Latest news with #womenInLeadership
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Julie Etchingham ends Garrick Club application after drawn-out process
Julie Etchingham has withdrawn her candidacy to join the Garrick Club, uncomfortable with the protracted process of being vetted by the London club's membership of 1,500 men. The broadcast journalist said she would not comment on her decision, but she is understood to have been uneasy at the level of hostility displayed by men opposed to the admission of women during a candidacy lunch at the club, when members have the opportunity to question prospective members. One member said he understood that with 'hardly any women being elected, it is very uncomfortable to walk into a room full of men scrutinising (and ogling) you'. Only three women have been admitted in the year since members decided to drop the club's men-only rule last May, 193 years after the club was founded. The comedian Matt Lucas was one of six men elected last month alongside one woman, Celia Imrie, who joins fellow actors Judi Dench and Siân Phillips, named as members last year. Several women from the first batch of female nominees for membership have expressed frustration at the club's 'half-hearted' steps towards admitting women. After decades of internal wrangling over the issue, 60% of members voted last May to confirm that women could be admitted to the club. But none of the seven women nominated as prospective candidates last year, all of whom occupy senior roles in journalism, law or academia, have yet been voted in as members. One woman whose candidacy is being considered by the club described the vote to admit women as a cynical public relations gambit, designed to allow the club to continue functioning quietly as essentially a men-only club. She said she found the vetting process absurd. 'We're all being made to feel we need to beg to join; most of us don't give a toss whether we join or not and think they should be making every effort to persuade us,' she said, asking not to be named to avoid alienating her sponsors at the club. She said it was clear that men who opposed women's membership were continuing to fight against the swift admission of women. 'It's frankly ridiculous and embarrassing. What are they scared of?' The actor Juliet Stevenson said she had heard nothing further from the club since she received a phone call from a member early in 2024 asking her if she would like to be nominated. She was uncertain about whether her candidacy had been dropped. 'I was asked if my name could be cited as a potential candidate and I agreed, but since then I've heard nothing more,' she said. 'I haven't set foot in the place. It wouldn't surprise me if they've decided they don't want a troublemaker like me in there.' One recent visitor to the club said the vote to admit women had had no impact on the atmosphere there, with just two women in a dining room full of approximately 50 men. A cohort of men who remain opposed to the rule change have set up a WhatsApp group named Status Quo where they continue to protest against the admission of women. The classicist Mary Beard, the former home secretary Amber Rudd, the Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and the Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika were among the first nominees to join the club, along with Stevenson, Margaret Casely-Hayford, who was chair of Shakespeare's Globe and was chancellor of Coventry University until last year, and Elizabeth Gloster, a former appeal court judge. None of them have yet been approved for membership. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Another female prospective candidate said she understood that there was a 'dead man's shoes' element to the process of becoming a member (new members can only be appointed when old members die) but she hoped that the club would soon vote in some female lawyers, to balance the high concentration of senior barristers, judges and solicitors at the club. The club has consistently said it would not fast-track female members, stressing that women may have to wait three or four years for approval. 'It would be a helpful change if they brought in some female members of the legal profession; it would demonstrate the keenness of members to modernise themselves,' she said. A string of high-profile names resigned from the Garrick last year after the Guardian published a long list of senior figures from the civil service, politics, the arts and the judiciary who were members of a club that had repeatedly blocked the admission of women since the 1960s. Listed alongside the king were the then deputy prime minister, dozens of members of the House of Lords and 10 MPs, as well as heads of influential thinktanks, law firms and private equity companies, academics, senior journalists, the head of the Royal Opera House and the head of the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The head of the MI6, Richard Moore, and the then head of the civil service resigned from the club after deciding that membership was incompatible with their organisations' commitment to improving diversity. Several judges also left the club. The Garrick club did not respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The woman famed for transforming failing prisons
One of the first female governors of a men's prison in the UK, Veronica Bird, has spoken about her experiences as part of a year-long celebration of "remarkable" women. During her 35-year career in the prison service, Ms Bird was governor of Armley Prison in Leeds as well as New Hall in Wakefield. Now, she is speaking as part of Women Winning, a project that celebrates women in Harrogate. Born in Barnsley, Ms Bird joined the prison service in 1968 at Holloway Prison in London where she met violent prisoners such as Myra Hindley. She has now retired for a quieter life in Harrogate. "Armley Prison was a huge shock to the system," she says. "Being one of the first females in the prison, the transition, not just with staff, but with the prisoners as well. "When women started to work in male prisons, it made a huge difference. The men were respectful. They stopped using bad language when the female prison officers were present. It calmed them down. "It reduced the assaults and fights but, slowly over the past 25 years, it's just gone down and down and they don't care about who's in charge, who's looking after them and that's sad." Ms Bird says the worsening conditions in prisons are largely due to the influx of drugs. "People often say why can't you stop drugs coming into the prison? Well, they swallow them wrapped in cling film, wrapped in condoms. They secrete them internally," she says. "We used to have books coming into the prison and the men would put the powder between the pages and lick them. They would throw oranges over the prison fence. "We had to stop selling Polo mints in prison and we had to stop selling bananas because they would dry the skin and mix it with the cannabis to make it go further. "It's sad to see parents bringing drugs in for their children in prison. So it is a huge, huge battle." Ms Bird says she was disappointed to see a number of recent cases of prison officers having relationships with inmates and taking drugs into institutions. "Sadly, the conduct of some staff taking contraband into prisons has grown. The relationships with prisoners. That's taken off enormously. "Myra Hindley had an affair with officer Patricia Cairns and plotted her escape. So it's not something new but it is increasing all the time. "When I was at Styal Prison, a female prisoner sentenced to life made a complaint that she was being abused by a prison officer in the cleaning cupboard. "I was given the job of investigating and there were sacks full of beautiful underwear, nighties and goodness knows what that this male officer had taken in for her and other prisoners. "But fortunately, the investigation came to a very quick end because he did the right thing and resigned there and then. "The prisoner didn't complain to the police because she had no trust in the police. And she told the area manager the only person that she would trust to do a fair investigation was me." During her time running prisons, Ms Bird became recognised for transforming failing institutions. She was asked to work on what was known as Grisley Risley in Warrington and Brockhill Prison in the Midlands, which she said was the UK's worst prison at the time. "I was given the most difficult prison, the worst prison in the country," she says. "I had no more money than the previous governor, no more staff. But I got the staff together and they changed that prison within one year. It was amazing. "The conditions in 1995 in that women's prison were worse than when I joined in 1968. "The poor staff were having to have their lunch in a prison cell. If you don't treat staff with respect, how are you going to get them to treat prisoners with respect? "Nobody wants to work in a terrible prison. It's not good for them. So everybody rallied round," she says. Ms Bird has high praise for the work of Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, who employs ex-prisoners to work in Timpson shops. "He's on the right track. Give people a second chance," she says. "How lucky I was to be given a chance in the prison service. Two years I thought I'd be there. But, 35 years later, I was still there and continued in retirement working in jobs to do with prison." During her time in the service, Ms Bird watched over members of the IRA such as Old Bailey bombers the Price Sisters, Rose Dugdale, and the Birmingham Six – who were later exonerated. She "gave her life" to prisons, she says, never having had a family or partner of her own. "Leaving Brockhill, the staff said to me: 'Governor, please can we give some advice - don't give your life to the next prison, like you have given to this prison.' And yes, I suppose I gave my life to prisons and prisoners," she says. "But I couldn't have coped with marriage, family, so I have given my whole life." Ms Bird was awarded an OBE in 2000 and turned her life story into a book, co-written with Richard Newman, called Veronica's Bird, which was published in 2018. Today she tours the UK, giving talks to prison and police officers as well as members of the public. Lynne Mee, co-founder of Women Winning, said it had been a delight to meet Ms Bird through the Harrogate project. She said: "There's lots of amazing and inspirational women living in Harrogate. Veronica did a talk last evening to 70 people and you could have heard a pin drop. We laughed, cried and everything in between." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Mobile 'prison' used to teach children about crime Prison officers deal drugs and ask inmates for sex, BBC told Prison violence harming rehabilitation - families
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The woman famed for transforming failing prisons
One of the first female governors of a men's prison in the UK, Veronica Bird, has spoken about her experiences as part of a year-long celebration of "remarkable" women. During her 35-year career in the prison service, Ms Bird was governor of Armley Prison in Leeds as well as New Hall in Wakefield. Now, she is speaking as part of Women Winning, a project that celebrates women in Harrogate. Born in Barnsley, Ms Bird joined the prison service in 1968 at Holloway Prison in London where she met violent prisoners such as Myra Hindley. She has now retired for a quieter life in Harrogate. "Armley Prison was a huge shock to the system," she says. "Being one of the first females in the prison, the transition, not just with staff, but with the prisoners as well. "When women started to work in male prisons, it made a huge difference. The men were respectful. They stopped using bad language when the female prison officers were present. It calmed them down. "It reduced the assaults and fights but, slowly over the past 25 years, it's just gone down and down and they don't care about who's in charge, who's looking after them and that's sad." Ms Bird says the worsening conditions in prisons are largely due to the influx of drugs. "People often say why can't you stop drugs coming into the prison? Well, they swallow them wrapped in cling film, wrapped in condoms. They secrete them internally," she says. "We used to have books coming into the prison and the men would put the powder between the pages and lick them. They would throw oranges over the prison fence. "We had to stop selling Polo mints in prison and we had to stop selling bananas because they would dry the skin and mix it with the cannabis to make it go further. "It's sad to see parents bringing drugs in for their children in prison. So it is a huge, huge battle." Ms Bird says she was disappointed to see a number of recent cases of prison officers having relationships with inmates and taking drugs into institutions. "Sadly, the conduct of some staff taking contraband into prisons has grown. The relationships with prisoners. That's taken off enormously. "Myra Hindley had an affair with officer Patricia Cairns and plotted her escape. So it's not something new but it is increasing all the time. "When I was at Styal Prison, a female prisoner sentenced to life made a complaint that she was being abused by a prison officer in the cleaning cupboard. "I was given the job of investigating and there were sacks full of beautiful underwear, nighties and goodness knows what that this male officer had taken in for her and other prisoners. "But fortunately, the investigation came to a very quick end because he did the right thing and resigned there and then. "The prisoner didn't complain to the police because she had no trust in the police. And she told the area manager the only person that she would trust to do a fair investigation was me." During her time running prisons, Ms Bird became recognised for transforming failing institutions. She was asked to work on what was known as Grisley Risley in Warrington and Brockhill Prison in the Midlands, which she said was the UK's worst prison at the time. "I was given the most difficult prison, the worst prison in the country," she says. "I had no more money than the previous governor, no more staff. But I got the staff together and they changed that prison within one year. It was amazing. "The conditions in 1995 in that women's prison were worse than when I joined in 1968. "The poor staff were having to have their lunch in a prison cell. If you don't treat staff with respect, how are you going to get them to treat prisoners with respect? "Nobody wants to work in a terrible prison. It's not good for them. So everybody rallied round," she says. Ms Bird has high praise for the work of Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, who employs ex-prisoners to work in Timpson shops. "He's on the right track. Give people a second chance," she says. "How lucky I was to be given a chance in the prison service. Two years I thought I'd be there. But, 35 years later, I was still there and continued in retirement working in jobs to do with prison." During her time in the service, Ms Bird watched over members of the IRA such as Old Bailey bombers the Price Sisters, Rose Dugdale, and the Birmingham Six – who were later exonerated. She "gave her life" to prisons, she says, never having had a family or partner of her own. "Leaving Brockhill, the staff said to me: 'Governor, please can we give some advice - don't give your life to the next prison, like you have given to this prison.' And yes, I suppose I gave my life to prisons and prisoners," she says. "But I couldn't have coped with marriage, family, so I have given my whole life." Ms Bird was awarded an OBE in 2000 and turned her life story into a book, co-written with Richard Newman, called Veronica's Bird, which was published in 2018. Today she tours the UK, giving talks to prison and police officers as well as members of the public. Lynne Mee, co-founder of Women Winning, said it had been a delight to meet Ms Bird through the Harrogate project. She said: "There's lots of amazing and inspirational women living in Harrogate. Veronica did a talk last evening to 70 people and you could have heard a pin drop. We laughed, cried and everything in between." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Mobile 'prison' used to teach children about crime Prison officers deal drugs and ask inmates for sex, BBC told Prison violence harming rehabilitation - families
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Veronica Bird: The Harrogate woman famed for transforming prisons
