Creating Change » Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

We are changing the world for women and technology one woman at a time. The Anita Borg Institute:

• Offers workshops, publications and information aimed to develop leadership skills
• Celebrates and highlights the success of women who are changing the face of technology
• Provides programs that change the way technology is created, learned and taught
• Creates new communities to change the culture of technology
• Enables our sponsors to recruit, retain and develop technical women resulting in higher levels of technology innovation and better financial performance

via anitaborg.org

#feminismfail at #cua09 the Connecting Up Australia Conference. I loved the session with Jody Mahoney, the VP for Business Development of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Like Cheryl Kernot in the opening address discussing technology and society at large, Jody had all the facts and figures about women's participation in technology.

But the thing that I HATE is that Jody was preaching to the converted. The audience at her session was the smallest I'd seen all Day One. 20 women and 1 man. I can add that I think 1 man was present rather than ZERO men because this was a conference about technology and social change. BUT WHY WASN'T THE ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE OF ALL GENDERS? Because this WAS a conference about technology and social change.

This was a support group for women in technology. I loved it. We need it. But for every support group there must be an equally effective group for social change. The onus is not on women to do all the changing. That is what I ardently disagree with the Anita Borg Institute on "We are changing the world for women and technology one woman at a time."

We should be changing the world for people and technology one person at a time, recognising that women a minority group. I believe that if the workshop had been titled "Minorities and Technology" it would have been packed to the rafters. From now on in fact, I think I am not a feminist. I have become a refugee from the patriarchy. I am a gender role dissenter. I am an authentic ethnic technology minority. 

Let's have another workshop on the topics covered in the Anita Borg 2009 research paper on"The Prevalence of Gender Stereotyping and Biases"only drop the word gender from the agenda and reflash with emotional decision making and modern neurological cognitive theory.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

Schick: Mow the Lawn - laugh till you die

Die of horror! Thanks to the Bloggess over at GoodMomBadMom for driving my morning to distraction with this absolute jewel of antifeminism @ironyfail

Gen Y women achieve equality #aprilfool

The problem with this excellent article by Adele Horin in SMH is simply that if you only read the first 3 paragraphs it all sounds WONDERFUL. What happens after that?

Well earnings decline, glass ceilings kick in and all the evidence points to women earning 60% of similar male earnings over their careers. We all know why. Children and men. Forget that women are finally outnumbering men in professional areas (in junior ways I'm sure).

My question is why are so few women achieving in technological and scientific areas. As Pia Waugh, australian geek girl, says in her interview with stilgherrian for Ada Lovelace Day,

"There is a stereotype there. Because people see the majority of people working with computers are men, they assume it's masculine. But there's actually nothing masculine about using a computer. It's just typing away, it's not like carrying bricks!"

Gen Y women earn their fair share

Adele Horin
April 1, 2009

THEY are the first generation of women to experience true wage equality. And so they should.

Women in their 20s and early 30s, Gen Y, have outsmarted the boys for years. More of them finished high school than boys, more of them enrolled in university, achieved a bachelor's degree or higher, and more moved into the professions.

Their superior performance has achieved a first, says the managing director of AMP Financial Services, Craig Meller.

"Gen Y is the first generation where the wages of women are almost on a par with men."

But the question is whether these young women, as they grow older and have children, will suffer the same fate as their mothers.

Women a generation older, Gen X (aged 34 to 48), are paid 3.5 per cent less than men for similar work hours in similar fields.

Despite the progress women have made in education and in the workforce over the past 20 years, a 25-year-old man is likely to earn $2.4 million in his lifetime while a 25-year-old woman will earn $1.4 million, says the report, by AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra.

A father with a bachelor degree or higher will earn $3.3 million over his working life, compared with $1.8 million for a similarly qualified mother, it says.

"While the gender divide has narrowed, particularly for Gen Y, the risk remains that as these women progress through their careers, particularly during their child-rearing years, they will still face the same dilemmas and glass ceiling as their baby-boomer mothers," Mr Mellor said.

The report, She Works Hard For The Money, reveals that for the first time women outnumber men in professional occupations. The increase in women's representation from 39 per cent in 1988 to 52.6 per cent in 2007 is very positive, said the study's lead author, Rebecca Cassells.

Ms Cassells, a research fellow, said young women had benefited from the feminist movement. There were 80,000 more women than men studying for bachelor degrees in university, and more women than ever were employed in highly skilled jobs such as managers and administrators.

But as men and women headed towards the end of their careers, it was likely that men reached top positions while women bumped their head on the glass ceiling, she said. "It could be that women aren't necessarily interested in these very demanding positions or it could be discrimination."

Among the young, 18 per cent of Gen Y men have superannuation balances of between $25,000 and $100,000, compared with only 14 per cent of women.

Fire Story

I was about to finish a post about our little fire and escape, from a couple of weeks ago. I just couldn't at the time because of all the real bushfire drama. UPDATE. Apparently company that can't be named haven't sent us a cheque. Just a non-disclosure agreement. WTF?

So, just when I thought it was safe to make light of fire. Ha Ha. The kids turn on TV and RSPCA Animal Rescue is all about saving animals from the Victorian bushfires.

I'm too upset. There's nothing like watching people apologise for leaving their cat behind when they barely escaped the bushfires with their lives. And their children's lives. And you know how many people didn't.

ALDI - the aesthetics of frugality

I like ALDI today. That's pretty changeable. I can LOATHE the place.

Today I went just after the school run. No crowds. I also now have a trolley token and don't have to

1. make unnecessary trip to other shop to get change
2. curse a lot
3. curse a lot more and attempt to carry 40kilos of shopping all the way home by hand

I also remembered to store some reuseable bags in the car AND get them out. Although I only took 2 with me because I only had 5 things on the shopping list. Will I never learn?

I'm hoping that when I get old I will learn how to come home from shopping with one small bag holding a half an apple, a twig and punnet of soap.

Now admittedly the trolley was deformed and qualified for disability access only they don't have any, but damn! I felt good about the whole shopping experience.

So good I added a few boxes of organic tea and muesli... and then.. well when you're going straight home after shopping you must SEIZE the opportunity to stock up on frozens.

Then the lovely vertical marketing, where one moment it's just a squishy gel bike seat that you're craving, then you've picked up matching handle bar covers, fingerless gloves, clip on carrypacks, luminescent stripes and a nifty little portable weatherproof bikeshed that can be fitted into a backpack and erected in minutes!

I felt positively European when I emerged. So efficient and well put together. I treated myself to some new chocolate ginger biscuits and felt even more virtuous when I sneered at the Speculaas. I am being healthy, in moderation!

I've got to enjoy this virtuosity while I can! It wears off when I run into the damn place at 3.15 or 7pm and they don't have brown rice for my suddenly fussy family. Or wholemeal pasta. Or any bread left. And I queue for a quarter of an hour, while pushy people jump ahead of me because their life is just plain more important and they open another checkout that everyone behind me runs to, only I'm trapped with all my goods on the incredibly long travelator of despair.

Last woman who pissed me off at ALDI was Irish and slid in front of me saying "You don't mind, do you?" When I said, "Yes, actually." she turned her back on me and pretended she didn't hear.

So, I upped the volume and repeated myself a couple of times till she turned back to me and huffed "You have no idea what's going on in my life!" All I could say was "What makes you think that everyone else here has nothing going on in their lives? Have you checked?"

I did worry though. The one time I complained about the neighbours parking in our driveway - 10pm carrying 3 sleeping children a rather long way with a bad back. Well, someone had just died. ZING.

However, I cynically wonder if this one's coasted through life smilingly saying "You don't mind, do you?" while doing exactly as she pleases and ignoring any unpleasantries. How do you get such a thick skin? I don't tan, I fry.

Then checkout cock slides my eggs off the end of the incredibly tiny packing space and everyone swears at me for misswiping my credit card which is in the exact opposite direction to Woolworths and Kmart and everywhere else. I have checked!

ALDI. Love it or loathe it.

Dr Who? Matt Smith who?

As Kat comments on the Times Online:

You know women, or people of colour can be Drs too. Perhaps the people at the BBC don't know this.

The BBC's response is clear.

My hopes are dashed. Again. I fear that the sexy young thinging of the Doctor is an irreversible decline of standards, however the more I read about Matt Smith, the more I think he has interesting acting chops. And I'm kind of getting used to the face.

I remember thinking that Peter Davison, the former youngest doctor ever, was a lot unbelievable but I got over it.. No, actually he still looks like a complete prat. And I also don't think a time lord needs to look wizened and twisted. Let's extend!

1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)

2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)

3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)

4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)

5. Peter Davison - pictured (1982-1984)

6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)

7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)

8. Paul McGann (1996)

9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)

10. David Tennant (2005-2010)

11. Matt Smith (2010 - ?)

Professor River Song for President!

AVOs - how to fix the broken system!

"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!"

This is so depressing. Another woman killed after taking out an AVO. Melissa Cook took out an AVO. Her soon to be ex-husband shot her and then killed himself.

Last month the Herald revealed that at least 74 women and dozens of children die in Australia each year at the hands of violent men. Experts warn the real rates are even higher because of weaknesses in the way homicide data is collected.

Melissa's death will not be counted in these figures. As her husband is dead, he will not be charged. That's what is being counted here. How many men are charged. Not how many women and children are killed.

I've had some friends go through this recently and I was kind of involved in the recent campaigns against gender violence. It's not my favorite issue to get bent about but it's driving me crazy grumpy.

I have an idea. We should give everyone man, woman and child who applies for an AVO a mobile phone (or similar emergency beacon). Paint it bright yellow. Make the buttons big. Set it to contact emergency services only and the battery will last for about 3 months. They make pretty good location broadcasters too.

So, you ask for an AVO. While you're waiting for stuff to happen, you have an emergency beacon. Any time you set it off, police respond in person. There may be false alarms. Of course there will be! But imagine the deterrent effect!

If everyone expects the emergency AVO to be answered, then there will be far fewer attempts to threaten and harm. If we as a society agree that it is valuable to take an AVO seriously enough to provide some sort of real protection, then we start to change. The need for protection will decrease.

This would be totally cheap to set up from a technology point of view. A mobile phone will do it. The manpower to respond is the tough one. The NSW police force is trying to cut down on overtime due to extreme budgetary constraints. I also hear that more than 70% of police time is spent in court or on paperwork.

Sunday sports and Monday thoughts

So much for my new world order! I was going to blog on Sport on Sunday, Thoughts on Monday and then do real work for a couple of days. And maybe catch up on my commenting. And maybe blog again on Thursday or Friday if inspired.

In fact, I dream of starting the new Woman Warrior Feature with some in depth interviews with any woman warrior who crosses my path. But that's a Thursday Thing... Or should that be the Wednesday Woman Warrior. Yep. Alliteration wins hands down over convenience.

But so much for my Sunday. The TIVO ate the last 6 weeks W League coverage and I'm so far behind the season that my dreams of being a W League blogger have disintegrated like a biodegradable shopping bag. Only a damn sight faster.

the new tipping point - global food shortage

That, plus global communication creating higher living expectations across the globe. Combine with greater access to transport and I think that war torn hungry and angry countries will increasingly plant their issues violently on the comfortable doorsteps of previously inaccessible and unimaginable places.

Like Australia. We are seen as one big empty food bowl. That we fail to utilise. Our food production, especially in light of the increase diversion of food stuffs to biofuels was very poor this year. Several years of drought affected poor wheat harvests and virtually NO rice production since 2003.

Queensland MP, Bill Heffernan is lobbying for the northern states to become the farms of the nation. Ploughing under the wilderness. In the USA, Obama and the Democrats have a very protect local farmers policy which has ramifications globally on food prices and shortages. But that is unlikely to change with the mini financial crisis.

So where to? Lack of technological advances in food technology internally (modified foods banned) or making too expensive to use externally (ie. golden rice too expensive for asian countries to plant) are to blame, alongside the diversion of food to fuel and the increased population.

The increased population of the world is also increasingly fond of protein, which demands more acres to produce per kilojoule (grain acres PLUS meat acres).

great illustration by Harry Afentoglou to accompany article by Paul Myers December 6, 2008

Going hungry in the 21st century

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence - Greens Stuff It Up!

In the last sitting day of Parliament, NSW Labor Party rushed through a bill that allows men with AVOs that have expired to have the AVO revoked if they want to purchase a gun. Previous law meant that once you had an AVO, you couldn't get or renew a gun license for 10 years. Seems reasonable.

 This is the same state government who recently back pedalled on the 28 day cooling off period for gun purchases. Now, if it's the same type of gun you already have or have had in past, there is no need for you to wait to purchase another.

I can see the rationale. I can also see a lot of big loopholes waiting to be exploited. Why is this so?

Thank you GREENS!!!! The Greens and Christian Democrat MP, Gordon Moyes, vote with the Opposition to block Government legislation. That means the NSW Labor Party needs the vote of the two Shooters Party MPs and the Reverend Fred Nile in the upper house to get legislation through.

That means a lot of pro gun legislation going through. Today marks the date that a lone disgruntled gunman massacred 14 female engineering students (injuring 14 others) in Montreal because "he was fighting feminism".

Fight the Good Fight at Darley Developments

I'm putting the blogging into use. So much is getting knocked down around us and the battles to reduce the impact are so draining, unproductive and fragmented that I've decided on a course of community building action.

A blog space for all the local residents to complain about the crap developments and to find out who has fought what, where and how. DarleyDevelopments.blogspot.com

It's a small suburb. The same developer that did the really shoddy work down one end of the street is starting afresh up the other. The people behind us who shouldn't have let our place be surveyed by the development we're fighting, didn't realise it wasn't their surveyor cause they're having work done.

In Marrickville, it's customary to throw a party when your plans go to council, celebrating your family extension! There's a different flavour here. All the good big houses are getting bought, knocked down and turned into tiny ghettos by developers who DON'T LIVE HERE!

Beware the church of climate change!

Bloody good article actually. Imagine my shock when I discover the author is Miranda Devine, whom I love to hate. What that does prove however is that being female does not make you an authority on feminism. Perhaps it will encourage more men to become such. LOL.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/miranda-devine/beware-the-church-of-climate-alarm/2008/11/26/1227491635989.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Mary Poppins strikes fear into the heart of merely mortals

I am in supercalifragilistic organisational mode. I think this is something that all mothers hit once or twice a year. It's too late the week before school starts! Everything must be applied for and co-ordinated before December or you miss out.

There have been parallels with my whole life what with partners being overseas, parents downsizing, jobs being chucked, etc. etc.

insert chart here...

I am now officially OCD. I am color coding everything. I was pleased to find out that I"m not the only person who likes to have same color pegs grouped on the clothes line! Or sometimes I like different color combinations, like only orange and green in the front with blue and yellow at the back. Or blue is for me, yellow is for undies, etc. Ditto with push pins. If I'm in a yellow is for personal and blue is for school mood then DON'T jam a green pin on the board! I now offically hate blue and yellow. I have moved on.

When this gets too much for me, my answer is to give up hanging the washing out and revert to the drier. I've tried chucking tantrums and/or calling a strike and/or having a family meeting resulting in the Treaty of Versailles.

Previous result? Two lots of cleaners reducing me to nervous breakdown by their aggressive use of bleach and sugarsoap and scourers, scratching the surface off all of our stainless steel appliances and the bathroom cabinets and the glass doors. Even after I pointed this out, then left out paper towel and proper cleaning products. They still used their own whenever I wasn't there. They even carried them in brand name cleaning product canisters, but I checked - sugar soap and bleach.

Latest result? Sensitive new age partner (SNAP) reduced me to nervous breakdown by scratching the surface off all the new (ish) lino demonstrating his willingness to help and his complete inability to be instructed. My fault for talking wrong.

Agreement reached at the latest Yalta Conference? Clear color coded delineation of all roles in the family corporation. Regular meetings to report to the bored. Sackings are definitely on the cards if we don't meet our targets. Acknowledgement that HOUSEWORK IS THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE. There is no defeating entropy!

Second Law of Thermodynamics btw. as quoted below by Dr James Kranz

The heart of your question concerns the equilibrium state of the universe, and how the one of the laws of thermodynamics, that “entropy always increases”, seems to be defied by the buildup of a net charge difference between materials that shows up as static electricity. I need to spend a little time on thermodynamics. At its essence, the thermodynamics of a system really describes an energy balance; like balancing a checkbook, the energy going into a system or flowing out of a system is in balance with the rest of the world. (Money is a VERY good analogy to energy in a thermodynamic sense). Here is my favorite description of the laws of thermodynamics in a colloquial sense:

1) You can’t break even (i.e. entropy always increases).
2) You can break even, but only when hell freezes over (i.e. you can stop entropy from changing/increasing at absolute zero temperature).
3) Hell isn’t going to freeze over (i.e. though you can get close, you can’t get to absolute zero).

