn voted in favour of this policy.

3. Vote for your local Women’s Equality (WE) party MP. Founded in 2015, WE do not yet have a seat in parliament, but have achieved fledgling success by gaining over 350,000 votes across 4 areas in their 2016 election campaign. There are 7 WE MPs standing in the 2017 election, a party founded on the principles of equality with objectives on ending violence against women and equalizing opportunities, representation and education. Find out more about WE here.

Ultimately, how you vote is your choice and there are multiple ways that you can use the upcoming election to vote towards gender equality. Whichever route you think most effective, between tactically toppling the Tories or backing your local female or WE MP, don’t let the bewildering landscape of British politics deter you from having your say, use your vote on June 8th.

Author: Holly Charlotte Campbell

Reflection: ProjectFEM’s Feminist Fashion Catwalk and Exhibition

~ hollycharlottecampbell ~ Leave a comment

High on the buzz of the debut ProjectFEM fashion event, Founder Holly Campbell reflects on the day, thanks all involved and offers food for thought for the next epic event…

The event was truly a success. After months of planning and exasperating hard work Danielle, Annie, Georgie and I managed to pull together our first event working late nights and weekends around our full time jobs. We emailed until our fingers were numb, persistently pitched for funding and flyered until we ran out of places to go; it all paid off on the day and we seamlessly improvised through unexpected challenges.

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The Team: Annie (Media), Holly (Director), Georgie (Stylist), Danielle (Event Manager at Cargo)

We welcomed guests including the Women’s Equality Party’s Sophie Walker and Catherine Meyer, plus size model Jada Sezer, activist model Rain Dove and America’s Next Top Model’s first gay contestant Cory Wade. All of whom were incredibly passionate about the cause and recognised the necessity of opening a conversation about the detrimental impacts of fashion around gender, beauty, diversity and representation. Sophie Walker gave a captivating speech about WEP’s #NoSizeFitsAll body image campaign, in which a fundamental component is to pressure London mayer Sadiq Khan into withdrawing funding from London Fashion Week for shows that do not cast at least one model of size 12 or above. Our audience were reassuringly engaged and opened up further important conversations around body image and fashion. Take action here.

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Sophie Walker, Leader of the Women’s Equality Party, speaking on 09.09.16

Then the show began! Our models were beaming with confidence and excitement and it showed. Designers included Gudrun & Gudrun, a sustainable knitwear brand and Neon Moon a feminist lingerie brand. Each look made a statement through visual culture in terms of gender and beauty.

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VIPs at the ProjectFEM event, 09.09.16

Diversity and representation are our fundamental aims and integral to our values and mission. We were successful in achieving racial diversity amongst our cast of models and we had a range of genders and ages. However, we recognise that we did not capture a cast as representative as we had hoped. We had two recruited plus-sized models and a model with physical disabilities, but at the last  minute they pulled out which was out of our control. This meant that we did not manage to represent physical disability in the show, whilst invisible disabilities were present amongst our cast.

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Catwalk Finale, 09.09.16

Upon reflection, as much as we advertised through social media, flyered and put out casting calls with a diverse modelling agencies, we struggled to capture the amount of transgender, age and ability diverse models as we wanted. We were inundated with applications from models from ranging ethnic background but found it a real task to reach those with broader ranging underrepresented qualities. Starting the project we thought individuals from these groups would eager get involved. Upon reflection, this challenge shows that if there is no consistent mainstream space for these people then how can there exist an aspiring population of models ready to jump at our adverts? We advertised with a diverse modelling agency but that brought us only young, slim and ethnically diverse models. Diversity is more than that.

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Models from the ProjectFEM Catwalk, 09.09.16

This exemplifies the need for us to continue our work in advocating true human representation within fashion. To achieve that we need to provide opportunities, hope and change for human beings who are completely unrepresented by the fashion industry. We need to give them the space to become models in the first place, to pressure fashion week organisers, designers and advertising agencies to allow equal space for these models. We cannot simply widen the goal posts of idealised beauty by having racial and size diversity, we need to reinvent those ideals from a deeper grassroots level with the radical value that we are all beautiful, all races, abilities, genders, sizes and ages included.

