{"id":11954,"date":"2019-03-08T09:50:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T09:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=11954"},"modified":"2019-03-08T09:50:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T09:50:14","slug":"international-womens-day-women-of-the-ou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/around-ou\/international-womens-day-women-of-the-ou\/","title":{"rendered":"International Women’s Day – women of the OU"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate International Women’s Day<\/a> (8 March), we’re shining a spotlight on the women that have made a significant impact to The Open University over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n

Jennie Lee<\/h2>\n

\"\"Jennie Lee<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>was a Scottish politician and Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government of 1964\u20131970. She played a leading role in creating the OU, and was responsible for The Open University gaining its Royal Charter in 1969. Jennie’s hand in forming the OU was acknowledged in 1973 when the first Library building on Walton Hall campus was named after her. She was also one of the honorary grads at the first OU graduation ceremony held at Alexandra Palace.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve\u00a0ever had\u00a0your\u00a0interest sparked by an\u00a0Open University\u00a0course, it’s\u00a0Jennie Lee, the disarming renegade MP who once outraged the Commons Chamber \u201cas she entered in a clinging emerald velvet evening dress\u201d that you have to thank for it.”<\/p>\n

– The Telegraph – Remembering Jennie Lee – the ‘Lioness of Labour’ who founded The Open University<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doreen Massey<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/span>Doreen Massey<\/a><\/strong> was a British social scientist and geographer, who worked at the OU from 1982 until beyond her formal retirement in 2009. Her research and teachings on space, place and power inspired generations of geographers and many others, including creative artists and trade unionists. Her many honours included the Prix Vautrin Lud, regarded as geography\u2019s Nobel prize.<\/p>\n

“Doreen Massey [was] one of the most profound thinkers in contemporary human geography, and her work addresses fundamental issues with great insight.<\/p>\n

David M. Smith, Queen Mary, University of London\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Naomi Sargant<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naomi Sargant<\/a> <\/strong>was the first female Pro-Vice Chancellor at the OU and is noted as being one of the most distinguished adult educators of the post-war era. She campaigned tirelessly to create opportunities for everyone to learn and innovated credit transfers between the OU and polytechnics, revolutionising higher education.<\/p>\n

“She was the advocate for putting the interests of students at the heart of university decision-making and for promoting student access.”<\/p>\n

– taken from her obituary published in Open House (issue 408) in 2006<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Betty Boothroyd<\/h2>\n

\"\"Baroness Betty Boothroyd<\/a> <\/strong>was the first female speaker of the House of Commons and was Chancellor at the OU from 1994 until 2006. Throughout her tenor, she attended numerous graduation ceremonies and played an active role in promoting the university. In 2001 a bronze bust of Betty Boothroyd was unveiled at the University\u2019s Walton Hall campus to mark her contribution to the OU.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we in this country embrace a worthy cause, nothing can stop us. The Open University is living proof of that.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0– taken from Betty’s maiden speech\u00a0in the House of Lords in 2001<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Find out more<\/span><\/p>\n

About International Women’s Day<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March), we’re shining a spotlight on the women that have made a significant impact to The Open University over the past 50 years. Jennie Lee Jennie Lee\u00a0was a Scottish politician and Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government of 1964\u20131970. She played a leading role in creating the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[862,1165,1525,1640,2403,2427],"class_list":["post-11954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-ou","tag-faculty-of-wels","tag-international-womens-day","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-wels","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}