Anj Handa 🌱 (she/her)

A large auditorium with a canopy of pink LED lighting. TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky's headshot is on screen

Live image of Octopus Energy Greg Jackson on screen. White middle aged man wearing a t shirt and chinos

@octopus.energy I was already a loyal customer. More social now. So excited to be at #Octopus25

Here's the Listen Again link.
listenagain.bcbradio.co.uk

Anj is a brown woman seated in front of a microphone in a recording studio. She's opposite Carole who is an older white woman with grey hair. The recording light is on and they're smiling at each other.

If you missed my 121 interview with presenter Carole Moss at BCB Radio yesterday, it's on again tonight (8 Mar) from 7-8pm GMT and tomorrow from 5-6pm (9 Mar) at 106.6FM, or you can Listen Again via the website. I selected 8 brilliant #WomensDay themed songs too so tune in!
#IWD25 #WomensDay #media

Purple crocus

Scarlet hellebores against a log. Black St Johns Wort berries compliment them.

Lungwort with white spotted leaves and pink and purple flowers

A large type of snowdrop with a green inverted 'heart' in the centre

Some of the spring flowers in my garden. This week, I've seen a few bees and my first butterfly! Happy International Women's Day #IWD25

Rachel Los on LinkedIn: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts… | 148 comments “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”  –… | 148 comments on LinkedIn

She also shared it on LinkedIn, with a longer reflection.
Link here if you want to read it (and share your thoughts with her directly)
www.linkedin.com/posts/rachel...

There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience. No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent. And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted. ... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.

A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.”
Absurd we still need to go through this
🧪👩‍🔬

An infographic with a photo of Anj, a brown woman wearing a navy dress alongside text about CSW69.

Looking forward to participating in the 69th Session of the @unwomen.bsky.social Commission on the Status of Women and feeding back insights through my changemaker community, Inspiring Women Changemakers.
#CSW69 #WomensRights #GenderEquality

Nightly votive in the porch garden.

"The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?" — Angela Davis
🌱📷

Federal judge issues restraining order blocking federal spending freeze The order came in response to a memo released by the Office of Management and Budget last week directing agencies to freeze funding for federal grants and other programs.

Federal judge issues restraining order blocking federal spending freeze www.npr.org/2025/02/03/n...

Nonprofit's lawsuit over the federal funding freeze is part of an 'avalanche' of litigation A new coalition of nonprofits came together overnight to challenge a seemingly sweeping order from the Trump administration last week pausing trillions of dollars in federal funding.

The lawsuit filed by National Council of Nonprofits and Democracy Forward is one of many pushing back against harmful actions by the administration apnews.com/article/nonp...

Gloria Steinem’s Life on the Feminist Frontier With her writing, her community organizing, and her partnerships, she has remained at the forefront of the movement for more than fifty years.

“People are always asking me, ‘Who will you pass the torch to?’ ” Gloria Steinem said. “The question makes me angry. There is no one torch—there are many torches—and I’m using my torch to light other torches.” Revisit a Profile of the feminist trailblazer, from 2015.

Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice Trump fired Linda Fagan, the first female Coast Guard commandant, on his second day in office. A Trump official told her she had three hours to leave her house on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump's administration evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice on Tuesday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects — according to two people familiar with the incident.

Three Months After Missouri Voted to Make Abortion Legal, Access Is Still Being Blocked Reproductive rights are now enshrined in the state constitution, but Missouri’s main abortion provider is fighting legal hurdles to resume offering the procedure. Meanwhile, anti-abortion lawmakers…

NEW: Reproductive rights are now enshrined in the state constitution, but Missouri’s main abortion provider is fighting legal hurdles to resume offering the procedure. Meanwhile, anti-abortion lawmakers strategize to prevent a return of abortion services.

By @jeremykohler.bsky.social

U.S. Navy has paused all Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) training, per Navy memo leaked to me

YouTube video by Sandy Speaks Sandy Speaks on her birthday! February 7th, 2015

Today, Sandra Bland should've been celebrating her birthday but she died in police custody 10 years ago. In this #SandySpeaks video, a message from the grave, she gives voice to issues that, depressingly, were as pertinent now as they were then. #SayHerName youtu.be/KfrZM2Qjvtc?...

