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Laura Bates

Author

Founder of The Everyday Sexism Project and author of Fix the System, Not the Women

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About

Gender: Female

Nationality:

Languages: English

Travels from: United Kingdom

Engagement Types

Topics

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biography Highlights

Laura Bates is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of global gender inequality.

Biography

Meet Laura Bates

Laura Bates is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of global gender inequality. She is the author of Everyday Sexism (shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year), the Sunday Times bestseller Girl Up, Misogynation, The Burning (nominated for the Carnegie Medal), The Trial, and Men Who Hate Women. Her most recent book, Fix the System, Not the Women, was named one of Waterstones’ best books of 2022. Her books have been translated into 8 languages.

Laura writes regularly for the Guardian and the New York Times amongst others and won a British Press Award in 2015. She is a frequent media commentator across Newsnight, Today, BBC Breakfast, Channel 4 News, CNN and more. She has presented two BBC television documentaries and is a consultant for productions tackling issues around gender inequality.

Laura works closely with politicians, businesses, schools, police forces and organisations from the Council of Europe to the United Nations to tackle gender inequality. Her campaign work alongside other activists has included persuading Facebook to change its policies on rape and domestic abuse content, putting sexual consent and healthy relationships on the school curriculum and improving the way in which the British Transport Police respond to incidents of sexual violence. Her speaking work has taken her from Wembley Stadium to the Sydney Opera House to President Obama’s White House Summit on the United State of Women.

Laura is a contributor at Women Under Siege, a New York-based project tackling rape in conflict worldwide and she is patron of SARSAS, Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support. She is on the Board of Directors for Equimundo, an NGO which is a global leader in engaging men and boys to advance gender equality and prevent violence against women.

Laura was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to gender equality in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2015 and has been named a Woman of the Year by Cosmopolitan, Red Magazine and The Sunday Times Magazine. She has been named on the Woman’s Hour Power List and was one of the BBC’s inaugural 100 Women. She is the recipient of two honorary degrees and was awarded the Internet and Society Award by the Oxford Internet Institute alongside Sir Tim Berners Lee. In the US, she has received the Women’s Media Award from the Women’s Media Center, and been named one of CNN’s 10 ‘Visionary Women’.

Laura is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Vice President of the Hay Festival and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She has judged the Women’s Prize, the BBC Young Writers Award, the YA Book Prize and the RSL Giles St Aubyn award, and has been on the judging panel for the Children’s Laureate.

Videos

Popular Talks

Everyday Sexism at School

Exploring the reality of gender inequality across our society and looking at the ways in which it manifests itself in young peoples’ lives. Tackling issues such as intersecting injustice, media sexism, political inequality, gender stereotypes and sexual consent. Examining questions like ‘what is sexual harassment?’ Looking at how young people can play a vital role in creating a more equal future. As well as talks for students Laura also offers training for teachers and talks for parents.

Available: Virtually

Male Allyship

Workshops focused on what men can do to help. Against a broader backdrop of societal gender imbalance, exploring the ways in which stereotypes and expectations present challenges to men as well as women and deconstructing some of the myths and misconceptions that might prevent men from being part of positive change. An active look at practical, positive action male allies can take to shift stereotypes, support survivors and create change in their own sphere.

Available: Virtually

Workplace Equality

Starting with a contextual framework of the wider picture of gender inequality across politics, media, STEM, culture and the scale of violence against women in our society, before zooming in to look at how these issues manifest themselves uniquely within the workplace. Exploring the complexity of workplace harassment and discrimination, the ways it intersects with other forms of prejudice such as racism and homophobia and the barriers to reporting. Highlighting the business case for tackling the problem and suggesting robust and actionable solutions from both an organisational and individual perspective.

Available: Virtually

Incels and extremist misogyny

A journey inside the secretive online world of the ‘manosphere’, lifting the lid on over 2 years of undercover research, infiltrating communities from incels and men’s rights activists to pickup artists and ‘men going their own way’. A comprehensive overview of this little-understood form of extremism, including close examination of radicalisation and recruitment techniques, particularly impacting vulnerable young people, and some of the ways in which teachers, parents and law enforcement can recognise potential red flags and play a positive role in supporting young people who might be at risk.

Available: Virtually

Books

Everyday Sexism

After experiencing a series of escalating sexist incidents, Laura Bates started theeveryday sexism projectand has gone on to write ‘a pioneering analysis of modern day misogyny’ (Telegraph). After an astounding response from the wide range of stories that came pouring in from all over the world, the project quickly became one of the biggest social media success stories of the internet. From being harassed and wolf-whistled at on the street, to discrimination in the workplace and serious sexual assault, it is clear that sexism had become normalised. But Bates inspires women to lead a real change and writes this ‘extremely powerful book that could, and should, win hearts and minds right across the spectrum’ (Financial Times).

Men Who Hate Women: From incels to pickup artists, the truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all

Imagine a world in which a vast network of incels and other misogynists are able to operate, virtually undetected. These extremists commit deliberate terrorist acts against women. Vulnerable teenage boys are groomed and radicalised. You don’t have to imagine that world. You already live in it. Perhaps you didn’t know, because we don’t like to talk about it. But it’s time we start. In this urgent and groundbreaking book, Laura Bates, bestselling author and founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, goes undercover to expose vast misogynist networks and communities. It’s a deep dive into the worldwide extremism nobody talks about. Interviews with former members of these groups and the people fighting against them gives unique insights on how this movement operates. Ideas are spread from the darkest corners of the internet – via trolls, media and celebrities – to schools, workplaces and the corridors of power, becoming a part of our collective consciousness. Uncensored, and sometimes both shocking and terrifying – this is the uncomfortable truth about the world we live in. And what we must do to change it.

Fix the System, Not the Women

Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them. This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions. Education Politics Media Policing Criminal justice Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform.