Manchester Women's Design Group

Night Walk!

2011-12-08T10:27:00.001Z

Manchester Women's Design Group Night Walk

Thursday December 14th 6.30pm, meet in Piccadilly Gardens, by Queen Victoria's Statue in between Lever Street and Oldham Street. The walk will last no longer than an hour and will finish at Albert Square around 7.30pm so we can get a hot drink to warm us up!

We are going on a short walk around Manchester City Centre to identify places which women might not feel comfortable in, and also places where they do feel comfortable. We are doing this at night to highlight the difference between daytime uses of the city and the night time. We want to look at lighting, buildings' uses and the street design. During the walk we will add our thoughts on to a map, this will help develop ideas for how to make Manchester a more gender friendly city!

Contact Emily: 07766410273

Hello again!

2011-10-08T08:43:00.001+01:00

Dear readers,

We are still here!

Sincere apologies for the lack of updates, but our summer has been incredibly busy... it has just flown by!

We start afresh with the beginning of the autumn, full of energies and ideas.

During the quiet time here on the blog we have been busy, indeed. MWDG took part in the consultations of the Metrolink Second City Crossing. A post about it all will soon be published.

We are already working on new events; we hope to organise a walk through the city, but this time at night time. Manchester always delights us with a wonderful Christmas market, so we are looking into arranging this walk early evening finishing at the Christmas market to warm ourselves up with a hot drink and discuss our experience and thoughts on the walk. Stay tuned!

And of course, it's never too early to start thinking about an event for International Women's Day and again our creative flow is in full swing, we hope to organise something fun and exciting for you all to take part in.

If you like what we do and think of joining us, let us know! We would be delighted to hear from you. The more, the merrier, we say!

Manchester International Festival 2011

2011-07-05T11:10:00.001+01:00

This year MIF is in full swing already.

An exciting programme is turning Manchester into a centre of culture, music, art and theatre for 18 fantastic days!

MWDG are particularly interested by the Art Walks that will be held in the city, as part of the MIF celebrations.

These are:

The world of LS Lowry - starting at 2pm on Thursday 7th of July

Manchester Murals - starting at 10.30am on Saturday the 9th of July

Adolphe Valette - starting at 2pm on Wednesday the 13th

Street Art: Pop Art to Picasso - starting at 2pm on Friday the 15th

and

Manchester Murals (for a second time) - starting at 10.30am on Saturday the 16th of July

To find out more visit the website Manchester Walks.

June meet up!

2011-06-23T08:26:00.001+01:00

Dear All,

We are meeting Thursday the 30th, at 6pm at the Town Hall for our monthly meeting.

We are planning a fun event, which will take place in September! Do come along to hear more about it and help us organise it!

We hope to see you then. The meeting usually finishes around 7.30pm, at the latest. If you are a mum and would like to come but can't arrange alternative child-care, children are welcome to attend too.

The Manchester Day Parade

2011-06-12T11:45:00.002+01:00

This year sees the second celebration of Manchester Day Parade!

Image courtesy of (c)themanchesterdayparade

A great day to celebrate all that is wonderful of this city of ours.

This year the event will take place next Sunday, the 19th, from 2pm till 4pm, with events all over the city streets.

For more information head over the official website.

Mary Kelly Projects

2011-06-10T11:54:00.003+01:00

Don't forget these are the last few days of being able to view the Whitworth exhibition: "Mary Kelly Projects", which runs till this Sunday, the 12th.

(c)Whitworth Art Gallery

"Four decades of projects by American artist Mary Kelly are brought together in the most comprehensive exhibition of her work ever presented. As much about everyday experiences as big historic events Kelly’s art makes the personal political.

From Post-Partum Document (1973-9), the series about motherhood that provoked tabloid outrage in 1976 because of its presentation of stained nappies, to more recent installations about feminism like Love Songs (2005-7), the exhibition traces the artist’s enduring commitment to women’s narratives. The celebratory glow of Multi-Story House (2007) invites visitors to step inside and read the intergenerational dialogue patterning its walls.

The impact of conflict and war also runs through the exhibition. The polished shields and trophies of Gloria Patri (1992), quoting soldiers in Iraq, are hung high like an heraldic display.The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi (2001) about a child lost and found during the Kosovo war, makes a continuous sweep around the gallery walls. Kelly’s most recent commission unifies her long-term questions about how history shapes us; the bomb shelter-like Habitus (2010) is ‘corrugated’ with the memories of people born around the Second World War, legible only by looking into its mirrored floor. Mary Kelly’s work reflects back to us how we remember and talk about our experiences, from world wars to daily struggles."

March against violence to women.

2011-06-09T11:29:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow, Friday 10th of June, women will march in Manchester against violence and rape.

The march is called "Slut Walk", the title comes from an incident back in January 2011, in Toronto, where a policeman told a group of law students that in order to avoid being raped 'women should avoid dressing like sluts'.

This is the information the organisers have realised on the Facebook page:

"On 24th January 2011, a Toronto policeman told a group of law students that in order to avoid being raped 'women should avoid dressing like sluts'.

This sparked protest and outrage around the world because this statement represents an attitude in our society. That if we behave or dress in certain ways, we deserve to be raped.

