An Open Letter to Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan: why you cannot remove ‘feminism’ from the A level Politics syllabus Jacquelyn Guderley Follow Nov 20, 2015 · 3 min read

Dear Nicky Morgan,

It has recently been brought to public attention that the Department for Education and Ofqual are proposing the removal of ‘feminism’ from the A level Politics syllabus. So I wrote this blog on Tuesday night which promotes this petition by June Eric-Udorie, an A level Politics student, which questions why “women’s voices are being silenced”. With over 34,000 signatures on Friday evening, it continues to gain traction.

Education is the voice of a generation and all the generations before it: if the feminist movement is no longer bedded in our collective conscience through education, how will the generations to come ever speak out on female civil rights? How will they know that, yes, they can change gender equality if they try? They may not.

Let’s not let our women become #forgottenfemales.

As Secretary of State for Education, you will understand more than most the importance of education. Not just that it is imperative that we all receive an education — and are therefore educated — but that the contents of that education is such that we are able to gain a well-rounded view of the world, past, present and future. Balance is the key to education. A balanced education ensures that all children are given the opportunity to become school teachers, accountants, investment bankers, charity workers, historians, musicians, artists, diplomats, politicians and more.

You should thus understand the frustration that I felt when I was alerted to the fact that your government, your Department of Education, has proposed that ‘feminism’ be removed in the newest revision of the A level Politics syllabus in the UK. And in the name of a “balanced education”. In the absence of a ‘feminism’ section as there currently is, the suffragettes will be included in ‘pressure groups’ and Mary Wollstonecraft is to be the only female thinker in that entire syllabus. Our future politicians will have learnt less about the women’s movement than the generation before them; that cannot bode well for avoiding the mistakes of yesteryear.

What message does this send? That feminism is not, and has not been, an important part of the UK’s political landscape. Just as it slights the third-wave feminism which finds itself battling misogynistic trolls on twitter, persuading society that “mansplaining” is a destructive and disempowering use of the male voice, explaining that “yes, the gender pay gap really does exist” and pushing to get women into senior leadership and onto boards in the FTSE 100, it also slights everything that women did to get us to this point. And all the men that supported them along the way and continue to do so to this day.

Understandably, it’s not just myself that is frustrated by this deeply demoralising move which your department is responsible for. When I wrote my blog on Tuesday night and shared it on social media, it grabbed people’s attention. People who have been in politics, such as Jo Swinson, a leading figure in the gender equality debate, Sue Black, and Caroline Criado-Perez, who ensured that females were still represented on the Bank of England bank notes. The Women’s Equality Party have since got on board, writing their own article and pledging to stand against the proposed curriculum change. This campaign has garnered support which has been distilled from anger, frustration, outrage, incredulity and fear — but most of all it comes from disappointment.

We want to back our government, which should be a progressive force for change that can not just keep up with, but guide, our rapidly advancing modern world — and we will back a progressive force for change. I fear that if it is not the government that embodies these qualities, then we will look elsewhere.

Nicky Morgan, I write you this letter for one reason only.

We don’t want to see women’s voices wiped out from history yet again. Therefore, I, along with Lucy Powell & Kate Green, am asking you to withdraw this proposal to revise the A level politics syllabus. I am asking that the syllabus be rewritten to include a modern, representative feminism that offers an accurate view of the movement over the decades and the role it has played in British politics. I am asking that the proposal be reissued with the kind of educational reform that takes us marching forward, not an educational reform that pushes us back in the other direction.

If you don’t do something about this, then we will have to, starting with this petition.

All the best,

Jacquelyn Guderley, Co-founder of Stemettes

@jacsgud

jacquelyng.me