What feminism means to me

Welcome to the first blog of our series, ‘What feminism means to me’. We will be inviting a range of contributors to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences on this topic. A feminist ethos sits at the heart of our research and the ways that we work within our team and with our collaborators and participants. Using our blog to explore this question is one way that we are hoping to contribute to feminist narratives.

 Our first contributor is Leo Conolly..

I am a Year 10 student. I often think deeply about social issues and why the world is the way it is. I am a boy who lives alone with my mum and my two brothers, but I have always had girls as friends who I spend lots of time with. Growing up I have considered myself to be a role model for my two brothers. Because of this I am careful of how I behave because I want them to behave in a similar manner. I now go to a boys’ school, and this has made it even more important to me that women are treated respectfully. I think the world needs to be fairer, with the government putting laws into place to help women achieve equality. For example, lots of women, like my mum, are carers.  I know my mum had to give up work for a long time because of this and her life can sometimes be difficult. I think feminism is really useful because it helps people to think about the issues that might overly affect women, and it can help us to think about how to make things better.

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Last year, in History I learnt about the suffragettes and the actions of women such as Emily Davidson at the Epsom Derby. Through direct action the suffragettes were able to raise awareness of the issues they believed in so strongly which eventually led to women being given the vote. For me this shows the powerful effect that thinking about issues, then acting, can have. Having a more equal society, with equality between men and women will benefit everyone in the country. For example, making sure women get equal pay would make everyone richer! I know that feminism is about creating a fairer world for all, and I think everyone should be happy to get involved with that.

By Leo Conolly. September 2024.

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If you would like to write for us about your thoughts on feminism, you can get in touch here: info@nursesuicidestudy.com

Don’t give us a sticking plaster

by Dr Anna Conolly

About a month ago I was sitting in a packed cinema.

As the pre-film adverts played in front of me, I was distracted and I started to feel guilty about being there on a Sunday afternoon – was all my children’s school uniform ready for Monday morning or had I left some in the washing machine? Then, suddenly my attention was held by the large image of an ambulance, covered with bloody tissues, after treating a trauma, with a member of an ambulance crew, slightly removed, looking at the mess then walking away.

Still from 'Sicker than the patients' by Frontline19, 2024.

This was followed by similar scenarios such as family members on a hospital ward singing happy birthday to their father, supposedly a cancer patient, as a male member of staff watched or a nurse broke bad news to a couple in a side room. These scenarios were followed with individual shots of healthcare workers being overcome with emotion in various places, such as a nurse who broke down in a supermarket. All filmed as if taken by CCTV cameras with loud sound editing which captured the healthcare workers unsteady breathing, the film appeared very realistic and was completely effective in making you feel real empathy for healthcare workers.

I was pleased to see such a successful film had been made and was receiving widespread coverage when the jarring tag lines drifted onto the screen:

With over half suffering from poor mental health many NHS staff are sicker than the patients. Not that they would ever let you see it. Donate now so we can provide the therapy they urgently need.

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Sticking Plaster

I almost screamed No! at the cinema audience. The advert, made by Frontline 19, an organization who received backing from Boris Johnson to help healthcare workers during and after the pandemic, positioned mental health support, paid for by charitable donations from the public, as the solution for the healthcare workers mental health crisis in the UK.

I am a researcher, and I have been working on workforce wellbeing for the last 3 and half years. The images that the advert displayed did not surprise me, however, I was more than a little irritated by the messaging used at the end. Because the images shown in the advert were so emotive I was cross that such a powerful film could be used to support an agenda that only represents a ‘sticking plaster’ approach to providing support for healthcare workers in the UK. I believe that chronic underfunding has led to systemic and cultural failings within the NHS. It is the organisation that requires healing, in order for the workforce to have a healthy environment in which to do their jobs.

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Social Justice

Social justice has always provided the bedrock of the provision of healthcare in the UK. Founded in 1948 on the principle that healthcare services ‘are free for all at the point of delivery’ the NHS was, for decades, the envy of many countries. However, decades of little or no workforce planning, underfunding of the health service workforce, and massive staffing shortages have led to significant structural challenges.

Even before the pandemic, pressure in the health and care system was taking its toll on staff and was not sustainable. Reports described staff as running on empty and as the shock absorbers in a system lacking resources to meet rising demands. Excessively over-worked staff who suffer from mental distress and trauma due to not being able to provide the care they feel their patients are entitled to does not chime well with the social justice principles the NHS was founded upon.  

I would argue that the chronic underfunding has gone too far and sticking plasters are no good to those who work within the NHS. Our government must acknowledge the scale of investment and organisational culture changes that are needed to keep the NHS going and ensure the health of both our healthcare workers and patients.

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If you are a nurse or health worker who is in need of support, we have a range of support links here.