Rape is NEVER the fault of the survivor.

SlutWalk Manchester says that nobody deserves rape. If we wear revealing clothes. If we are drunk. If we walk home alone late at night. If we flirt with you. If we are married to you. If we are sex workers. If we defy gender norms. WE DO NOT INVITE SEXUAL ASSULT.

SlutWalk Manchester does not just fight against rape, it fights against all forms of sexual assault and harassment, right down to the last time you were shouted at or 'complimented' by a stranger in the street. It fights against sexism and promotes feminism.

We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result. Being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work, or if we choose not to have sex at all.

SlutWalk Manchester aims to reclaim the word slut, but it is important for us to remember that not everyone who fights sexual assault is comfortable being called a slut. It is a loaded term which is used to control people. For some who have experience of sexual assault it may be a difficult and triggering term. Call yourself a slut if you want to, and shout it from the rooftops! But don't call anyone else a slut unless you know they are also comfortable reclaiming the word."

The march will start at 7pm outside the Town Hall. If you are interested, for more information visit the Facebook page.

Last 2 days to respond to Government's Women consultation

2011-06-09T10:07:00.001+01:00

On the 26th of May, MWDG got together to hold the World Cafe workshop on the current Government's consultation: "Strengthening women's voices in Government".

A really interesting discussion developed, and many ideas and issues were jotted down and recorded.

A simple photomerge of the workshop sheets, for your information. You can click on the images to see them larger.

We are now collating all these ideas, issues and priorities that the women, who attended the workshop, voiced and we will be responding to the consultation questionnaire.

However every woman, as a single individual, can also respond to this consultation.

The deadline is tomorrow, 10th of June.

If you would like to voice your view, please visit the questionnaire page and answer the Government's questions. It only takes few minutes.

As a mini disclaimer, MWDG is aware, as well as wary, that this type of consultation may be too superficial to scratch the surface of the real issues women face today, however we hope that this initial consultation may lead to further interest and work done by the Government, and as such we feel it's important that as many women as possible do voice their view.

World Cafe` - MWDG Workshop on Government Womens' Consultation

2011-05-19T08:51:00.012+01:00

Image courtesy of (c)The World Cafe`

This month, we´re holding a World Cafe` workshop to discuss the Governments latest consultation for women: Strengthening women's voices in Government. You can find more information about the consultation here.

The World Cafe` is a tool to explore topics, questions and debates through conversations, allowing everyone, who attends the workshop, to have a voice.

All women are invited to come along and join us to make a strong response representing women and our needs. There will be tea, coffee and biscuits along with lots of interesting women to chat with.

6pm at the Manchester Town Hall,Thursday 26th May. The workshop will finish around 7.30pm

We look forward to seeing you there.

Please do forward this invitation onto friends and colleagues, who may be interested in taking part in this workshop. The more the better!

If you want to familiarise yourself with the topic, before next Thursday, the Government's Consultation Document can be found by clicking here.

International Women's Day 2011 - Walk and Workshop

2011-05-16T15:23:00.002+01:00

A tad late, for which we apologies, here's a quick review of the walk MWDG held for the IWD 2011 (6 March)...

IWD Day walk and Workshop

This year Manchester Womens´Design Group joined up with the loiterer´s resistance movement (LRM) and the council´s Valuing Older People Team to participate in the centenary events for International Women´s Day held at Manchester Town Hall.

We started the day with a walk around Manchester City Centre, to places that women have told us that they dislike or love during our "Mapping Manchester's Emotions" workshops that we run last year. Our last walk, held in August 2010, was simply visiting places that women loved and this time we decided to compare and contrast a wider variety. The super knowledgeable Morag of the LRM led our walk and added interesting information from her work documenting and celebrating the influential women of Manchester.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a good turn out of friendly, lively and intelligent women, who got into the spirit of evaluating out city during the walk developing some exciting and interesting debates and discussions. In particular we were struck by the lack of green space, places to sit down for a rest, and the lack of public toilets. However, the public art was fascinating, and we played the spot a female statue figure happily along the route. We felt it would be fitting for there to be some real notable female figures depicted in statuary amongst the nameless nymphs and the peaceful pigeon feeding lady who sits behind the town hall.

In the sunshine on a quiet Saturday morning Manchester city centre was idyllic, with much to be admired. We reflected how this changes with the weather and the time of the day. Perhaps another walk would be interesting to see these places at night... watch this space!

The workshop held later in the day was an interesting discussion, which highlighted how age can change the way we use the environment. For women in particular the changes throughout our lives, particularly with pregnancy and childcare, have a dramatic effect on our use of our environments.

March meet up!

2011-03-30T22:47:00.001+01:00

Dear All,

We are meeting tomorrow, at 6pm at the Town Hall.

It would be great to see you there!

We had a fantastic day at International Women's Day, a few weeks ago! Check back soon for a post describing how the day went with photos of the walk.

We are bursting with new ideas and projects to be involved with, if you are interested in coming along to our meetings, lending us a hand, being involved, don't be shy... we'd love to hear from you!

International Women´s Day Walk - 6 March 2011

2011-03-01T08:50:00.004Z

This coming Sunday, 6th of March, will see the centenary celebrations of International Women's Day.

Manchester City Council has put together a fantastic programme of events, activities and workshops. You can see a PDF version of their programme booklet by clicking here. The Town Hall will host this special annual celebration of women´s achievements, and will remind us of inequalities still to be redressed.

(c)Manchester City Council

As MWDG, we will be participating in the celebrations!

We have organised a guided walk in Manchester City Centre.

A collaboration between the Manchester Women´s Design Group and the Loiterers Resistance Movement; this leisurely stroll will take you to our urban spaces, seeing them through the eyes of the women of Manchester and introducing the stories of women, who have had an impact on Manchester and beyond.

All are welcome to join the walk, meeting at 11.45am for a midday start at the Town Hall. We will walk at a pace that suits the group, stopping at various points for a chat, so we expect to finish back at the Town Hall between 1 and 1.30pm.

As we have posted here regularly, during 2010, Manchester Women´s Design Group carried out research to explore how women react emotionally to urban spaces. The group started mapping emotions in consultation with groups of women in Greater Manchester. Emotion mapping workshops were held at the Pankhurst Centre, the Town Hall on International Women’s Day and at Victoria Baths during the Manchester Architecture and Design Festival. These maps have highlighted spaces in the city centre which women love as they feel happy, relaxed, contented, and proud, as well as feared spaces that women say make them feel worried, anxious, angry and confused. This walk, led by Morag of the Loiterers Resistance Movement, is a continuation of our process of research, analysis and evaluation, in which we invite you to participate.

Next MWDG meet up!

2011-01-26T11:28:00.003Z

Hello!

Our first meeting of 2011 will be next Thursday, 3rd of February!

We are meeting at the cafe (top floor) of Waterstone's on Deansgate, Manchester, from 6pm till 7pm.

We will be discussing and planning our next event for the International Women's Day, happening this coming March.

We very much hope you will be able to join us! It'd be great to see you.

If you would like to know more about our work and planned events, do not hesitate to contact us via the blog, our Facebook group or email us! mwdg [at] live.com

Free Personal Development Training for Women

2011-01-18T12:27:00.004Z

Information originally found via Environment Network 4 Manchester.

___________________________

The Women’s Step Up Project is a free 5 day personal development course for women.

We would particularly welcome women who are lone parents in receipt of benefits, members of BME communities and with no or low level qualifications, resident in the
areas listed below:

Ancoats
Ardwick
Baguley
Bradford
Brooklands
Burnage
Charlestown
Cheetham Hill
Clayton
Fallowfield
Gorton South
Harpurhey
Hulme
Miles Platting
Moss Side
Moston
NewtonHeath
Northenden
Old Moat
Sharston
WhalleyRange

The training dates are: every Friday from January the 14th 21st 28th
4th and 11th of February 2011

every Tuesday from February 8th 15th 22nd 1st and 8th of March 2011

Assisted travel & child care costs are available

The Women’s Organisation ‘Women’s Step Up Project’ is a personal development programme. Its overall aim is to improve women’s personal confidence and enhance
employability skills.

**Places are limited so please contact Sarah Keeler on 0161 8338800 or
email sarahkeeler@thewo.org.uk *

*to book your place as soon as possible.*

time:

various

date:

14 Jan 2011 - 8 Mar 2011

address:

tbc

Women in Motion

2010-12-01T14:49:00.001Z

Streetfilm has put together a great short film on the uptake of cycling by NYC women.

Women In Motion: New Lady Riders Reflect on NYC Cycling from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Cycling has always offered freedom and independence, transport wise, for women since they first became widely available for purchase (1800s). But current levels of traffic in our cities and lack of infrastructure have put women off their bikes.

A survey by Sustrans carried out last year found that more than 70% of interviewed women do not cycle because of fearing safety on the roads.

In Manchester, albeit slowly, a growing number of women cycling can be seen to and fro the city, despite the lack of infrastructure and lack of commitment in improving the infrastructure by Manchester City Council.

Partly, it is a 'catch 22' as we need more cyclists on the road for local authorities (LA) to take notice, but we also need better infrastructure provision by the LA for cyclists to take to the roads.

The bike remains an easy, effective and direct mode of transport that can provide much freedom and independence to women... no waiting at bus stops at night, no walking down dark streets to get home.

What is your experience? Do you cycle? If not, what is it that puts you off? And would you cycle if the local authority would provide improved cycling infrastructure, which made you feel safer from road traffic?

November meeting

2010-11-17T23:05:00.000Z

Hello again!

We are meeting on Thursday the 25th of November.

This will be the last meeting of 2010! Where does time go?!

The meeting will start at 6pm at Cafe Nero, opposite the City Art Gallery on Mosley Street.

We very much hope to see you then as we will be discussing ideas for a possible event for International Womens Day - March 2011.

We would love to hear from more of you, who might be interested in what we do and take part in our activities.

If you want to contact us before then, leave a message on the blog or email us mwdg[at]live.com

NB - for the email replace "[at]" with the symbol @. We do this to reduce spam.

Levenshulme Festival

2010-10-25T10:59:00.001+01:00

Levenshulme Festival is now running! From 22nd of October till the 7th of November.

A great selection of events where you can find out what the community of Levenshulme gets up to and a chance to be involved, if you fancy.

To find out more about the events organised, click here!

(if you know of local festivals that celebrate Manchester's and Greater Manchester's communities, let us know by emailing us or leaving a comment on this blog! We'll post about them and thus help spread the word!)

October meet up!

2010-10-21T19:16:00.000+01:00

Hello!

We are meeting this month, on Thursday the 28th at the Town Hall from 6pm for about one hour.

We will be discussing ideas for events and projects for the months ahead, one of this the reschedule of the "Places Womens Love" walk, which we had organised for the end of September but had to cancel, unfortunately.

We hope to see you there! We have so many ideas we'd like to develop and the more we are the more we can achieve!

If you want to contact us before hand then email us! mwdg[at]live.com

MWDG x

Manchester Literature Festival 2010

2010-10-10T15:23:00.000+01:00

Not long till the start of this year Manchester Literature Festival!

On from the 14th till the 25th of October.

An unmissable opportunity to hear, see - and yes - read (!) works from talented writers, some travelling from far afield!

Check out the full calendar of events here.

If you do go, please let us know and share your experience, thoughts. We'd love to hear from you!

CANCELLED_"Places Women Love" Walk - 25th of September

2010-09-09T10:34:00.001+01:00

Dear All,

Unfortunately we have to cancel, and postpone, the second event of the "Places Women Love" walk that was organised for the 25th of September as part of Urban Design Week (for more info on other events see here and here).

Unfortunately it has come to our attention that the Labour Party Conference will be held in Manchester from the 26th till the 30th of September, however on the 25th the Police and other security organisations will start to secure and close certain areas of the city with barriers, security check points etc. Our walk would have started outside the Bridgewater Hall and continued to St. Peter's square.

We feel the walk will be disrupted and affected by this too much, creating also an unpleasant atmosphere. We want everyone to enjoy the walk and to be a fun outing!

Therefore, although we are very sorry to have to cancel it, we feel this is best.

We will, together with The LRM, of course re-arrange this walk for another week end and we very much hope you will be able to join us then!!

Many thanks and sorry for causing any inconvenience.

The Manchester Picnic week end!

2010-08-05T14:04:00.000+01:00

Thanks to The LRM for the heads up on this great upcoming event! Cityco have organised a series of brilliant events this coming week end (6th to 8th of August), which will turn our great city into one big picnic festival!!

A chance not to be missed!

As we aim to finish our "Places Women Love" walk at the Cathedral Gardens, we will be able to join in the fun! So if you want bring along your own picnic for you and your family, or if you can't join us for the walk we may still see you there enjoying a nice sandwich or a summer salad.

For more information follow this link and click here for The Manchester Picnic map.

(Fingers crossed for good weather!)

This Saturday! MWDG Walk!

2010-08-04T08:28:00.001+01:00

Don't forget this Saturday's Walk: "Places Women Love".

Click on the image to see large

Starting at 11am, outside the Bridgewater Hall (at the 'Touchstone' pebble), a leisurely walk, together with the knowledge and walk expertise of The LRM, will take us through places in Manchester that women love, as we found out during our earlier "Mapping Manchester's Emotions" workshops.

Places are limited, so if you want to join us - and we hope you do! - please email us at mwdg@live.com

Places Manchester Women love!

2010-07-20T14:27:00.003+01:00

Join us for a short walk in Manchester city centre to look at some of the places women tell us they love and see if you agree with our findings so far.

As part of our research into how women respond to the design of the built environment, Manchester Women’s Design Group has been asking women, through many workshops and an Emotions’ Map of the city centre, which parts of central Manchester make them feel worried and anxious, and which places they love because they make them feel happy and relaxed.

We want to share our findings and further our work, and we feel the Guided Walk will be a perfect way to do this!

The ‘Places Women Love’ Walk will start at the ‘Touchstone’ pebble in front of the Bridgewater Hall on Saturday 7 August at 11.00am, and will finish at Manchester Cathedral. It will last about two hours, but we’ll be stopping often to look at, enjoy and discuss the places women love, so it will be a relaxed and leisurely walk. Bring your camera along, we’d love you recording the walk in your own way, through your own eyes!

It is a family friendly walk, everyone's welcome! The walk will be free but donations will be much welcomed as they will go towards funding further research into women’s issues in the built environment.

Numbers will be limited so if you would like to join our ‘Places Women Love’ walk please email us at mwdg@live.com to reserve your place.

Be2camp Workshop - 15th of June

2010-06-13T14:32:00.002+01:00

Hello!

A new "un-conference" is going to be held next Tuesday to explore the use of social media tools and how this relates to built environment applications.

We are running a presentation for the Manchester Women´s Design Group as a workshop to share ideas for how we can use online tools to develop our emotional mapping consultations.

Places are free but pre-booking is essential - online here:http://be2campnw.eventbrite.com/
Please pass the information onto your friends and colleagues who may have an interest in these issues.

More information about be2camp here:http://www.be2camp.com/

May meeting - extraordinary AGM meeting!