All changes of energy are in balance on the scale of the universe; locally
we can change the balance of energy in apparent defiance of the first law of thermodynamics. It takes substantial effort to roll a large rock up a hill; perched on the top of the hill, it retains potential energy that would be released if the boulder rolls back down the hill under the force of gravity. Static electricity is a lot like the energetic state achieved when the builder is perched at the top of a hill but has not begun rolling down.

McStupid Seared Chicken Mumbai Ads

I am an idiot. As if my polite complaint will make a difference! But just in case, I have just put down my irate pen (after an evening of pleasure at the children's school) because honestly! It's been a rather busy day. I have a quick browse of the news when I get home.

80 killed in a terrorist attack in Mumbai

and I have to listen to the hiss and sizzle of seared McChicken breast before I can see news?

Tasteless and I don't mean the food!

I think we need some McCorpseorate responsibility.

Barack Obama into the Whitehouse - Yay...

Yay.. it is historic. It is wonderful. Why do I feel let down? Ever since it became a Barack/Hillary battle for the Whitehouse it's felt like a lose-lose situation.

I tried to explain to my children why it was historically wonderful that Barack Obama was the new US president, only I would have liked it if it had been woman.

Nine year old daughter said, "haven't we had a woman president in Australia?" Sighhhhhh.

My question is WHY haven't we had a woman 'president' in Australia. America would rather vote for a black man than a white woman. And it goes without saying that a black woman would have NO chance, even if she was Oprah. WHY??????????????

Miranda Devine - No Sword Award EVER

This is a old response to a Miranda Devine opinion piece. I got over it. I decided that publicising idiots like the above and Sam De Brito was a waste of my life and gave legs to things that ought to be humanely put down. However, I've changed my mind. One should always object to stupidity and inhumanity.

Ms inaptly named Devine, You have trivialized feminism and all of the issues affected by gender power imbalances to such a degree and in such a way that i mistook you for a rabidly reactionary redneck male of the most ill intentioned and misinformed sort.

You have done exactly what Sarah Palin does that is so 'inexplicably upsetting to women!'. Your article turned a huge list of really bad things into the suggestion that 'we' were simply JEALOUS.

I should have stopped reading but I wanted to find out who the idiot behind the article was, Ms Devine, so I could avoid you in future. I won't link to it. I don't think anyone needs more crap in their lives.

I think that you like starting fires but I wouldn't even piss on you in public to put this fire out, lest you get some kind of perverted pleasure from it.

You can always come see me in private.

who said going home wasn't easy?

550 plants planted (not all in picture yet)
3 medium sized trees removed
1 large fence removed
1,147 sqm land weeded, raked, hosed, sprayed, planted and scraped clean inch by inch
10 sq centimetres of flesh missing from my feet where pressure hose missed paths, stairs, walls, showers, gutters, eaves etc.

500kg of rubbish personally taken to tip
500kg of rubbish taken out for council pick ups
300kg rubbish bagged ready to go next trip
300kg gone to the Salvos
200kg book fair books ready to go
the whole inside of the house now ready to be sorted...

1 mother having nervous breakdown
1 patient real estate agent
1 father away for the weekend
1 sibling prima donna departure
1 sibling long distance just let go

1 husband who'd rather be at work paying for it all
3 kids had fun helping actually!
1 once was grumpy me, now ...

1 beautiful house in new lambton for auction on november 22nd

Just Saying - Female Politician Supporter NOT Palin Supporter per se.

Sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. To continue from my earlier posts about women in politics and women in the media, I do not support Sarah Palin, but I support her right to be seen as a politician not a gun-toting bikini modelling bad mother.

Although American presidential campaigns draw heavily on personality, there is a great difference between the portrayal of male and female politicians. I am a pretty unbiased observer and I know that Palin totes guns, wore a bikini or pageant modelled and has lots of kids and there's something wrong with that somehow. She's not a good mother. She's also not a good manager. Inexperienced and can't cut it.
Conversely, my Obama information is, he's black and very popular. Does he have a family? I figure he has a wife somewhere or else the absence would have been noted. Some say he is inexperienced and can't cut it.


