Can you tell us about the Workers Educational Association?
Rose: The WEA is an educational organisation that started over a hundred years ago, initially set up to offer educational opportunities for working class men. It has developed over the years into an organisation that offers educational opportunities to people who may not have had the opportunity to benefit from education the first time round.
What’s the link between Women Leading Learning and the WEA?
Rose: The WEA is split into branches, a bit like unions, across the country. WLL is a branch that has been set up in Nottingham that is a women only branch. It’s the first women only branch in the country, so we’re breaking new ground with that. The idea is that WLL leads in putting on women’s learning programmes and classes in Nottingham. We’re hoping that as time goes on, other areas will set up a women’s branch.
Sian, how have you gotten involved with WLL?
Sian: I’m a student doing some WLL courses this year. I’ve signed myself up for Women into the Future. There’s a massive range of courses, and if I wasn’t studying in other ways and looking after my daughter, I’d be doing more. You can really see the benefits for women who learn in a women only environment and they fulfil a need - women want courses, and they want to learn in a space where it’s all women - women learners and women teachers.
People may argue that women only spaces aren’t ‘fair’. How do you answer them?
Sian: I don’t care what they say. People listen to men enough, it’s not my job to listen to men. So, they can keep moaning and if they want spaces for men only to learn, they can do the graft like what women have done.
Anyone interested in looking into the science and study into why women only spaces are important, take a look at Cordelia Fine’s book ‘Delusions of Gender’ which debunks ‘neurosexism’ as she calls it. What Cordelia shows, is that societal expectations of women can really hold them back in a mixed environment.
In one study, men and women had to write a weeks worth of first person diary accounts as ‘John’, then another group wrote a story about ‘John’. Then they all took a maths test. The women writing as John, outperformed the women writing about ‘John’. It proves societal expectations are really holding women back - even thinking of yourself as a man gives you confidence in male dominated areas, like maths. Take the men out of the picture, let women support each other, and they’ll come on leaps and bounds.
Rose: I love you.
Would you ever want to teach, Sian?
Sian: Definitely. I’m doing my A-Levels at the moment as a mature student, applying to university, and then hopefully I’ll become a maths teacher. I want be that female maths teacher that female students look up to and think, hang on, she can teach me maths, I can definitely study maths. I can be an engineer, I can be an architect, I can be a physicist - I can be whatever I want to be. Learning empowers women. People use that word for all kinds of things, but educational empowerment is real.
Rose: Sian will be co-facilitating some of the sessions and supporting some of the students cos of her teaching and life experience. We’re really happy she’s with us.
How are the WEA and the WLL funded?
Rose: The WEA gets national funding from the government to put on courses and the WLL get little bits of money from the organisation, but other than that we have to fund it ourselves. We don’t need a lot of money cos the courses are subsidised, but when we have students coming along to help with course planning - which we’re keen on - we need to be able to cover travel expenses and child care for people on very low incomes, as most of our students are. We raise money so that we can cover this and promote courses.
We’ve got a fundraiser on Friday 3 April at The Lofthouse, with local bands, food and a bar. It’s open to men and women and we’re hoping to raise a bit from that.
You’re running a course at the minute called Women into Broadcasting and another called Women into the Future. First things first, when are they?
Rose: Both courses started last week, but are open for women to join for another week. They are both on Thursdays, with Women into Broadcasting starting at 10.15am and running for about 2 hours. There is then a lunch break, and Women into the Future begins at 1pm, finishing around 3pm. Women can attend one or both of the courses, and we’re flexible. We’re holding our courses at The Lofthouse on Warsaw Gate, which we’re excited about as it’s a new venue.
Who are the courses for?
Rose: The courses are for any women at all and are free to those on benefit or low income (below £15,225). Women who earn more than that are expected to pay about £9 a session. There is a learning support fund with the WEA, though, and if there are women who are above that level but suffer financial hardship, they can apply for that funding. There is an age limit, so you have to be nineteen or over, but that’s the only restriction.
What will the courses involve?
Rose: Women into Broadcasting we’re very excited about because it’s a pilot. If it’s successful it will be rolled out all over the country. We’re looking at all aspects of women in broadcasting, including listening habits, personal interests, and women working in the field of radio broadcasting and presentation. We’ve got guest speakers such as Rowena Russell, who works on Pride Radio in the north east, and an event halfway through where Liz Kershaw from BBC 6 music is coming to talk about her career and her new book. We’ve got someone coming from BBC Radio Nottingham and Christine from Kemet FM, and Jo Welch from Sound Women - an organisation that campaigns for more women to be involved in radio.
What can women expect to gain from attending the courses?
Sian: From Women into Broadcasting, they’ll gain skills in broadcasting, networking, and peer support. Women into the Future will enable women to learn about what it is to be a woman today, the aspects of society that are impacting on us and how gender in itself operates. There’s also a women in construction and a women into music session.
Rose: These courses, we hope, will lead onto other things; technical and practical broadcasting training and more in depth courses. This is the beginning of something that will lead to an exciting place for a lot of women.
Courses are running at The Lofthouse, Warser Gate, from 10.15am, every Thursday.
For more information on joining the courses, contact Rose on 07850524319, or pop along to the session on Thursday 5th January.
Women Leading Learning website
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