2010-05-26T21:33:00.000+01:00

Hello!

This Thursday, i.e. tomorrow, is our AGM extraordinaire when we will take a vote on the proposed change to our constitution to make membership possible both for members of the Women's Design Service and for members of the Manchester Women's Design Group. The meeting will be at the Town Hall in committee room 3, from 6 till 7.30pm.

Agenda

1. Change of constitution

2. Walking tour of places we love in Manchester - based on our emotion map workshops for the June regional architecture festival.

3. Logo designs

4. Next steps for our emotion map

We look forward to seeing you then!

Calling all female artists/makers/designers

2010-05-26T21:27:00.003+01:00

This flyer was pinned on the notice board of Bankley Studios.

click on the image to view it large

Elizabeth White is

...an experienced business consultant, business owner and writer. Working alongside graphic designers and designer makers, she produces promotional plans, and solutions to problems which will transform your business.

This free business advice to/for starting business (run by women) sounds very interesting! If anyone has had the opportunity to take part let us know! We'd love to hear.

Family Day - Workshops at Victoria Baths this May Bank Holiday

2010-04-13T21:48:00.002+01:00

As part of this year MADF - Manchester Architecture and Design Festival - Jane Leach, our chairwoman and architect, will be running a family orientated workshop based on our Manchester's Emotions Map this coming May Bank Holiday week end!

It will be set in the beautiful Victoria Baths with the opportunity to also take part in a guided tour where you will hear stories of its past and its recent renovation by James Sibson from Lloyd Evans Prichard, project architect for the conservation and restoration project.

Above images courtesy of Victoria Baths Trust, all copyrights reserved.

Jane hopes that this workshop will provide renewed links between local architects and the people of Manchester. “At last year's festival many people told me that they hate architecture but love old buildings. It surprised me because most of the beautiful old buildings in Manchester, like the Victoria Baths, were designed by architects. I'm hoping that at this event I can share my passion for designing beautiful spaces that function well, and help demystify what architects do.”

Don't miss it, it's bound to be chocker-full with fun!

Beauty and the Bike - Film Screening Wednesday, 31st

2010-03-29T22:43:00.002+01:00

A bit late (!) but on Wednesday evening, thanks to the lovely people of I Bike MCR, the film Beauty and the Bike will be screened at the Lass O'Gowrie in Manchester at 7pm.

It'll be free, but donations to I Bike MCR will be much welcomed!

We posted about this great project before, so we are thrilled to have a screening here in Manchester!

Don't miss it, it'll be great and very interesting indeed!

AGM follow up

2010-03-28T18:09:00.000+01:00

At our AGM last week we discussed future plans and voted our committee members for the year ahead.
We´re planning a lovely walk based on our Emotions Map, taking us to the places that you told us make you feel most relaxed, happy and confident in Manchester. We´ll be organising this during the summer months, and look forward to walking with you. Stay tuned for more details.

Manchester Women's Design Group - AGM Meeting

2010-03-24T08:21:00.002Z

Hello All!

A quick reminder that this Thursday is our yearly AGM meeting!

We really hope to see you at Starbucks on Mount Street - the one between the Midlands Hotel and the Town Hall, or to put it another way - on the corner behind Central Library.

We'll be there from 6pm.

It will be a chance to discuss new ideas for the year ahead and if anyone would like to get involved we would love to know! Taking part in the group is nothing too onerous... just small tasks but that can make a great difference on how the group progresses and can help us to organise more great events and activities.

We really hope to see you there!

Water Adventure Centre (WAC)

2010-03-20T11:20:00.003Z

During our time at the Town Hall for the IWD celebrations, we had the pleasure to meet the lovely ladies behind the Water Adventure Centre (WAC).

At the IWD event they run an art workshop to turn their old paddles (not longer fit for canoeing) destined to landfill into artwork by children, using a variety of materials and colours, to be then displayed at their youth centre. What a lovely idea!

WAC is youth project based beside the Ashton Canal, Droylsden, and runs an exciting youth detached provision from Chorlton Water Park. WAC aims to work with those most affected by disability, discrimination and disadvantage and grants are sought to make the provision free or very low cost. The aim is that youth work alongside canoes and water promotes broad social, educational and recreational objectives.

Doing it for ourselves... gender equality in the workplace (or lack of!)

2010-03-11T15:23:00.003Z

A really interesting article here from the Enterprise Nation website.. which brings up once again the debate about real equality between man and women in the workplace...

Women are still underpaid to men when doing the same type of job with the same skills, knowledge and ability. A very sad reality.

The article questions whether to really escape these neverending inequalities, as women, they only way is to do it for ourselves... i.e. create our own businesses. Perhaps not everyone would agree, perhaps a lot of women are happy to work as employees but would love to work with equal pay and feel valued for what they do, and more importantly it would benefit all if workplaces would fully embrace flexible working, because if managed well flexible working can be just as efficient as 9 till 5 (which never is anyway... overtime, mostly unpaid, is a reality for many).

The only comment left so far on the article, very interestingly brings up the reality that as a woman she used to lack in self-worth... how many of us would agree with that? But also how many of us openly talk to each other about pay? Men do it all the time, perhaps to boost about their paypocket, but for whichever reason this brings them to be more aware of how much they are worth being paid. Are we? As women?