It's driving me nuts, this morning, I have to google his family. Wow, multi-culturally, go Obama! In terms of family, you guessed it, one wife, 2 darling children. All kind of invisibly good.

I posted earlier about my disgust at the complete invisibility of family as a professional issue for men, whereas FAMILY IS ALWAYS A LIABILITY FOR WOMEN in Gartner's Elephant in the Room - I am woman, hear me trumpet!

Even worse. The bikini modelling gun-toting Palins are all hoax photos. Snopes. com . That this is news to me shows how much I don't care. ALSO see Huffington Post for YouTube video analysis of Obamagirl. Both hoax virals - helping or hindering?

GOOGLE CHALLENGE: the first 20 images for "obama" vs the first 20 images for "palin". This is feminist analysis 101:

1. Obama: action shot - Palin: head shot
2. Obama: head shot at whitehouse - Palin: family shot
3. Obama: head shot w flag - Palin: action shot
4. Obama: head shot at whitehouse - Palin: head shot

in summary, one wife shot for Obama's first 20 images, no family. for Palin, 1 family, 1 husband, 1 glossy magazine cover, 1 hate site, no Whitehouses, US flags or Supermen but a few Michael Palins for good measure. If you feel the need, try it yourself.

Julia Baird's book Media Tarts explores a myriad of the ways in which media differentiation works. An example, I like that I can use the surname only "Palin" and not qualify with "Sarah Palin". Unlike Hilary Clinton, although there are other reasons, for that one. In the papers recently Reba Meagher was more frequently referred to as "Reba" than "Reba Meagher" and hardly ever as "Meagher".

Dr Who's Companions POST SEASON FINALE

SCREEAMMMMMMM!

Donna Noble: you are now 1 SWORD of awful. You had me going there. For a while, I was thinking 4 SWORDS... maybe this is it, even 5 !!!! then...

Catherine Tate: you have 4 SWORDS of awesome for your rivetingly versatile performance as Donna Noble. You were BATHETIC at the end and became horribly stupidly trivial leaving me in tears. You reminded me of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes




Rose Tyler: I'd retract your SWORD AWARD for that horrible last scene, where you find true love with the part human doctor but then, it's HIS fault. You know who!

Russell T Davies! Wow, I bet the swords have been out for you! I daren't read the forums. I really love your writing but why can't you stretch yourself a little bit. Go on and try out more different gender roles.

I guess The Doctor is so lovingly constructed as tragic father figure (western hero) that any other strong figure can not survive in the same series. That's why I say, "Hey, Russell, try a woman next time! AS THE DOCTOR!

Dr Who's Companions and the SWORD AWARDS

NOTE - First up is my PRE-SEASON FINALE POST which wasn't finished before Sunday night. There's a POST SEASON FINALE follow up!

Firstly, the fact that the women on Dr Who are all companions and that Dr Who has never been a woman for all of his vaunted alien regenerative body shifting abilities automatically disqualifies ANY of them from getting 4 SWORDS.

If Dr Who becomes a woman though, she's a fair chance at 4 or even 5 SWORDS of AWESOME WOMAN WARRIORNESS!




Secondly, Billie Piper with a gun bigger than her entire torso. PUHLEASE! She is so 1 SWORD of awkward. She is BIG CAR LITTLE DICK!

Now, some other companions have been more Emma Peel and less Agent 99, but I'm still waiting for serious SWORDS! There are a bucket load of companions on wikipedia and I'm going to enjoy revisiting old episodes in my new quest to rate the companions.

For now:

River Song: 3 SWORDS - only we don't really know if you're a companion yet.
Sarah Jane Smith: 3 SWORDS - for sheer persistence and fun.
Sara Kingdom: 3 SWORDS - only you got killed off straightaway - such is the fate of many of the strong women companions it seems!

Donna Noble: 2 SWORDS - when you're good, you're great but you're such a temp warrior.
Martha Jones: 2 SWORDS - you were a bit whiny to start but the uniform suits you.

Astrid Peth: 1 SWORD - worth a mention even if only a canary sized mini companion.
Rose Tyler: 1 SWORD - as said above, you are a bit BCLD !







All I can say though, is thank heavens for the taboo against kissing in the tardis!