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INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF EAST KENT 013 Girls Choir © Ray Burmiston
WITH KENT’S LONG HISTORY, WOMEN
HERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CHALLENGING THE ESTABLISHMENT
her peers as a powerful person, being the highest-ranked woman in the court of her son, King Richard II. Three centuries later, Aphra Behn became another Canterbury trailblazer in her field, with her strong literary prowess and also serving as a spy in Europe for King Charles II; she was the first English women to become a professional playwright,” explained the MP. Rosie went on to say that there was also a debt of gratitude owed to the subsequent suffragette women’s movements over the centuries. They had rallied together to complete pilgrimages and campaign throughout Kent, marking pavements with chalk taken from the county’s famous white cliffs with news and slogans of suffrage. “All these powerful women opened doors, not only for the women of Kent, but for women across England and the world; they continue to serve as a powerful source of inspiration,” Rosie concluded.
Educational opportunities
With Canterbury playing host to three key higher educational facilities (the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of the Creative Arts), it’s little surprise that their continued development over the decades
has been mirrored by the success achieved by both male and female students. Yet even in academia, it appears that women have had to fight hard to gain equal access to educational opportunities.
Janet Potter is from the Canterbury Association of Women Graduates – which is part of the British Federation of Women Graduates – which was founded in 1907 as a social and academic support group. As she explained, the Association experienced early trials and was initially known as the British Federation of University Women, due to the refusal at the time by Oxford and Cambridge universities to confer degrees on women, even if they had completed a course successfully. This didn’t change until 1920 at Oxford and 1948 for Cambridge. As Janet explains, the Canterbury
group enjoys meeting monthly at Keynes College in Kent University where members enjoy a varied programme of lectures. Through social events members of the local association raise funds to support a number of activities focused on women’s issues and reflecting BFWG’s aims.
BFWG
For example, each year a prize is presented to a female Keynes student who has made great progress and donations are made to the Women’s Refuge. Nationally the Federation supports women in academia with competitive scholarships open to final year PhD
students and through affiliation to the International Association donations are made to the Hegg-Hoffet Fund, which aids refugee women graduates. The Canterbury Association this year celebrates 50 years since its inception. BFWG President, Patrice Wellesley-Cole, will join local members, friends and others from throughout the south to celebrate this summer. There have also been some inspiring tales for younger women in terms of equal opportunities with the development of Canterbury Cathedral girls’ choir, which had been formed back in 2014. Its founding director David Newsholme, explained that Salisbury Cathedral had been the first to put in motion a group for girls in the early 1990s.
“The Canterbury Cathedral girls’ choir has been successful in carving out a distinctive identity, not least through its ambitious recording programme. Their recordings for BBC Music Magazine and, more recently, for Decca Records, have brought them international critical acclaim:
allmusic.com lauded the ‘X factor of sheer fun’ that has accounted for the group’s success’, while BBC Music Magazine praised their sound as ‘bright and smoothly blended, with excellent articulation and dynamic detail’. The choir has also performed live to audiences of millions on BBC’s The One Show and ITV’s This Morning,” said David, adding that the group’s creation was an important step forward for the Cathedral. While he conceded that the girls did not have quite the same level of access to opportunities as boys, they enjoyed something equally rich and vibrant. He praised them as a dynamic and talented group with significant potential for the future.
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