November/December Newsletter

Your Lady Politician info for the months of November/December: Dancing Backwards, Women's Campaign School 2012, new toys for girls, and more! visit our website From Sandy's Desk... As you read in the last newletter, DWtO is launching a new tentacle - Dancing Backwards: Let's Get Canada's Political Women into History!  November was full of exciting developments and it looks like December is just as promising. This past week, I was thrilled to direct seven incredibly talented women for the Dancing Backwards pitch video. It was exhilarating to be surrounded by such smart, aware, enthusiastic individuals as they portrayed female Candian historical figures. Uncanny how the costumes sight unseen actually fit!  All of the women were pumped and so into the project. The energy pulsing around the set was over the top. Thanks to all for your time and support. Young women need role models, need to hear the stories of the strong women who helped build Canada. But where are these  stories? Hidden away in trunks and drawers, maybe, but certainly not to be found in our history books or school curriculum.It's time for something to be done about it - enter Dancing Backwards! This replicable, accesible web-library resource will be made up of videos of every sort, storytelling presentations - puppet shows, skits, slide shows, cartoon or graphic representations etc - created by both school-aged boys and girls. It will be fun, informative and entertaining; role models as seen through the eyes of the demographic that needs them most. The next step is to take Dancing Backwards into the classroom. We're looking for pilot classes to begin - curious? Hope so! If you teach grades 5, 8 or 11/12 please contact us to be one of our pilots!   Getting Schooled The annual Women's Campaign School (hosted by the Women Voters Congress) took place in Vancouver October 19th and 20th at the Simon Fraser Surrey Campus. Friday evening kicked off with 70 people attending a reception where Sandy and intern Sandi Chan hob-nobbed with lady politicians from all three levels of government, and mingled with the 46 conference participants. On Saturday, the DWtO team was treated to 13 inspirational speakers, as well as workshops on social media, launching a political campaign and so much more. Our camera crew was busy capturing the whole experience, including a special performance of the "Octopus Dance" (soon to be featured on our website!). Thanks to all those who gave personal comments on camera. 46 women graduated from the Campaign School 2012 well-informed, motivated, and inspired to become more politically active in the future Goldi Blox and the Three Engineers Well, just one engineer, and she's amazing! Debbie Sterling, a Stanford Engineering graduate, was dismayed by the lack of women in her field, so she did something about it. She created Goldi Blox, a toy that encourages little girls to develop problem solving, engineering and spatial skills. "By desinging construction toys from the female perspective, we aim to appeal to a broader audience of children and parents who previously considered engineering a 'boys club.' By challenging this stereotype, we hope to inspire more girls...to become engineers." Go check out the Goldi Blox website! University Payoff As the weather turns cold and ark, here's something to brighten you up (not really)! A fun little tool to keep us inspired in the fight for equal pay, courtesy of The Globe and Mail. This scale supplies you with a side by side comparison of median income categorized by areas of study and gender. It's easy to use and shocking! Here's the link. Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Moustache Contest Alert! Ladies and Girls, the octopus panel of judges (pictured above) want to see your moustache! DWtO is donating $100 to the MovemberCanada campaign for men's health in honour of our contest winner. Join in the fun: be a lady and don a moustache, include an octopus (get creative!) and send us the picture. Winner will be announced December 15th. For a full explanation of the contest and rules, visit our Get Involved page here. New Blog Post! Grace Lore, a PhD student @ UBC, working with womensuffrage.org contributed her voice to DWtO this month. In her blog post, she discusses her thoughts on the issues that keep women under-represented in politics. Read it here.  If you’d like to write a blog post for us, we’d love to hear from you! Tammy Baldwin wins the race for Senator in Wisconsin! She's the first woman senator from Wisconsin, and the first openly gay person elected the U.S. Senate! A Swedish toy company confounds gender-roles in their advertising campaign this year, just in time for the holidays. Read the hope-inspiring article here! Senegal holds its first election since enacting a gender parity law which require 50% female candidates. Read this fascinating article about Senegal's journey! What we do Dancing with the Octopus is a passionate, entertaining, non-partisan, 8-tentacled media project. DWtO invites women of all ages to enter the conversation about the how's and why's of getting more women into politics in Canada and abroad. Julia Gillard is Offended In early October the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, stood up to Opposition Leader Tony Abbot to call him out on his track record of sexism and misogyny. Gillard spoke passionately for 15 minutes straight, directly across the table from Abbott. DWtO applauds Julia Gillard for standing up for equal treatment in government! The video of her incredible speech has gone viral, but if you missed it, click this link!  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Contact us to donate or volunteer your talents! Copyright © 2012 Dancing with the Octopus, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you attended a DWtO event, corresponded with a member of our team, or subscribed from our website. We send one newsletter on the first of every month.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences