We hear from The Feminist Discussion Group, the What are you Reading, Current Affairs and Wine Group, Early Women Doctors and Science in the News
Download a PDF of the November 2022 News Extra for IGO members: Interest Groups Online News Extra: First Edition (318.59 KB)
Interest Groups Online gives you the opportunity to join groups and courses online and connect with other u3a members across the UK.
To find out more about the groups on offer and to join us visit the Interest Groups Online webpage.
Follow this link for answers to November's IGO Quiz Questions
The Feminist Discussion Group
The Feminist Discussion Group discovered that in everyday life, women have little time for themselves to really talk with other women about issues that specifically concern them.
The group, which meets on the first Friday of the month, is the perfect opportunity to get together and examine some of those issues in depth, in a supportive atmosphere.
We have shared our experiences regarding personal safety and how we deal with having our abilities and views dismissed.
There have been truly thought-provoking meetings when looking at topics such as whether drag queen performance is celebrating the feminine or demeaning it. Other topics threw light on why girls give up playing sports far earlier than boys; why the history of medicine regarding women routinely as emotionally unbalanced still haunts the treatment of women’s health today.
We have delved into the world of women artists and found the biggest pay gap between men and women in a similar field, and reviewed whether roles for women in film and TV have become less stereotyped and more realistic in reflecting women’s lives. Its inconclusive even now whether Thelma & Louise is a feminist movie or whether the female protagonists are merely mimicking male behaviours.
But that’s what is great about getting together each month, to express our thoughts, raise questions and listen to each other, helping make sense of the things we experience.
We spend most of our 90-minute session in break-out rooms with 5 or 6 in each, enabling easier discussion in a Zoom context. Currently with 35, we continue to welcome new members and would love to hear from you if you are interested in joining.
Group leader, Hazel
What are you Reading?, Current Affairs and The Wine Group
Trust u3a, now Interest Groups Online, has been an important part of my life over the past months, meeting and making friends with new people from all around the UK in discussion groups, namely What Are You Reading (WAYR), Wine and Current Affairs.
There are usually between 4 and 8 people at each meeting, starting with a general chat before taking turns to talk about the topic for the day, be it books, poems, a type of wine or whatever is appearing in the newspapers.
In the What Are You Reading groups we each talk about one or two books, not all reading the same one, and then we can decide whether or not we want to read them.
For me some of the stand out books which I might never otherwise have found include “Fresh Water for Flowers” by Valerie Perrin and the Abir Mukherjee detective series set in post-war India. However the range is wide and discussions this last month included the 1869 Volume 1 of “The People’s Friend” and the poem, 'Where Do All The Teachers Go?'
Group Members come and go and we are always happy to have new people join in. If you like a challenge then find an unusual wine and tell us about it in the next Wine meeting.
Group Leader, Sheila
Early Women Doctors
Over several decades either side of the turn of the twentieth century, more and more brave women began to challenge and change the male dominated world of medicine.
Women who chose to study medicine knew a tough road would lie ahead. They had seen some well-known front runners, such as Elizabeth Blackwell and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, meet obstacle after obstacle.
Over the last couple of years our group has uncovered stories of hardship, endurance, and resilience alongside tales of power, purpose, and perseverance. We have seen the long-ago hopes and dreams of these pioneers come to life again as we have delved deeper into their struggles and their achievements. They make us sad; they make us angry, but most of all they make us proud. It is a great privilege to get to know these women through our research and we hope to do them justice as we find ways to share their extraordinary stories with others.
The group was set up for Trust u3a by the late Verne Hardingham in 2020. She wanted to create a forum to research more about the ladies who ‘really stuck out their necks’ - those who were the first to be trained, or who worked in early radiology, in asylums, as missionary doctors; in short those who were the pioneers. Verne sadly died in 2022, however, the group continues to thrive.
We meet monthly via IGO to share our personal research into early women doctors and recently some of the early nurses too. Our research focuses on finding out about specific individual doctors or groups of doctors who worked in a particular area/hospital or during a particular time period. We share ideas on how to research by looking at different books and websites. However, the themes and research methods have emerged organically. We regularly share and review individual and collective progress, although there are no rules on what and when to write or share findings.
The outcomes of our meetings have been wide ranging. We have developed a sense of the challenges that early women doctors faced when training, qualifying, practicing, and gaining positions and promotion. We have developed an understanding of the terminology and practices of the times and some members who were involved in the medical profession before retirement have shared their personal experiences. We have also gained knowledge of the personal lives of individual female doctors as well as their diverse professional experiences.
Different members are researching the following female doctors - Louisa Atkins, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Louisa Garrett Anderson, Elizabeth Bell, Elizabeth Blackwell, Josephine Butler, Grace Cadell, Esther Carling, Emily Dickson, Eliza Walker Dunbar, Eleanora Fleury, Frances Hoggan, Elsie Inglis, Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon, Kathleen Lynn, Marion Ellen MacKenzie, Edith Marjorie Martland, Anne Mcllroy, Flora Murray, Edith Pechey, Florence Stone, Jane Holland Turnball, Helen Wilson.
Other members are researching specific groups of early female doctors including the Edinburgh Seven, Irish Suffragette doctors, World War I doctors/radiologists, and those who worked with the Scottish Women’s Hospital.
In addition, some members are researching a range of other themes including the London School of Medicine for Women, the Dispensary Doctors in Ireland, the Women’s Training Colony in Newbury, and the men behind the early female doctors. Some members are researching individual nurses and those who worked at St Bart’s Hospital.
Group Leader, Carol
Science in the News
A quote from our group leader, Ian Hawker - ‘All science is fast moving, transforming and enriching our lives through our increased understanding the natural world around us’.
'Science in the News' u3a group aims to share new science with its members, anything from genetics to environment to sub-atomic particles. The group was formed in January 22 and currently has 9 members.
At the October meeting:
- Ian’s contribution was about energy storage systems - he gave us a detailed presentation including aspects of battery storage and pumped hydro storage methods amongst others
- Anna gave us a contribution about the pharmacology of Covid receptors in the body and the latest discoveries
- Helen brought the phenomena of quiet quitting in the workplace to our attention and recommended a very recent paper giving an overview of Well-being at Work
- Phil gave a presentation on quantum physics and the Bell test - The Bell test, also known as Bell inequality test or Bell experiment, is a real-world physics experiment designed to test the theory of quantum mechanics in relation to Albert Einstein's concept of local realism. - It's all about entanglement and spooky action! Now during the session I understood why the Bell test was erroneous but now I’m not sure I could explain it to friends and family!
… which is just what makes the Science in the News group so interesting!
Group Leader, Ian
Find out more about the groups and to join on the Interest Groups Online webpage.