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The Zonta Grapevine: Christmas edition
Issue 8
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I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This has been a busy year for the Zonta Club of London II. The highlights have been:
- International Women’s Day Lean In event
- Introduction of the The Zonta Grapevine e-bulletin
- Biennual elections, resulting in a new Board
- Zonta Club of Guildford’s Magna Carta walk in Runnymede
- YWPA winners Anoushka Raval and Alice Lassman
- Our Club’s Summer Garden Party
- District Conference in Groningen
- Zonta Club of Southbank’s #powerofgirl event
- Christmas Carols at Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair
Many thanks to all the board members, Club members and supporters who are all so committed to empowering women through service and advocacy. May you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2016!
Best wishes,
Rehana Raja
President |
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First, we kick off with our next meeting on Wednesday, 13 January 2016, a fellowship meeting with our lovely member Brenda Rosen giving us the motivational lowdown to start the New Year. We can’t wait!
Then we have barrister Charlotte Proudman on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 giving us her thoughts on equality at the Bar, quotas to elevate women in more proportionate numbers, her work on FGM and the Swedish model of regulating the sex industry. This will be special, so mark your diaries!
We also have our Amelia Earhart dinner on Friday, 12 February, where we will be joined by our District Governor Marijke Jongbloed to celebrate the Amelia Earhart fellows who are currently in the UK.
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Showing of the Cutting Tradition - 24 November
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SafeHands for Mothers held a film screening evening, with our very own Nancy Durrell McKenna leading a panel discussion after the film about female genital mutilation. Showing the Cutting Tradition is a film produced by Nancy and SafeHands for Mothers, narrated by Meryl Streep about FGM in north African countries, such as Egypt, Sudan and Nigeria.
Nancy also showed her short clips, from her award-winning campaign, Now that You Know, Say No to FGM.
The films showed us how and why this tradition came about, and that it is often women within patriarchal societies who perpetuate the practice.
The panel led a very thoughtful discussion about how we in the west can stop this practice and also to give thought to our own patriarchal structures that compel women in the west to undertake similar procedures.
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The Cutting Tradition - narrated by Meryl Streep
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Reclaim the Night - 28 November
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Reclaim the Night was held in central London on a rainy Saturday evening. The Feminist Network in London was responsible for organising it and Angela Yin participated in her orange Zonta Says No t-shirt.
Many patrons in central London were very supportive of our message and the right for women to walk the streets at night without being threatened with rape or sexual assault.
This took place during the 16 days of activism which begins on 25 November and ends on Human Rights Day on 10 December. Orange is the colour of the activism, with many taking to updating their social media profile photos with an “Orange the World” twibbon, which is a filter that makes your photo orange to signify your support.
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Christmas Carols in Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair - 9 December
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Club members came together to attend the Christmas Carols in support of Operation Smile, the charity that performs often life-saving surgery on children who are born with a cleft palate or a cleft lip. It was a lovely evening of beautiful carols, and then we had a Christmas dinner at Delfino’s restaurant nearby.
Many thanks to Ruth Dar for organising once again!
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Nine Christmas Hampers - Hestia Women's Aid in Harrow
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As you know, many of our Club members contributed to Christmas hampers for women who will spend Christmas Day in a domestic violence refuge.
We are pleased to report that Hestia Women’s Aid in Harrow gratefully received our hampers.
Many thanks to Sue Mansfield and Ruth Dar for collating all our goodies, putting them in the gift bags and then transporting them to the right place.
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Merry Christmas from Zonta Club of London II!
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