Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault

The Women’s Officer is one of seven part-time positions on the officer team at the Guild of Students. It is the job of the Women’s Officer to ‘Represent and campaign for inclusivity and equal rights of women students at UoB and the Guild,’ to ‘support the work of Women’s and Non-Binary Association’ and to attend the Welfare & Liberation Committee.

As well as the candidates interviewed below, Humail Khokhar and Abigail Faronilo are also running for the position of Women’s Officer. You can find out more information about candidates, as well as vote in the elections on the Guild website.

The following candidates are listed in alphabetical order by surname.

 

Natalie Jubb

 

Natalie Jubb is a BA Social Policy student who, if elected as Women’s Officer, will introduce more consent workshops within the University (and specifically within the UoB festival), as it is ‘such an apparent issue.’ She told Redbrick that students often feel pressure to make new friends and partake in activities when starting University, therefore reiterating the importance of consent, and stating that it is okay to say no is vital. 

Jubb aims to create safe spaces within seminars and study buildings, such as the library, for women or non-binary people who may not feel comfortable being around men. To her, it is important to create ‘spaces designed to make people comfortable’ because it is vital for their studies. Furthermore, she would like to enforce societies to empower women and make them feel like they belong in relation to male-dominated subjects. Jubb hopes that these groups will give women a boost of motivation to continue what they are doing. 

spaces designed to make people comfortable

As a female boxer, Jubb states that she is aware of what it is like to be in a space wherein there is no female representation, making it ‘hard to continue’ in these situations. When exposed to other empowered women it allows an environment where women are included and can bring each other up. She believes that these past experiences will be vital to her role as Women’s Officer. 

As women have a ‘history of not being represented,’ Jubb would like to keep pushing for change and push on to achieve equality. She hopes to create an ‘open stream of communication’ and a space where women can feel like they belong. 

 

Micaela Kluver

Micaela Kluver is a PHD student at the Shakespeare Institute, and has told Redbrick that she would like to focus on the ‘inclusivity, accessibility, and safety of all identifying women on campus.’ Kluver would like to create a provisional outreach to those unable to meet their personal needs, whether they be emotionally or financially. She would like to propose the initiation of a programme to provide free sanitary products to all women on campus: an essential need that is often overlooked, despite the notion that it can affect one’s health.

She would like to reach out to women returning to their studies, such as mature or returning mothers, and offer them ‘ample access to educational support’ and create ‘social events catered to them’ in the student community. Furthermore, she would like to focus specifically on international women coming to the UK alone who might not be aware of all of the services available to them on campus. She would like to provide information sessions and introduction packages to help make women aware of what the University has to offer them. 

inclusivity, accessibility, and safety of all identifying women on campus

With experience as a Student Representative, Kluver is aware that students do not always get the information they need and that their voices are not always addressed. As Women’s Officer she would like to ‘undertake the challenge’ of making student’s voices heard. Outreach to Kluver would be available through a Canvas page intended to garner student feedback. Furthermore, as a student, much of her research is ‘on intersectional women’s studies,’ which has made her aware of all diverse experiences and problems that women have that ‘may not be as prominent in the public eye.’ She would like to create a level playing field for all and believes through addressing women’s issues it can create equal accessibility to students. This will subsequently ‘strengthen the vitality and diversity of the college campus.’

 

Louisa Martin

 

Louisa Martin is an English Literature student running for Women’s Officer. Martin feels there has not been enough done to tackle issues of sexual assault and rape around the University. As Women’s Officer, she would like to implement modes of protection for women around campus and Selly Oak.

giving women clarity and ease to do the right thing

She believes that women are not given the correct information on where to seek help and there is a lack of awareness of the support available. Martin intends to create a space wherein women feel comfortable to go to and resolve their problems, ‘giving women clarity and ease to do the right thing.’ This would be made this possible through a secure social media platform where people can volunteer their telephone numbers and their time to walk people home, creating a ‘help network’ for women to travel safely to campus. 

Martin believes that due to the intersectionality of women’s issues, from women of colour to those who identify as trans, she would want to work with and communicate with other Guild Officers to support everyone – ‘there is no one standard issue.’ Furthermore, she intends to maintain communication with students through frequent posts on social media and ‘office hours’ for Guild Officers. 

As a woman, Matin states that her gender empowers her and that as an Officer it is crucial to create a community of mutually empowered women. After volunteering with Women’s Aid, Martin states that she is ‘attached to helping women in need’ and feels as though her experiences give her the power of helping others. She told Redbrick that she is ‘not afraid to be very blunt,’ wanting to push movement forwards because at the end of the day ‘words mean nothing, there needs to be action.’ She states that because women face very specific issues that span across the spectrum of all ways of life, there needs to be ‘a voice or place where they can voice their concerns without fear of being judged.’ You can support women’s voices; however, it is another thing to understand them. She said that a Women’s Officer is intrinsic to conversations regarding gender as a whole and it signifies women’s safe space in society.

 

Sehreesh Sabira

 

Sehreesh Sabira is an International Business student who, if elected Women’s Officer, would like to create a ‘judgement free community for everyone who identifies as a Woman.’ This community would create a space wherein women can empower and help one another through recovery. Sabira would also like to draw attention to the importance of mental health and the rise of such issues due to the pandemic. Such communal events would be held online and would bring together the women at both the University of Birmingham campus in the UK and Dubai in hopes of building solidarity and bettering cultural understanding among women. 

judgement free community for everyone who identifies as a Woman

As a previous volunteer for organisations such as Walk for Peace, Sabira feels as though she has gained valuable experience in supporting those around her. She describes herself as being ‘very vocal’ when discussing topics affecting women’s rights. Sabira states that because women ‘are usually the lesser heard community’ it is important that they be represented in these kinds of organisations. An important cause to her is the harassment and violence against women that continues to be an issue around the world. Such instances can have a substantial effect on their mental health, and Sabira believes through tackling this, if elected as Women’s Officer, it will contribute to the ‘betterment of women.’ 

 

Lavinia Teoli

 

Lavinia Teloi is an International Relations with French student running for Women’s Officer, who told Redbrick that she has always been concerned with women’s rights and would like to be given the opportunity to represent them. Teoli states that raising awareness is simply not enough, and she states that as Women’s Officer she would create two ‘projects’ that would better the female student’s experience at the university. The first being a digital platform wherein women can share their ‘situations and support one another,’ creating a space for those in need to seek comfort and someone to talk to. The second would be a forum wherein she would be happy to receive any feedback from students, as she is willing to listen to what needs to change. 

gender inequality is ‘present and needs to be acknowledged’

Teoli states that as a woman she has personal experiences that would be beneficial to the role, and that she has useful advice to offer to those in need. She would like her position as Women’s Officer to be as ‘human as possible.’ Teoli would like to also include men in such initiatives, as her main policy is to not exclude anyone. She believes that gender inequality is ‘present and needs to be acknowledged.’ 

She states that women are perceived as ‘vulnerable’ and that gender inequality has been present for centuries, and therefore as Women’s Officer she would like to erase these stereotypes.

 

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