Fawcett Society members were invited to a thought-provoking conversation with Anki Deo from the anti-fascism organisation, Hope not Hate. A series of questions sparked a rich conversation covering a range of current issues affecting women and girls. Examples from Anki’s own experiences were explored in greater depth from the viewpoint of incorporating solutions within workplaces, schools, and identifying gaps in policies. The discussion reflected a range of experiences shared during the event.
The conversation explored misogyny and the rise in unregulated platforms and online figures propagating negative attitudes. Online public figures have gained notoriety through motivational content that speaks to a desire in young boys and men to better their lives, for example, through gym culture, dating, wealth acquisition and so on, before allowing harmful gender-based ideology to insidiously slip into their content.
Anki prompted thought around the lack of discernment amongst susceptible individuals in adopting the views and lifestyles of problematic figures. Multiple online entry points exist, and these include ‘manosphere’ content, anti-climate groups, gender-based violence in anti-migration rhetoric, as well as faith-based extreme views on harmful gender roles. Anki described how young people might be drawn in from an initial pull factor such as self-progression, body image and faith, followed by the algorithms pushing similar content, resulting in the person finding themselves adopting a distorted view of reality and harmful attitudes towards women and girls.
Wider themes were linked in such as feminist terms being subverted for disingenuous purposes. Nuanced questions were raised around misogyny intersecting with racism. The risk of violence when ideas spill over into action is real, and recent cases, including racially aggravated sexual assaults, were discussed that highlighted the gravity of this point. The grim reality, backed by statistics, that women and girls are not always safe in their own homes, was discussed through the lens of analysing mainstream discourse, which has inferred blame towards specific groups of people in society. Poorly thought-out and harmful views of accountability create rocky ground for progression in combatting the multi-faceted causes of misogyny and violence towards women and girls, and ultimately detracts from wider meaningful progress. Anki’s teaching experience in an all-girls’ school brought many of these issues to the forefront for her, where large numbers of students expressed concern for their safety when travelling to, from, and within school. She described the harassment faced by teachers, which created risky workplace environments, where female teachers needed to pull in male colleagues to discipline students.
The conversation evolved into a discussion of preventative actions in individual and public life and workplaces. Comments raised by Fawcett Society members covered concerns over online content their sons were accessing. From Anki’s experiences, she explored the importance of accountability of wider companies, since isolated individual action would otherwise remain largely insufficient given the scale of the issues involved. Although controlling consumption of online content and social media is an important consideration for parents, Anki also leaned on emotional grounding and highlighted the vital role parents play in the critical stages of their sons’ lives, where positive relationships with women and girls should form a necessary part of their learning and socialisation.
Collectively, action needs to extend beyond the school environment, as interventions can be made around higher education and in the workplace. Tangible, individual examples were discussed for holding politicians and public services to account, spreading awareness and pushing for reform in policy making. Anki posed the question of what it means to see solidarity in community within the backdrop of emerging groups with dubious agendas emboldened by minority viewpoints being normalised in mainstream discourse. By women’s groups proactively bringing these emerging groups in to engage meaningfully, it would reinforce a salient point – that it is women’s groups who have always cared, and not agitators and opportunists. This dovetailed with a recurring theme around collaboration, pooling resources and knowledge. When organisations such as trade unions, professional networks, food banks, women’s shelters and others forge stable links and come together, they are stronger in coalescing around shared aims, and platforms can emerge to approach those in power to rethink policies and address gaps. There remains the need for wider organisations and women’s networks to come together, as much could still be done with those in decision-making roles to generate awareness and spark meaningful change.
Anki’s concluding thoughts noted the increasing importance of viable alternatives to a zero-sum game where identity characteristics are pitted against each other. She champions the idea of hope, that strength exists in community, and this energy can be harnessed for positive change. Broader support and cross organisation approaches will continue to address the existing layers of challenges. In a poignant example of smaller-scale intersectional action, Anki shared the story of a local women’s group’s response to the flags that had started to line the lampposts of their local high street. The women and their children had painted hopeful messages on rocks and placed them at the base of the lampposts – not to be incendiary but to add their voices about what identity can mean for people. As a co-opted member of the PDA NAWP Network, it was an insightful evening of learning from Anki’s practical experiences and from Fawcett Society members, and an opportunity to consider the various ways these issues impact and inform the work of women’s networks, to raise awareness and uphold the safety and voice of women and girls across complex, intersecting facets of social and professional life.
By Nadira Mehjabin, medicines optimisation pharmacist and co-opted member of the PDA NAWP Network
Get involved
- Follow the PDA NAWP Network on social media using the hashtag #PDAnawp
- For more information about the PDA NAWP Network, click here.
- If you would like to get involved with the network and its activities, please email: [email protected]
- Join the PDA NAWP Network.
Learn more
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.