The Sundial: time and space for gender equality

  • 23 September 2020
  • 3 minutes

The need to create a space for Caius students to freely express their opinions and ideas is the motivation behind a new publication titled The Sundial.

The new journal, initiated and edited by this year’s JCR Women and Non-Binary Officer Scarlet Rowe, is now available to read, with the first edition covering a range of interesting and important topics from life at Caius, film and literature, to art, social sciences, law, sport, and history. 

Scarlet, a second year Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) student, says, “The Sundial aims to provide a safe and creative space for female and non-binary individuals within the college, but also aims to foster independent writing for all college students who have thoughts on female and non-binary issues. It’s only by facilitating organic discussion of these types of topics that perceptions can be shifted and under-represented viewpoints can be heard.”

The Sundial aims to provide a safe and creative space for female and non-binary individuals within the college, but also aims to foster independent writing for all college students who have thoughts on female and non-binary issues. It’s only by facilitating organic discussion of these types of topics that perceptions can be shifted and under-represented viewpoints can be heard.

-Scarlet Rowe, JCR Women and Non-Binary Officer

The first edition features a greeting from the Master Dr Pippa Rogerson, who reflects on the significance of sundials to Caius, and provides a brief history of women at the college. Although the history of women’s formal connection to the college as Students and Fellows only spans 40 years, Pippa writes about their significant contribution to life at Caius, and concludes her piece with “Everyone is welcome at Gonville & Caius College now and this journal celebrates that.”

So what can readers expect? Scarlet says, “The Sundial is continuing to grow with submissions coming in from a wide range of Caius students. Articles on The Sundial website are grouped under six subheadings: life at Caius, film, literature and art, social sciences and law, sport, and history. However, within these groupings readers can expect diverse content tackling a plethora of questions and thoughts, including everything from ancestry testing to women in cross-country running. Some articles featured in this edition include: “My Top 10 Queerantine Picks”, a list of “new queer content” to watch; “Thank You Margaret Bondfield”, an interesting piece on Britain’s first female cabinet minister; “The Rise of the Warriors”, the story of the Caius Women and Non-Binary football team; and “The paradox of ancestry testing” a discussion about the new ethnicity-testing trend; plus much more.

Scarlet hopes that The Sundial can help students to feel more comfortable and at home in their college environment, by sharing ideas and opinions with others in our community. “The Sundial is so important because, now more than ever, people feel isolated and disconnected from their communities. Therefore, a safe space for people to express themselves is absolutely vital: whether it’s just to provide a bit of light relief, or whether it’s debating weighty social issues.”

Any Caian, past and present is able to submit an article. “As the next step on The Sundial’s journey,” Scarlet says, “I am calling Caius alumni to help out.”

“I’d love to hear about their own experiences and ideas to broaden the scope of the journal. Submissions are open to all alumni and new ideas are always welcome.” You can submit an article by emailing jcrwomensnb@cai.cam.ac.uk.

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