The Girls Got Guts: The Woman Of It All

Amba Tilney on 12 December 2024

6th November. That morning everything was silent. I don’t remember hearing the birds sing outside my bedroom window. You see, my family home is situated in a very peaceful area, and on a sunny morning like this one, I usually hear the delicate chirps as I open my eyes. 

But not on the 6th of November 2024. I came home for one of the biggest weeks in my career for The Girls Got Guts but that morning my guts were gone, and fear was in its place. 

The presidential race is over, and a convicted felon was deemed more worthy of the position than a woman. I was thinking of my nieces in California, no older than 10 years old. What did this mean womanhood would become for them and all the people in America? 

I have never felt so useless in my life. So powerless. Just watching from across the Atlantic, being a woman became that much harder once again. In many corners of the world right now, the rights of women are being reduced. 

This may be very naïve of me, but my whole life I have thought that ‘humankind’ would only seek progression, protecting basic human rights that we have fought so hard for. But here we are, witnessing a regression like we are living in a dystopian novel.

Seeing heartbroken women on social media offering support to the American population who voted blue, I shared in their pain and anger. 

I thought of every great Greta Gerwig monologue on the struggles of womanhood: Gloria’s from Barbie, Jo and Amy March in Little Women. I remembered how millions of women felt seen by these words — like they were being extracted from our souls. A collective soul.

Suddenly I felt a surge of warmth. The sisterhood of women refusing to stand aside and allow injustice. In everyday life, it’s unspoken, but to hear women in arms, vocalising it, was empowering. 

Being a woman in the 21st century can feel like an impossible task. 

From girlhood to womanhood, this challenge exists and intensifies with time. The feeling of being underestimated, the fear for our lives. Being a woman is a fight. 

Looking back at my girlhood, I learnt what it meant to be a woman early on. 

At 6 years old, I started karate lessons and was the only girl in my class. As a ballerina, I would execute kicks delicately with pointed toes and was promptly told to ‘man up’. 

The young boys found this amusing and began a 4 year-long game of:

‘Whoever hits Amba the hardest and makes her cry, wins!’

But I never let my guard down (literally). I would come home with multiple bruises and a determination that even my mum couldn’t talk me out of.

Image Credit: Amba Tilney

I told her that I wouldn’t give up. From an early age, I felt a duty to other girls, this unspoken sisterhood that I feel so fiercely in womanhood; a duty to help us feel seen and deserving of space. 

So, I went back week after week. Bruises upon bruises showed up on my arms and legs but I never backed down. After the classes, my dad would pick me up and tell me I was the strongest person in that room. I began to feel that deeply.

4 years later, the first black belt was awarded in the school. I walked up to the front of the class, shook my teacher’s hand and claimed the belt, my name embroidered in gold on the black material. However, to me, this belt wasn’t just mine. It was for every girl who was ever told she couldn’t do something or whose fight was underestimated. 

It became a symbol of womanly power. 

Being a woman is to be resilient yet patient, strong yet gentle, powerful yet respectful. Being a woman is to feel wholly. To be ambitious for our futures. Though it feels incredibly hard, the sisterhood felt between like-minded women of all ages is something that can never be taken away. I think that is something extraordinary. 

And oh, how I love being a woman!

As I watched Kamala Harris take to the stage to address the public one last time in her concession speech, I felt my eyes tearing up. I watched her utilise her womanly strength. Urging people to not stop fighting for the causes they believe in.

‘You have power’.

I must have had a physical reaction to this line, as my mum placed her hand on mine. She didn’t need to say a word. Her eyes said enough. Never give up on what you believe in. Never give up on yourself. She squeezed my hand and I squeezed hers back. I’m proud to be a woman. 

Together, we have so much power.

From your favourite column girl, 

Amba x

Dame Sharon White delivers lecture on The Female Leader

Alice Patterson on 7 November 2023

“The progress I’ve made in my career and doing such different roles is
largely down to that adaptability that has become a part of who I am.”

-Dame Sharon White

The annual Alice Bacon Lecture returned last Thursday, welcoming Dame Sharon White to the Great Hall to deliver a speech.

The lecture, held collaboratively by the University of Leeds Centre for Democratic Politics and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, is named after Leeds’ first woman MP, Alice Bacon, and celebrates the achievements of pioneering women.

As the current Chair of the John Lewis Partnership, and with experience working in the civil service, White was the perfect candidate to speak on this years’ theme: The Female Leader.

White focused on themes of social mobility and the power of comprehensive education
throughout her lecture, and emphasised how lucky she felt to have had the opportunities she
did.

She began, however, by reflecting on the opportunities her parents did not – as part of
the Windrush generation, saying their decision to move to the UK was probably
“the decision that had the biggest impact on the opportunities I’ve had in my life.” Stories of
her mother washing clothes in a river in her youth and having to leave school at age eleven
helped cement her gratitude for the education she received.

White’s parents were from Jamaica, and after migrating to the UK in the 50s, she grew up in
East London. She spoke on always having had a strong sense that she didn’t belong – not in
a way that made her feel without the right to be in the room, she says, but an awareness of
having got there by ways of a different road.

White’s speech was confident and compelling, evidencing the resilience that can come from these experiences. This style has helped her manoeuvre in spaces which are typically less inclusive towards Black women, such as in the civil service, where White pioneered as the first Black Permanent Secretary at the Treasury.

White went as far as to assert that “the progress I’ve made in my career and doing such different roles is largely down to that adaptability that has become a part of who I am.”

On being a woman working in the civil service, White said she could only remember
a few moments of “real unconscious bias or discrimination”, both involving her return to work
after having children. Her insistence on the importance of flexibility in the workplace to allow
people to have a family without sacrificing their career ambitions or receiving lower pay, was moving to hear.

These instances of misogyny followed Dame White into the business sector, receiving a harsh backlash for her actions throughout her time at the John Lewis Partnership.

Whilst she didn’t directly address this in the lecture, she acknowledged the greater scrutiny and higher standards often put on women in business. White also mentioned, with a knowing glance, that her time in Ofcom stood her in good stead in her transition to John Lewis, being a company that attracts “quite a lot of public interest”.

Listening to Dame Sharon White, a woman who has utilised her differences as strengths in her work, left me, and I’m sure most students in the audience, feeling emboldened in my aspirations post-university.

White’s reflections on her experiences in the workplace spoke both to the progress made in terms of diversity and inclusion, and the significant work left to do. She ended her lecture by saying that the importance of women supporting women cannot be overstated, reminding the audience that progress is never linear.

The lecture closed on this quote from former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama:

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.”

-Michelle Obama

Girls Don’t Be Shy, Aim High

Jessica Mount on 13 November 2021

Have you ever been told you that you are not good at something because of your sex? Or that it is ‘unusual’ that someone of your sex is doing your degree or has your hobbies? Most likely, you are a woman. 

Things like this can make us question ourselves and doubt our abilities, causing us to think twice about putting ourselves forward or aiming for the top. It’s easy to feel like you’re just pretending to know what you’re doing, waiting all the time for someone to come along and expose you; that you don’t actually deserve your accomplishments. You shouldn’t feel alone if you have these thoughts, as it is so common it has a name: imposter syndrome. It was first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Susanne Imes, in their paper identifying that women are more predominantly hit with this inability to internalise and own their successes. When you experience systematic oppression or grow up being directly or indirectly told that you are less than or undeserving of your achievements then imposter syndrome occurs. 

When you were in school, were you ever too shy to put your hand up in class or answer a question out of fear of being called out by one of the ‘class clown’ boys? We teach girls from a young age that it is cute to seem incompetent and have to ask for men’s help, whereas boys are taught that it is cool to throw their weight around and act like they know what they are doing. It’s simple, girls, we need to fake a little confidence too.

I don’t mean bullshit, just be confident. Don’t make things up or fake qualifications, just be a bit more assertive and positive about things. When it comes to careers, studies have shown that how confident we feel about our own abilities can have a major impact from entry level like the chances of actually applying for a job to how likely we are to ask for promotions. One study in particular by Hewlett Packard found that women only apply to jobs that they meet 100% of the requirements for, whereas men apply for those they only meet 60% of the requirements. In fact, one university advertised a job that was for females only and THIRTY men applied. 

You will always come across people that may criticise you and try to put you down, so you need to believe in your own talents and be kind to yourself. One main reason that girls don’t feel ‘qualified’ enough to take certain career routes is because they don’t hear about women doing those jobs. 

“We are more likely to experience imposter syndrome if we don’t see many examples of people who look like us or share our background who are clearly succeeding in our field” – Emily Hu.

This is why it is important to remember that not succeeding, for example at an interview, doesn’t mean you are a failure, you are just one step closer to where you are going. You just have to remember that there is no prize giving at the end, so you can ignore what everyone else is doing, nobody claims first prize!

Should you shave your armpits?

Lauren Woodley on 8 February 2020

I, amongst others, wish to seek to find out why so many people find it repulsive when someone has made the personal decision not to shave their armpits.    

As a female, I shall be focusing on the pressures that women face surrounding the shaving of underarm and other body hair. However, my overall belief is that for any gender, it should be your own decision to do whatever you want to your body. Only you control your body, and no one should force you to do anything you do not want to.

The history of shaving armpits

Women in the early 20th Century did not care about shaving their armpits, in fact, it would not be surprising if a woman had lots of hair. The debate of shaving is a very modern issue, most likely developed due to the loosening of rules on how females dress, and the development of razor technology. By the 1950s, legs and underarms were targeted in ads and many women were encouraged, even expected, to be smooth, silky and stripped.

Thankfully, as we entered the 21st Century, it became more common for women to not feel like they have to shave, and many women now embrace the ‘au-natural’ look. It is more common to see celebrities with unshaven arms, and many women feel more comfortable to talk about it.

So should you shave your armpits?

No matter how much you may convince yourself, when you see an image of a woman with long underarm hair, you will subconsciously notice it and form an opinion. Yet, if it was about our male counterparts, there would be no disbelief.

I am guilty of doing this myself. A friend of mine recently decided to grow out her underarm hair and I naively pointed this out to her. Whilst I am completely supportive of her decision, I still brought attention to it. Why? Because, I suppose I wasn’t expecting it. Because, it is still not considered the ‘norm’.

It is seen as powerful and inspirational when a woman chooses to grow out her underarm hair. I think that it is a statement and takes a lot of confidence and bravery. From experience, people may pass comment. I personally choose not to shave my leg hair, and I have faced so much judgement from this decision in the past. Am I not womanly enough? Does body hair really change a person’s appearance so much?

The solution is to not say anything at all. Some people may think it is funny to pass comment, but it can make someone feel insecure and pressured into shaving their body hair, when it should not.

Of course, some women do prefer to be shaved and smooth. It is a luxury, can make you feel more confident, or they simply might not find their body hair attractive. There is nothing wrong with this either.

Shaving your body hair will always be your own personal choice. No matter what anyone says, it doesn’t make you any different whether you have body hair or not.  So, as long as you are shaving your body hair for YOU and YOU only, then all women should support each other on the fight against the stigma of shaving armpit hair.