Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
As we move into the next General Election, more and more female Members of Parliament (MP) have announced their resignation. Despite claims made by conservative commentator Tom Harwood that only 19 out of 59 MPs are standing down, proportionate to 32% female representation in the UK Parliament; the Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Wollaston has argued […]
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Oxford lecture lists for some of the largest courses in Oxford have once again been dominated by male lecturers. Some of the worst subjects for their women representation in lectures this term are chemistry and computer science. Chemistry has this term just one women giving Prelim lecturers, and only 2 out of 28 lecturers for […]
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I’m sure we all remember the pithy response that Georgia, in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, is given as a reason for why she shouldn’t have dressed up as an olive to a fancy-dress party. “Boys don’t like girls for funniness”. Although a throwaway line in an admittedly sub-par noughties romcom, this nonetheless taps into […]
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In April, the Profile section was contacted by technology giant HP with an invite to attend their roundtable event in partnership with the Fawcett Society to discuss the barriers which make the tech industry less accessible to women. As a historian, the idea of discussing technology seemed daunting, but the opportunity to see what a […]
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Cambridge has comfortably won the 74th annual Women’s Boat Race following on from their victory last year. This takes the total wins to 44-30 in Cambridge’s favour and is their third victory in a row. Both boats started well, but Cambridge was able to quickly eke out an advantage after a powerful start. The gap […]
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Image Description: four female students from Lady Margaret Hall. Last year, the Joanna Randall MacIver junior research fellowship, which was established in the 1930s exclusively for women specialising in the humanities, was opened up to all genders. This decision was made by the senior committee of the university – the Oxford Council – in response […]
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Image Credit: Elizabeth Kiss Dr. Elizabeth Kiss is the CEO and first female Warden of Rhodes House. Having received her BA in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Davidson College, North Carolina, in the 1980s, she became the College’s first female Rhodes Scholar. Whilst at Oxford, she received a BPhil and DPhil in Philosophy and […]
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Image Credit: University of Salford Press Office/Ammar Abd Rabbo In Trinity term last year, I hurried to St. Catz after the Oxford Guild’s email went out. As you may have guessed from the byline, the lady I was there to meet was Tawakkol Karman. She was born on February 7th 1979 in Shar’ab al-Salam, Yemen, […]
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Harriet Harman is one of the most prominent political figures in recent history. A pioneer of women’s rights and representation, Harman entered Parliament as a pregnant thirty-two-year-old at a time when 97% of MPs in the House of Commons were men. After serving in various shadow and cabinet positions, including as the first-ever Minister for […]
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In 1865, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson made history as the first women to qualify as a physician and surgeon. Since then, considerable gender equality advancements have been made for workers of the NHS. In 1874, the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors was founded. Just two years later, a law was passed […]
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How it feels to be a bad example of a good feminist. First and foremost, being a feminist means believing in gender equality; but being a good example of a feminist is so much more. To be a feminist role model means being a ‘strong, independent woman’; one who stands up for herself and for […]
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Sometimes, I feel like feminism has not fully completed its role – or even worse, that it has barely touched some areas. Despite the fact that sexuality has become less of a taboo than it used to be, I think that there has been much less progress when it comes to women. Young women still […]
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The silence beneath the noise is the guiding undercurrent of Witch, an original production created by the students of the Opera and Theatre course, and directed by Jonny Danciger. Whilst 35 minutes in an office may not be what you would expect from a self-titled opera, the exploration of what being a woman in the […]
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When I saw that Jared O’Mara had been suspended from the Labour party I felt a rush of relief. My only wish was that it had happened even sooner. If we have learnt anything in the last few weeks, it is that women do not feel always safe; we do not feel safe in the workplace, we do not […]
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Brenda Trenowden of all people understands the lack of female representation in executive positions. Head of Financial Institutions Group for Europe, and Head of Banks and Diversified Financials E&A for ANZ, she is now the new Global Head of the 30% Club, a campaign that aims to reach the minimum of 30% women on FTSE-100 […]
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The Girl on the Train is a thriller centred on three women: Rachel (Emily Blunt), Megan (Haley Bennett) and Anna (Rebecca Ferguson), as well as the men and children who orbit around them. The entanglement of these various players is not overly complex but the casting of actors who are physically similar to each other […]
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Despite the university’s history of producing prominent female politicians, the atmosphere of political discussion in Oxford does not encourage women to speak, say the women who completed a survey by The Oxford Student. Furthermore, when asked how often they spoke at political discussions, the most common response among those surveyed was “Hardly ever”, with many […]
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“Why the 23-year-old Sarah Kane chose to write it is her affair. Presumably because she was given a grant by the hitherto admirable Jerwood Foundation in their quest to help new talent. Some will undoubtedly say the money might have been better spent on a course of remedial therapy” Jack Tinker infamously wrote in the […]
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David Cameron’s call for more Muslim women to be taught English is symptomatic of his mixed record on women’s issues; it is, however, more nuanced than some of his critics allege. The initiative to release £20 million of funds to improve the English of Muslim women, 22% of whom, the government claims, speak little or […]
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