London 2012 blog

Make the link – International Women’s Day, London 2012 and Angela Davis. If anyone had asked me to do this before I joined the ODA in December last year, I would have struggled, but the beauty of working here is that it is possible. Let me explain.

Saturday 8 March  2008 was International Women’s Day and the Greater London Authority (GLA) held their 6th annual Capital Women’s conference which offers Londoners an opportunity to explore issues that affect women - transport, health, housing, working in non traditional careers like plumbing, and the environment. Of course, these issues affect men too, but gender inequality still exists in terms of pay and job opportunities so the conference was a chance to address some of the imbalances. The day was as much a celebration as it was information-sharing and awareness-raising, with women of all ages and backgrounds filling to capacity the QE2 conference centre in Westminster.

My own attendance at the conference was serendipitous as I’d been asked to chair our workshop - London 2012 Olympic Opportunities - with Wendy Cartwright, our Head of HR talking about the range of opportunities for women and developments within London 2012; Sam Stevens from our Enabling Works Team describing her role as one of the few women in structural engineering; and Sue Tibballs the Chief Executive of the Women, Sports, and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) outlining the potential for the Games to encourage girls and women to be more active, in an environment where there is a lack of participation and under reporting of women in sport and fitness.  But I’ll get back to the workshop in a moment.

The conference was oversubscribed with some 5,000 women registering. The real draw for the majority there was the chance to have an audience with Angela Davis, academic, global activist, and African–American icon of the black power movement. For those of us weaned on justice, human rights and equality for all, Angela Davis epitomises the required five fruit and veg a day, she is quite simply essential sustenance for a healthy intellectual diet. The audience was 2,000-strong, akin to a concert with the sheer hungry adoration and awe palpable throughout the auditorium, irrespective of whether or not you were familiar with Angela Davis. 

The audience asked about legacy for future generations of women; about keeping connected to values and goals; about integrity and commitment. They also asked how to counter the prevalent individualism of the 21st century and how to maintain an interconnected global community, and this is the link with the Games, our values and me – individuals make communities. Repeatedly and with inspiring humility and humanity Angela Davis described her many achievements and accolades, (and I’m paraphrasing here) as representing the accumulated efforts of many people; that without the input, strength and support of others there would be no Angela Davis.

Our achievements of delivering on time and to budget an Olympic and Paralympic Games that will be the greenest, safest, most accessible and inclusive ever, that will inspire and be a catalyst for change, regenerating and reinvigorating the East End of London, will be the product of our team work, the cumulative efforts of individuals working for the benefit of the community of the five host boroughs, for Londoners, for the UK. Without our collective efforts our success will be limited.

The London 2012 workshop was enjoyable. Over a 100 women participated, the conversations were free flowing, informed and inquisitive. Wendy, Sam and Sue were stimulating and as a team we managed the questions with excellent support from Judith Comrie in Communications, who gathered a number of contacts from women interested in finding out more about London 2012. And as if all that wasn’t enough, I along with Jean Tomlin, the Director of HR in LOCOG were fortunate enough to be amongst a select few invited to join Angela Davis for dinner. Does working on the Games get any better?  Well, there will be a number of highlights as we work towards our end date and legacy, but I know that International Women’s Day 2008, the Capital Women’s conference, our workshop and an audience and dinner with Angela Davis will for me be right there amongst the best.