Since the 1960s, Angela Davis has been a prominent figure in black liberation movements. She has focused specifically on the intersectional oppression certain sectors of society face under the white heteronormative patriarchy we continue to exist under. Her 1981 book ‘Women, Race & Class’ highlights how black women have been marginalised in history between the black emancipation and suffrage and women’s suffrage movements. Davis has remained a hugely eminent presence when considering current socio-political environments, being included on the Time’s 100 Most Influential People list 2020. This demonstrates that her initial ideas and grievances are as relevant now as when they were first written.

Girls’ schools often pride themselves on being a progressive, innovative hub for the empowerment and education of girls across the UK. You need not look further than our very own GDST. Founded in 1872 by four pioneering women, it has stood the test of time and continues to expand and change lives. The GDST also prides itself on being ‘Girls First’, aiming to uplift girls and young women academically, emotionally, and socially. This role is more essential than ever in creating a society of young women who are instilled with the idea that they can succeed because of their gender, not in spite of it.

In the modern day and age, we are bombarded by advertising and influenced by marketing in everything we do. From watching a YouTube video, to visiting your local corner store, brands are constantly trying to sell you their products, and outcompete other potential businesses for your attention, through the positioning of items, their packaging, and the ways those are promoted in the media. Overwhelming, right?

Driving up Highway 40 in Alberta, Canada, a couple summers ago, my eyes were glued to the expanse of harsh, red dead-standing forest climbing the mountains. This would turn out to be one of the most significant forest disturbance episodes recorded in North America. hese dying red pine trees were due to the ongoing outbreak of the Mountain Pine Beetle (dendroctonus ponderosae, or MPB).

In the 1930s, many key things were happening; women had just won the right to vote, and the Great Depression had just hit, for example. Despite the achievements of women and the opportunities they had created, it didn’t largely change the way they were viewed. In Of Mice and Men, the language the characters use to describe women is very oppressive. Women are only seen as possessions, seductresses, or caretakers of men. They often talk about how they go to the whorehouse for pleasure and a break from reality.