“US sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court are a gift to perpetrators of mass atrocities around the globe. To defend justice, ICC member countries should do all they can to support the court.” Liz Evenson, international justice director, Human Rights Watch

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court.

This order effectively puts the US on the side of war criminals at the expense of victims of grave crimes seeking justice.

Read more: bit.ly/4gxSvuD

US OPM MEMORANDUM To: Heads and Acting Heads of Departments and Agencies From: Charles Ezell, Acting Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Andrew Kloster, General Counsel, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Date: February 4, 2025 RE: Legality of Deferred Resignation Program

NEW: A week after OPM purported to offer a deferred resignation program for almost the entire federal workforce — and two days before the Trump admin's self-imposed deadline for it — OPM just had to send out a memo addressing the "Legality of Deferred Resignation Program." chcoc.gov/sites/defaul...

Federal health workers terrified after ‘DEI’ website publishes list of ‘targets’ The site calls out workers who have been involved with DEI initiatives. A majority are Black.

Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them as “targets.”

Judge blocks Trump’s executive order on transgender prisoners A small number of transgender women in women’s facilities cannot be transferred to men’s prisons, the judge ruled.

A federal judge tonight blocked Donald Trump’s executive order transferring transgender women in federal prisons into men’s facilities. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Coercive control to be put on par with other types of domestic abuse in England and Wales Police and probation services will be legally required to share with one another information that suggests offenders are risk to others Coercive control is to be put on a par with other forms of domestic abuse in England and Wales with police and other…

Coercive control to be put on par with other types of domestic abuse in England and Wales

Trump's Transgender Military Ban Doesn't Make Sense. It Didn't the First Time Either. The ban will only serve to create chaos and risk the health and safety of Americans.

My latest oped @thenation.com "Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Doesn’t Make Sense. It Didn’t the First Time Either." www.thenation.com/article/soci... @oneillinstitute.bsky.social @georgetownlaw.bsky.social @msmagazine.com

Interim U.S. attorney fires more than two dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors in D.C. The lawyer and pro-Trump podcaster has fired Jan. 6 prosecutors, launched investigations of the Capitol riot investigation and threatened a Democrat with an inquiry.

Just to be clear, this means Trump’s U.S. Attorney for D.C. has fired almost every domestic violence prosecutor in the office.

And because we’re not a state, D.C.’s attorney general can’t bring felony charges against domestic abusers. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Download CDC Guidelines Removed By The Trump Admin The Trump administration is scrubbing the CDC’s website of documents on reproductive rights issues, sexual health, intimate partner violence, and more.

The Trump administration is scrubbing the CDC’s website of documents on reproductive rights issues, sexual health, intimate partner violence, and more.

I'm trying to save them.

You can find the deleted docs at cdcguidelines.com - I'll be adding more over the weekend.

Asked how organizations that rely on federal funding should make payroll, Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says they should call Russ Vought and make a case

Trump Wants Snitches to Report on DEI. There’s Just One Problem. Donald Trump wants people to expose diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the federal government. The idea is already flopping.

The Trump administration’s anti-DEI snitching plan is getting flooded with fake reports after it tried to strong-arm federal workers into ratting out their colleagues.

ReproductiveRights.Gov Vanished, So We Brought It Back theSkimm makes it easier to live smarter. You're welcome. Get all the info you need from AM to PM, wherever you are.

The administration took down the reproductive rights website that women need access to. So The Skimm bought a url and brought the content back. Pass this on!

Go to reproductiverightsdotgov.com

Photo of my mother from 10 yeras ago celebrating her 83 birthday on St. Patrick's Day.

Today my 92 year old mother passed. She participated in the 1993 March on Washington for LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter 2020, The Women's March 2017. An early member of NOW, a speaker for the Compassion use Program and worked in the Psych Department of Johns Hopkins. More pics in comments

Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal. This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.

National Science Foundation freezes grant review in response to Trump executive orders The National Science Foundation has canceled all grant review panels this week. It's unclear how long the pause could last.

Story:

In response to orders from the Trump White House, the National Science Foundation has canceled all of its grant review panels for this week.

This follows the National Institutes of Health canceling its grant review panels earlier.

This is a huge disruption to US science.