22: B is for Breaking The Bias

It was International Women's Day yesterday. The campaign this year has been about tackling some of the inherent biases society holds about women that lead to gender discrimination in a variety of settings, from what women's financial preferences are to how well suited they are to particular jobs... but how do you tell your kids that?

At my son's nursery, they celebrated the day by letting the women of the class (three and four years old, but still) line up and go into the library first. I'm sure there was other stuff that went on, but this was the headline at the dinner table. We made a joke about how far this one affirmative action might go in correcting a whole history of gender disparity, but it did beg a more serious question about what the day was all about.

My son is three (and the eldest of his siblings) so it wasn't the right time to bring the weight of the whole world's inequalities crashing down on us at dinner, but it seems a good opportunity to probe his experience just a little bit - why did the women get to go to the library first? why is that unusual? - and hope it starts laying the groundwork for meatier conversations as the kids grow up. I do think that if we are to raise a generation of more inclusive and socially conscious adults, it has to start by breaking down some of the assumptions we live with ourselves - one step at a time!

This week on SUDS is suitably women-focused 😉

- Shreya

Spotlight: Blankei

We've launched a new blog series - Spotlight - where we've gathered together founders and brands that inspire us. We think their stories, products and ambitions will inspire you too.

Hannah Waugh, founder of Blankei, is the perfect first feature. Read more on:

• How she started this beautiful line of organic cotton baby blankets
• Her clear vision for the products even in the face of major Covid setbacks
• Her inspiration for championing British manufacturing

Who inspires you?

There's nothing like showing our appreciation to someone who goes about being brilliant without expecting anything in return. Email us (info@graspskincare.com) with the name and address of a woman who inspires you and tell us about them - we will send a surprise to five women, chosen at random.

No more empty words

A lot (A LOT) of organisations were tweeting encouraging and wholesome - and sometimes non-committal - things yesterday. It was almost starting to feel little dull until @PayGapApp started retweeting anybody talking about International Women's Day with a little info on the median gender pay gap 😬. Some of the revelations were a little surprising - and led to more than a few deleted tweets.