BBC One Wales "The Hour" Audience Experience
I got the opportunity to be part of the interactive audience for BBC One Wales debate programme "The Hour", the focus of this episode was on Gender Equality in Wales. Personally I have an interest on the topic of Gender Equality as I studied this topic for my dissertation that I handed in earlier this year, and also undertook my own self organised and self run exhibition on feminism.
I feel as though a lot of topics were raised that could have been explored deeper had it not been a 60 minute segment, such as the stereotyping of the husband and wife roles.
I wondered what people thought of same sex couples and how the roles could be split in these, or even non binary identifying people. I think my research into gender being a performance from Judith Butler and John Berger gave me a deeper understanding than some of the other audience members, as the conversation seemed to be relatively heteronormative. However we did raise some very interesting points about sexual assault and catcalling, and how this can be fought. Many people agreed that women need to be able to stand up for themselves to stop this kind of behaviour, but then some people brought up the fact that some women may not be able to defend themselves against people due to past trauma or mental health hinderances such as anxiety.
It was very engaging to be able to hear the views of some members of political parties, as well s that of the first female bishop in Wales, this widened my knowledge of women in politics and the bias within the house of commons, however this will only be "fixed" if more women get into politics and want to pursue this career, so all we can do is encourage girls in education to do this if they have an interest in it, and show that all career options are viable for all genders!
The filming of this programme was fascinating to watch, and also to be able to see what really goes into a short programme! The amount of crew and the professionalism of all involved was wonderful to be able to see in person and I think it was an incredible experience to be invited to be a part of and the information and opinions that I heard on the day will inform my own thoughts and knowledge on this subject in discussions in the future.
The programme itself aired on Monday 16th April 2018 at 10:40pm, however it may be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
