The Covid pandemic has put a major spotlight on the UK’s inequalities as regards race, gender and class, so it was very appropriate that July’s speaker, Dr Sham Qayyum, spoke about gender and intersectionality. Intersectionality is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage’. Or, more simply, ‘the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.’ (Womankind Worldwide) Sham Qayyum, Lecturer in Law at the University of Hertfordshire and a former lecturer at SOAS, is a multi-award winning academic whose expertise includes race, religion, ethnicity and the law. In recognition of his efforts to improve equality and social justice, in 2014 he

Thinking of new ways to fundraise for the charities we support as Soroptimists, can be challenging.  Particularly during this time of a pandemic, that restricts everything we do.  Nonetheless Anne, one of our members, set about organising Tea Boxes for delivery to home addresses, in return for donations.  Raising money for the Isabel Hospice. Team Effort Many of our club members supported Anne to put together the boxes.  Members provided delicious food, organised lucky number prizes, prepared and delivered the Tea Boxes. Margaret’s niece, Jane was invaluable to the enterprise by providing attractive cup cakes, making delicious lavender shortbread and putting the sandwiches into sealed plastic bags. Thank you We are most grateful to Jane for her support and, Anne and everyone who helped make it happen.  It was nice to be together to work on a project and the Tea Boxes have been extremely

The average age of the meeting plummeted on 5 April 2021.  Anika Scott, the latest recipient of the Diamond Engineering Award, came to tell us how she had spent the money and to revive old memories of student life. The Diamond Engineering Award Anika is the fifth recipient of the award in its present form. We had already made an engineering award in December 2015, but at our Diamond Anniversary in 2016 it was decided to do so annually.  We called the annual award, the Diamond Engineering Award (an imprecision that would no doubt make every self-respecting engineer grind their teeth). The purpose of the award is to encourage a female student to study engineering either at university or as an apprenticeship. It is funded by an annual lunch with members and Friends. 2020 Award Recipient Anika, a former pupil of Buntingford College where she