One of the first female governors of a men's prison in the UK, Veronica Bird, has spoken about her experiences as part of a year-long celebration of "remarkable" her 35-year career in the prison service, Ms Bird was governor of Armley Prison in Leeds as well as New Hall in she is speaking as part of Women Winning, a project that celebrates women in in Barnsley, Ms Bird joined the prison service in 1968 at Holloway Prison in London where she met violent prisoners such as Myra has now retired for a quieter life in Harrogate."Armley Prison was a huge shock to the system," she says."Being one of the first females in the prison, the transition, not just with staff, but with the prisoners as well."When women started to work in male prisons, it made a huge difference. The men were respectful. They stopped using bad language when the female prison officers were present. It calmed them down."It reduced the assaults and fights but, slowly over the past 25 years, it's just gone down and down and they don't care about who's in charge, who's looking after them and that's sad." Ms Bird says the worsening conditions in prisons are largely due to the influx of drugs."People often say why can't you stop drugs coming into the prison? Well, they swallow them wrapped in cling film, wrapped in condoms. They secrete them internally," she says."We used to have books coming into the prison and the men would put the powder between the pages and lick them. They would throw oranges over the prison fence."We had to stop selling Polo mints in prison and we had to stop selling bananas because they would dry the skin and mix it with the cannabis to make it go further."It's sad to see parents bringing drugs in for their children in prison. So it is a huge, huge battle."Ms Bird says she was disappointed to see a number of recent cases of prison officers having relationships with inmates and taking drugs into institutions."Sadly, the conduct of some staff taking contraband into prisons has grown. The relationships with prisoners. That's taken off enormously."Myra Hindley had an affair with officer Patricia Cairns and plotted her escape. So it's not something new but it is increasing all the time."When I was at Styal Prison, a female prisoner sentenced to life made a complaint that she was being abused by a prison officer in the cleaning cupboard."I was given the job of investigating and there were sacks full of beautiful underwear, nighties and goodness knows what that this male officer had taken in for her and other prisoners."But fortunately, the investigation came to a very quick end because he did the right thing and resigned there and then."The prisoner didn't complain to the police because she had no trust in the police. And she told the area manager the only person that she would trust to do a fair investigation was me." During her time running prisons, Ms Bird became recognised for transforming failing was asked to work on what was known as Grisley Risley in Warrington and Brockhill Prison in the Midlands, which she said was the UK's worst prison at the time."I was given the most difficult prison, the worst prison in the country," she says."I had no more money than the previous governor, no more staff. But I got the staff together and they changed that prison within one year. It was amazing."The conditions in 1995 in that women's prison were worse than when I joined in 1968."The poor staff were having to have their lunch in a prison cell. If you don't treat staff with respect, how are you going to get them to treat prisoners with respect?"Nobody wants to work in a terrible prison. It's not good for them. So everybody rallied round," she Bird has high praise for the work of Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, who employs ex-prisoners to work in Timpson shops. "He's on the right track. Give people a second chance," she says."How lucky I was to be given a chance in the prison service. Two years I thought I'd be there. But, 35 years later, I was still there and continued in retirement working in jobs to do with prison." During her time in the service, Ms Bird watched over members of the IRA such as Old Bailey bombers the Price Sisters, Rose Dugdale, and the Birmingham Six – who were later "gave her life" to prisons, she says, never having had a family or partner of her own."Leaving Brockhill, the staff said to me: 'Governor, please can we give some advice - don't give your life to the next prison, like you have given to this prison.' And yes, I suppose I gave my life to prisons and prisoners," she says."But I couldn't have coped with marriage, family, so I have given my whole life."Ms Bird was awarded an OBE in 2000 and turned her life story into a book, co-written with Richard Newman, called Veronica's Bird, which was published in she tours the UK, giving talks to prison and police officers as well as members of the Mee, co-founder of Women Winning, said it had been a delight to meet Ms Bird through the Harrogate said: "There's lots of amazing and inspirational women living in Harrogate. Veronica did a talk last evening to 70 people and you could have heard a pin drop. We laughed, cried and everything in between." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hospitality Net
16-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
When women lead the endorsement, the world should pay attention
In an industry where women make up the majority of the workforce but remain a minority in decision-making rooms, this endorsement is more than symbolic - it's strategic. The Women in Transport and Tourism Association (WTTA) - a powerhouse voice for gender equity across mobility and tourism has officially backed Harry Theoharis for Secretary-General of UN Tourism. Why? Because he walks the talk. This isn't about optics. It's about action. It's about a leader who has shown time and again that empowering women isn't a side note to his agenda, it is the agenda. From grassroots engagement to political reform, Harry has proven that inclusive leadership is not only possible, it's powerful. When women say he's the right choice, they're not just endorsing a candidate. They're endorsing a future. When women lead the endorsement, the world should pay attention.— Source: UN Tourism About UN Tourism UN Tourism is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members. The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council takes all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly. UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The election for Secretary General will be in May 2025.