What do you think? It would be interesting to hear your opinions!

How it went...

2010-03-08T21:04:00.002Z

So, here we are, after a great day at Manchester Town Hall, amongst some other great groups celebrating International Women's Day.

We had so much interest from everyone about our map and so many visitors contributed by telling us their experience and how they felt about places in the city centre. There were a lot of positive feelings about Manchester, a great sense of joy and pride. There were of also places that raised stress and desolation amongst some, as well as many other intriguing stories...

It was very insightful and gave us the opportunity to meet some great people.

But instead of many words, pictures can tell a thousand words!

and some images of the other groups too!

We will be collating and analysing all this fantastic contribution which hopefully will feed into more work on inclusive design... we will keep on posting our progress here to be shared and enjoyed together.

If you would like to get involved, get in touch! Leave a message here or email us.

Manchester Celebrations - International Women's Day

2010-03-05T13:51:00.000Z

We also want to highlight all the wonderful activities that Manchester City Council is supporting over a two weeks period, to celebrate International Women's Day!

For detailed events listing go here.

Let us know which event you may attend and what you thought of it!

International Women's Day - This Sunday!!!

2010-03-04T15:11:00.004Z

Dear All!!

This Sunday IS International Women's Day celebration in Manchester : )

After so much preparation we are finally here! We are keeping all our fingers crossed that if you are in Manchester you will come and say hello and take part in our Emotions' Map of Manchester!

[click on the image to enlarge]

We will be at the Town Hall from 10am till 4pm. The event starts officially at 12pm.

We have run a pre-event of our mapping workshop at the Pankhurst Centre last Thursday, February the 25th, which turned out to be a great, fun and informative session with women at the centre, exploring their feelings about Manchester City Centre.

The Pankhurst women were very honest and open with us, in sharing their experiences and gave us some fascinating insights into their personal interactions with our city. From this we have started to identify that both Piccadily Gardens and Market Street evoke strong emotions both positive and negative, and we look forward to exploring this further in our event with the women of Manchester this Sunday!

See you Sunday then!

Meeting today

2010-02-25T10:39:00.001Z

Hello!

Being the last Thursday of the month, which has flown by!!, we are meeting at Kro2 at 6pm to mostly go over the final arrangements for the International Women's Day event next Sunday.

If you would like to volunteer on the day, please come along. We are arranging three shifts of two hours each, so not to get anyone tired or tidied up too much if they have a busy Sunday!

Anyhow we hope you will come and say hello next Sunday and participate on our Emotions' Map : )

Entry is free, fully accessible and we will be there from 10am till 4pm.

For more info about the event or about the group email us at mwdg@live.com

Manchester Women's Design Group - on BBC Radio Manchester!!

2010-02-19T12:15:00.002Z

Yesterday we had the lovely opportunity and experience to feature on Heather Stott's programme on BBC Radio Manchester to talk about our group and the "Mapping Manchester's Emotions" workshop we will be running at International Women's Day, on the 7th of March.

If you want to listen to us, thanks to iPlayer you can!

Just click on this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006d8lg/Heather_Stott_18_02_2010/

We were interviewed one hour into the programme.

A big, heartfelt, thank you to Heather Stott, BBC Radio Manchester and all the production team for having given us such a great opportunity!

A guide to employ women - 1943 style!

2010-02-19T11:09:00.002Z

This makes for a good reading... at times it got my blood boiling at times it got me laughing out loud. [click on the image to see the full image, it makes it easier for reading]

To say this would be completely out of political correctness nowadays, it would be an understatement!

But at least I personally have learnt a new word - cantakerous - which means irritable.

It's full of stereotypes and makes you cringe, but it was a start, at a time when women had to take control of everyday jobs while many men were out of the country fighting WWII, and which made such an imprint for women in the work environment that we have not looked back ever since!

Hopefully many of those stereotypes have been eradicated. Although we still know that certain companies, in certain fields, when employing a woman would still keep in mind if she's of child-bearing age. Sad but true... there is still a long way to go!

Many thanks to one of our member for sharing this article with us!

International Women's Day... all ready to go!

2010-02-15T22:03:00.000Z

So, we are finally all set, working towards the 7th of March when we'll be celebrating International Women's Day at the Manchester Town Hall, together with many other local community groups.

International Women's Day is a day in which we can celebrate being us! It is celebrated all over the world. It is a day to reaffirm who we are as women, our dreams and aspirations for ourselves, life and work, and for the built environment we live in.

As MWDG we would like to map Manchester's emotions with your help and input... we want to hear your stories and experiences of our city to record them and find where the true heart of Manchester really is!

There will be stalls and many more workshops, debates and cakes!!

Come and join us from 10am till 4pm at Manchester Town Hall. Entry is free to all.

We very much hope to see you there!

January meet up

2010-02-02T22:16:00.002Z

So... after the weather stopping our earlier plans, we finally met on the 28th of January to bring our minds together over a cuppa and a slice of cake to develop ideas for the International Womens Day event.

We talked about colours, emotions, pens, paper and maps...