We cannot merely broaden the goal posts of what or who is considered idealised beauty, we need to revolutionise what we are told beauty is. If people outside the stereotypical ideal are not represented then they are unlikely to aspire to become models. We must provide that empowerment and a platform for them to do so. We have learnt a tremendous amount from hosting our first event and our values, drive and integrity has never been stronger!

Feedback from models following the event:

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Feminist Fashion Catwalk & Exhibition, Friday 9th Sept, Shoreditch London

~ hollycharlottecampbell ~ Leave a comment

We are hosting our first event under ProjectFEM.

Experience a truly empowering and inclusive fashion culture with diverse and representative models and ethically and socially responsible designers.

We are working with the Women’s Equality Party’s #NoSizeFitsAll body image campaign to combat the ideals perpetuated by the current fashion industry.

Let’s join forces and create the change we NEED to see in the world! 

Tickets: http://bit.ly/2bJPjvB

D&G Capitalise on Same-Sex Families After ‘Opposing Gay Adoption’

~ hollycharlottecampbell ~ 3 Comments

At first glance, these handbags emblazoned with images of same-sex, inter-racial families struck me as a brilliant fashion statement of inclusion and equality.

D&G Bags

It then dawned on me that the image, posted on Instagram this week, was published by one half of D&G, Stefano Gabbana, . The brand who, in an interview with Panorama magazine in March 2015, stated “We oppose gay adoptions” and “The only family is the traditional one”. After a backlash and calls to boycott the brand by celebrities including Elton John and Courtney Love, Stefano later defended his comments in an interview with CNN , claiming his “freedom to speak” and that “this is just [his] point of private view”… Not very private when you’re airing your harmful views in an interview read by hundreds of thousands of people and causing a backlash from lesbian and gay celebrities for the world to view.

The handbags were launched as part of D&G’s Family Project which is based on Stefano’s ideas of the ‘traditional family’ and Sicilian culture. The collection’s catwalks and magazine spreads have projected images of young, thin, attractive female models posing as biological mothers to their offspring. The fundamental ideal promoted by the project’s campaigns is that of heterosexuality, whiteness and the biological generations of one Sicilian family.

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D&G’s ideals are quite obvious with a quick scan over the DGFamily Project’s adverts; the traditional family is paramount, with no representation of same-sex couples, adoption or any other deviation from tradition.

The handbags, insultingly embellished with images of same-sex couples and adopted children, seem starkly out of place for a campaign unwaveringly founded on D&G’s idea of the traditional family.

After the backlash of their comments against gay adoption, it seems that they appropriated the diversity trend. The bags are unfitting to the ideals consistently promoted by the brand. The debate was raised by myself (HollyCC__x) on the Instagram post, see Stefano’s (@StefanoGabbana) response below:

DG Comments

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Stefano did not offer any helpful comments or justifications (to his brand, or to critical onlookers) for releasing the out-of-place handbags as part of his Family campaign. Further, his obvious ignorance of the context and placement of the handbags emphasise just how poorly thought out the move is. The brand have failed to maintain any responsibility for their offensive comments and it appears that they will continue to do so.

The handbags, initially appearing as a revolutionary statement within a currently restrictive fashion culture, put into context are actually a perfect example of trend-spotting dependent on social attitudes. The masses have retaliated and the hegemonic fashion leaders have made a botched move for acceptance.

ProjectFEM‘s aim is to create a revolutionary, inclusive and empowering fashion brand that promotes pieces that make unapologetic social statements. Out of the shameful context of D&G, we would champion these handbags. However, we must not waver from our principles and responsibility to be conscious and critical within the mainstream fashion system.

We would love to hear your thoughts, leave us a comment!

Written by Holly C