WomenEd Blogs

By Yasmin Ariff    @AriffYasmin Just before the pandemic started in 2020, I attended my first women's networking event hosted by #WomenEd London at Sarah Bonnell School in London. I don't think I had ever existed in a space like I did that day. I felt: An unspoken kind of safety, knowing that this community embodied inclusivity Increasing...

by Vivienne Porritt @ViviennePorritt

We started WomenEd because women's voices on twitter were often silenced, harrassed or our views were not valued. It's one of the reasons we included a mic in our logo. So we encouraged women to tweet and to write blogs to tell our stories and share our lived experience. 

One of the reasons we wrote 10%braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education was to ensure the voices of our community reached women who are not on twitter. And over 30 voices are included in Being 10% Braver which, joyously, is published this December - you can pre-order and it's a great Christmas present! And we are delighted to share more opportunities for our community to write and to be heard.

By Nasima Riazat   @NSRiazat 'Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher' Oprah Winfrey When I set up my @NSRiazat account on Twitter in 2009, at the time it was still a social media platform which was still forming with few people using it. I can remember the very early days of watching and interacting with the @Women...

By Mrs. Sarah Mullen  @BCAMrsMullen In 2007 I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. At the time I was a middle leader, newly married and the diagnosis hit me hard. What followed was 5 years of fertility treatment, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancy and a gruelling adoption process, all whilst still trying to forge a career in education. Tod...

by Mel Greenwood     @MelGreenwood1 The moment that I came across this phrase, I loved it because it embraces a mindset that is resilient and gritty. The phrase is now a part of not only my internal monologue but I use it as a challenge to other people - women, men and young people - in my life. For me, #Being10PercentBraver is a call to ...

by Lyn Lawton @lynjlawton

Being a big fan of the book ‘10% Braver – Inspiring Women to Lead Education’. I decided to be 10% braver myself and put myself forward to deliver a workshop at the national WomenEd Conference this year. I didn’t actually expect to be chosen!

by Astrid Emma @myvisioninwords Photo: Dyaa Eldin on Unsplash

Before I start, this is not “a feel sorry for me” plea, but more of a reflection on how I have come to believe that “everything happens for a reason” and how being #10% braver allowed me to challenge the status quo.

by Kate Sawyer @Dorastar1

With age comes wisdom someone probably old and wise once said, and yes supposedly it does. What they forgot to mention was everything else that comes with age. As someone who has the shadow of a 50th birthday rapidly approaching (it’s not till early next year so I can ignore it for now) I am more and more aware of the added pressures that age brings.

by Emma @pedoughty

A fair amount of time has passed since my first blog, mainly because I don’t really think people will want to read anything I say! However, #WomenEd has, as usual, been my inspiration/kick up the backside. When I saw the campaign to share pledges for 2020 #pledgeforchange I thought right I am going to sign up and that will make me do it.

by Caitlin Bracken @LittleMissB_NQT

This is not the blog I expected to write today. I was almost sure I wouldn’t be able to harness the enormous theme of ‘respect’ into something brief and engaging enough for a #DailyWritingChallenge entry… and then a very good friend, an NHS paediatric nurse, brought something to my attention that boiled my blood.

by Patrick Ottley-O'Conner @ottleyoconnor   Father and Husband

The United Nations @HeForShe movement has reported that they are seeing the stereotypical gender roles of women at home become more apparent during lockdown and want to highlight positive male models with their new lockdown hashtag of #HeForSheAtHome. Globally women do more than men at home and @HeForShe are asking men to share photos to amplify support & show how you are being #HeForSheAtHome and amplify the aspiration for gender equality.

by Nichola @Nichola80

'I’d like to offer you the job'. The best sentence I’ve heard during lockdown and possibly the best one for a very long time. Doing an interview in the middle of a pandemic was strange to say the least. No shaking hands, no tour of the school or teaching a group, sitting in a room socially distant from the 2 people in the room and a 3rd member of the panel via video. But ultimately I’m still me, still the same passionate teacher. Turns out they thought so too. So in September my new challenge begins.

by PeriMenopausalMe (real name withheld) #WorldMenopauseDay

Sometimes, actually quite often, I feel that my sparkle has stopped sparkling and a dullness has taken over. What the hell has happened? This feeling throws me into a panic and then I start to consider doing things to boost the spark; get a tattoo, dye my hair red, learn to ride a motorbike, take a solo trip to Barcelona, dance all night to disco tunes. All these boosts are fine, they certainly get me sparkling again but they’re not long-lasting and I can be thrust back into the ‘dull’ place again, especially when I am at work.

by Chris Reddy @brightleadcoach  Founder of @brightleadersUK

Confession time!

When I stumbled across @WomenEd a few years back on Twitter, I did wonder what it was all about. Why do women educators need support over men? It’s worth noting, I was brought up around great women. My grandmothers headed up big, beautiful families and were outstanding role models. My mum is a wonderfully kind, caring and strong retired deputy head teacher.