Assembly Speaker - 15 January
Bee Rowlatt - writer, journalist and cultural programmer at the British Library
Bee Rowlatt, our first speaker of 2024, came and spoke to the sixth form about her life and her academic and professional career.
After growing up in Yorkshire, Rowlatt went to Glasgow University to study English Literature. After university, and against advice from those around her, she moved to Colombia, where a series of chance events led to a job at the BBC’s World Service. Bee continued at the BBC as a journalist for 20 years, as well as writing for herself. Her book Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad was later made into a BBC series.
Over the years, Rowlatt became more and more interested in the life and works of Mary Wollstonecraft, which led to her writing her book In Search of Mary. As well as being a pioneering feminist, Wollstonecraft was also a fearless traveller, and undertook a journey to Scandinavia with her baby daughter. Rowlatt decided to retrace Wollstoncraft’s journey - she also took her own baby along - and she documents this experience in the book.
Rowlatt also founded the Wollstonecraft Society after learning more about her life, in particular her feminism and ideas around human rights, and realising that given all of her pioneering ideas and attitudes, she is not as well known as she should be. Wollstonecraft was shunned out of history by the Victorians, who looked down not only on her radical feminism, but also on the way in which she lived her life. Her tumultuous life in Paris and affairs were depicted in the memoirs written by her husband, William Godwin, after her death. The Wollstonecraft Society aims to provide talks, books and educational material on Wollstonecraft to as many primary schools as possible. Whilst well known for her seminal work A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) she also wrote, The Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) wherein she outlines what we would now call human rights. While the first name that comes to mind when discussing human rights is Eleanor Roosevelt, the Wollstonecraft Society’s mission is to ensure people also acknowledge the contributions of Mary Wollstonecraft.
Rowlatt talked about the controversy around “A Sculpture for Mary'', commissioned by the group Mary On The Green which she chaired. The sculpture was made by Maggi Hambling, and depicts a naked woman. She said Hambling erected the female figure as naked not nude, and her nakedness made her powerful and timeless. However, the sculpture became very controversial, with many people offended by the nakedness of the Mary figure. Rowlatt was shocked at the level of public feeling and found the experience stressful but she reiterated that the campaign wanted the statue to be original and representative of the feminist message of Wollstonecraft. When it came to questions, many students focused on the topic of the statue. One student suggested that the backlash was a defence mechanism of the feminist community, a reaction to women’s naked bodies having forever been sexualised.
Rowlatt was also asked about becoming a writer; her advice was to write, write, write….write something every day, and always value your creative output.
The students at CSG felt really inspired by her talk and empowered and ready to fight the patriarchy!
We can't wait to have her back soon!
Laura
Sixth Form Senior Prefect