We have an action plan (yay!) and are enthused at the idea of proposing a map of the city that everyone will be contributing to, throughout the day, and that will inspire, inform and challenge our personal experience and view of our great, big city!

We are looking for volunteers to help us run the event... it won't be tiring nor taxing (we are working around 2 hours slots)... a day of fun, laughter and hanging around with friends, hoping to make new ones too!

Get in touch! Leave a comment on this post and we'll get back to you!

Social Light Revolution

2010-01-19T09:38:00.001Z

The Institute of Place Management, in partnership with the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University would like to invite you to a public seminar on the future of architectural lighting, with speakers from the 'Light Collective'.

Architectural Lighting for its own sake needs a radical thought revision. For years we have been improving city squares and retail areas. We have been lighting the facades of town halls, churches and museums; all for the greater good of the nighttime exterior environment. Whilst helping to facilitate economic regeneration, this lighting has affected a minority of visitors as the majority of people don't live in these spaces. Our move forward as a profession is no longer about being part of city beautification but about social lighting; improving people orientated lighting rather than concentrating on the buildings. Moving away from the city centres to the periphery where people actually live. This is the new exterior lighting revolution.

The speakers for this free event are Martin Lupton (Director - BDP Lighting) and Sharon Stammers (UK co-ordinator of Professional Lighting Designers Association). The event will be chaired by Dr Steve Millington, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University and Fellow of the Institute of Place Management.

on 21st January between 6-8pm at Manchester Metropolitan University John Dalton Building, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD

To register for a free place please visit http://lightrevolution.eventbrite.com/

January Meet Up!

2010-01-18T13:54:00.001Z

Finally we have back our mancunian familiar rain! And that for sure never stops us from going places.

So, we'll be meeting on Thursday 28, at Kro2, (Oxford Road, near the BBC building), at 6pm.

If you are free do come along!! The more the merrier!

photo credit: daz tazer

Welcome 2010! (& postponed meeting)

2010-01-05T19:57:00.000Z

Here we are... at the beginning of this new year. A year that is loaded with hopes and wishes.

If we were wishing for a soft start to the year, well we kind of got what we asked for (!) as a blanket of snow has covered Greater Manchester, turning urban and rural sceneries into idillic white blankets.

However this has also meant a rather chaotic mess with roads and public transport! Therefore we will postponing our meeting, arranged for this Thursday at Kro2, near the BBC on Oxford Road, to another time where it will be easier to get places.

In the meantime we cannot contain our excitement for all the ideas we have been nurturing for this 2010!

We'll let you know the new date for this cancelled meeting as soon as possible. Keep checking our blog for updates.

Festive greetings & next meet up!

2009-12-17T22:07:00.007Z

❄❄We wish you all a super Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to the New Year!❄❄

We'll be meeting on Thursday 7th of January 2010, at 6pm, at Kro2 bar on Oxford Road, very close to the BBC building, to kick start the New Year with new ideas and projects for International Women's Day, which will happen on the 8th of March 2010.

If you are free, come along! It would be great to meet you!

If you want to contact us our email is mwgd@wds.org.uk

UN-HABITAT: For a Better Urban Future

2009-12-06T16:44:00.012Z

Thanks to a member of the group we have come across UN-HABITAT.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

You can read more here.

Making cities safer for women

UN-HABITAT recently launched two new publications aimed at making cities safer for women. The books were released at the 2nd Metropolis Women International Network Forum in Seoul.

UN-HABITAT initiated the Global Assessment on Women’s Safety to fill a void in information-sharing between organisations and community bodies, many of which conduct innovative work to promote safety and security for girls in cities, but are largely unaware of each others efforts.

“To create inclusive cities that respect the rights of everyone, we need to create conditions and physical environments where women, men, girls and boys can live, work, go to school, move around and socialise without fear of harm,” says Mrs Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, in the foreward of the publication.

The Global Assessment on Women's Safety. It can be bought here.
Women's Safety Audit: What works and where? It can be bought here.

The position of Women in Art...

2009-12-03T22:47:00.002Z

The event with Lorna Green of Tuesday went very well, and sparked some rather interesting conversations and debate.

Lorna read and discussed extracts from her MPhil on the 'current' position of Women in Art, written in the late 80s. How back then women artists started to claim the space their deserved in the art scene, and how they started to make a mark, which was different from male artists because they used their instinct and had faith in them.

Women artists nowadays are regarded as highly as male artists and have brought on the scene a fresh point of view to work with materials, objects, with different views on the world, which have been embraced by the male side too. Having achieved a role, position within the art world as valued artists, they brought a breath of fresh air that benefitted all.

At the event there were architects, planners, researchers, student of architecture, landscape architecture and design & art, women and men. In the architecture realm it was discussed and felt that the role, position of women architects are perhaps at the stage women artists were 20 years ago, when Lorna undertook her MPhil. It was discussed that perhaps in the architecture world, women have to take a stance on the male dominated view, bringing the ability to work flexibly, democratically and with with a norturing passion that tries to involve all aspects of community and social interaction, and also to be able to approach projects, clients, opportunities with a non-traditional architectural eye.

The comments from the landscape architecture students felt more balanced, where women who take the degree are able to continue working in their profession throughout their career as well as balance family life too.

In architecture, unfortunately, the crossroad between architecture and family life still seems to be presented to women too often. Although more and more women complete the degrees, the work lifestyle seem to create a jarring effect with many women leaving the profession, or worse still made feel like they have no choice but leave the profession.

Women artists, from Lorna's discussions, seem to have been strong enough 20 years ago to take a new path, create a new way to make and do art and persevered with it.

Women in architecture, or indeed in the construction industry, may have a long way to go still, but if persistent, organised and cohesive amongst themselves can bring about change, perhaps with the courage to do things differently from the traditional approach.

Few inspiring examples of women practices can be found in London, hopefully this inspiration can follow through other cities and towns too.

Collaborations between different disciplines seem to be an exciting way forward, a way to bring together a creative mix of minds.

The talk and the discussions that came from this event gave us some really interesting food for thought!

Images above of Lorna's work - extracted from her website. For more information on her work click here. All images are copyright of Lorna Green.

We are on Facebook!

2009-11-29T22:26:00.003Z

Being part of this technological world means we couldn't not be on Facebook!!

So, if you have a facebook account, come and say hello!

Beauty and The Bike - why do British girls stop cycling?

2009-11-27T10:42:00.004Z

A very interesting film has been produced as the outcome of a project between Darlington, UK, and Bremen, Germany, about researching and evaluation why teenager girls in Britain enjoy cycling when children, but stop altogether in their teens.

The premier will be shown on the 9th of December in Darlington, when the DVD of the film will also be on sale through the project website. The 8min extract on YouTube is just as inspiring and delightful, worth a look!

The main common thread, that resulted from this project, is the lack of infrastructure. Manchester is moving towards the right direction but is still lacking in good, safe, dedicated cycle lanes.

Sustrans, a charitable organisation that promotes cycling as a fun, alternative and green mode of transport, has carried out researches in why women don't cycle (up to 79%) and a major reason is about not feeling safe.

Perhaps more men are willing to take to the roads, compete for space with cars, but it wouldn't be surprising if everyone, really meaning everyone, would rather enjoy safe cycle paths. European cities like Amsterdam, Bremen, Copenhagen are excellent examples.

Do you cycle? How do you think cycling changes/enhances your experience of the built environment, of the city around you? How do you find the current infrastructure? What do you think would improve your experience and/or inspire you to cycle more?

Councils should realise the great potentials that could be unearthed if they would provide safe cycling infrastructure, in reducing car congestion as well as improving the community environment. They should realise that strengthening the position of women as city dwellers would empower everyone! More women could do the school run by bike instead of by car, thus more children could enjoy cycling to school and be more active and healthy; more women could do the shopping by bike and so on, the benefits could be endless.

And the girls of Darlington and Bremen are absolutely spot on when they say cycling gives you freedom and independence!

Manchester City Art Galleries - Angels of Anarchy Exhibition

2009-11-25T14:03:00.004Z

There is a fascinating exhibition at the Manchester City Art Galleries titled "Angels of Anarchy".

It is the first major exhibition in Europe (!!) to explore the crucial role that women artists played in the surrealist movement. The exhibition explores 150 artworks, 32 artists and 5 themes.

It is curated by Dr. Patricia Allmer, MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University.

The exhition started on the 26th of September and will end on the 10th of January 2010.

More information here.

If you have been and would like to share your thoughts and ideas, leave a comment we'd love to know!

Lorna Green - MSSA Lecture series 09/10

2009-11-04T15:36:00.005Z

We met Lorna Green in August. She's a fantastic artist, a sculptor who works mainly on public art/environmental projects. She will be giving a lecture on December the 1st at 6pm, in the John Dalton building, part of the Manchester Metropolitan University campus.

She will be talking about her experience, which led her to completing an MPhil on the Position and Attitudes of Contemporary Women Sculptors in Britain. An open discussion will follow on this issue, on what the result foresaw has indeed come to pass, and what happens next...

It will be an intersting evening and Lorna is a passionate individual who is a joy to listen to and speak to. We very much hope you will be able to come along.

Entry is free.

Here come the Girls!

2009-10-15T15:12:00.001+01:00

We are a group of Manchester women and we are looking for new members to join our creative think tank!

The Women's Design Group is a charity group, which has attracted many female architects and planners to participate in the production of a checklist designed to help organisations meet the latest gender equality legislation through the design of the built environment.

As recent recipients of the Manchester Women's Awards 2009 for Women and the Environment for our work promoting inclusive design, we want to extend our membership base so that not only professionals in the construction industry are involved but anyone with an interest in inclusive design, who would like to participate in our work.

Our Chairperson, Jane Leach, a young architect who has recently started up her own small practice in Manchester was delighted to receive the award on behalf of the group, "We were so pleased to receive the award. It is lovely to have our hard work recognised. We would be delighted to extend our membership of our group and increase our expertise so we welcome anyone who is interested in inclusive design to get in touch."

We meet regularly every last Thursday of the month at Manchester Town Hall. If you would like to get involved, you can contact us by email: mwdg@wds.org.uk