Hi Everyone!
What a merry month of May it’s been. This month I’ve been actively recruiting new participants for AW80W, and it’s been great, as always, to connect with such an amazing and diverse selection of women. Through a combination of face-to-face interviews and written testimonies, I’ve heard stories from countries in South America, Oceania, and Europe, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
It’s always an exciting time when I have so much rich material to work with, so watch this space to learn when I translate these inspiring words into published stories!
Mapping Progress
You may have noticed the new tab on the AW80W website called ‘Stories.’ If you haven’t, I urge you to check it out by giving it a click! When you do, the browser takes you to a shiny new world map with all the countries already featured in the project highlighted. By selecting a country, the browser takes you to the woman’s story from this region. Amazing!
The page isn’t fully optimised for mobile devices, as the hover feature currently only works on desktops (the countries are still clickable, though), but it’s an exciting new update that makes sharing women’s stories even more accessible. As with the website generally, it’s a work in progress, yet I like to live by the motto ‘Progress not Perfection.’
For the Love of Writing
While I’ve been busy collecting new stories for AW80W, I did manage to publish two pieces of writing that I’m eager to share.
“The Disturbing Erasure of Reproductive Rights in Romania” is a report piece that uncovers how women, particularly those from marginalised communities, are being denied reproductive healthcare despite supposed legal safeguards. The rise of anti-rights groups across Europe is fuelling this issue, and it’s an issue everyone should be paying attention to.
“There are pictures of us in every pub” is a free verse poem that draws on my experience of working in a Working Men’s Club (WMC) within an ex-mining town between the ages of 18 and 21. For those of you situated outside the UK, WMCs or Social Clubs are drinking establishments traditionally situated within predominantly white, low-income areas and primarily cater to men (hence the name). While they were first created in the late 19th century as a working-class counterpart to Victorian Gentleman’s Clubs, WMCs were most popular in the 1970s and many still exist today, including the one where I worked.
What Will Your Story Look Like?
As always, I encourage women to contact me to share their stories. Respect and tolerance are important to me, so the term ’women’ is used in its most inclusive sense. I’d love to hear your story, so don’t hesitate to email me at AW80W.project@gmail.com
I particularly encourage those from underrepresented or marginalised groups to take part. Diverse voices need to be heard.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Take care,
Rachel : )
