Hello,
At this year’s Women and Geography Study Group AGM we had a discussion about membership and some people who attended the meeting were not sure whether they were formally members of the WGSG (i.e. whether they have a subscription to the WGSG as part of their RGS-IBG membership) or whether they were 'just' members of the WGSG jiscmail list, which anyone can join. This is significant for at least two reasons:
1. The WGSG receives a subvention for each WGSG member from the RGS-IBG – this doesn’t incur any extra cost to you, we just get a share of your annual subscription from the RGS-IBG. These funds are vital for ensuring that we can continue running the various events that we regularly arrange such as reading weekends (where we offer bursaries to unwaged/student participants), workshops (where we subsidise the cost to participants) and the annual undergraduate dissertation prize. If we receive more money from the RGS-IBG through your subventions, then we can put on more events and make them more affordable to a greater number of people!
2. As you know from previous emails/meetings there is currently a discussion about whether we should change the name of the WGSG. We are intending to have a vote on the matter sometime in 2013, but only formally signed-up members of the WGSG (rather than those who are ‘just’ members of the WGSG jiscmail list) will get to vote on this issue.
You should have recently received (or will shortly receive!) a letter from the RGS-IBG about your 2013 subscription renewal. There is a form attached to the letter which outlines your current subscription (section 2). If you are a formal member of the WGSG it should be listed here (RG Women and Geography SG). If it isn’t, then you aren’t a formal member of the WGSG, we aren't receiving any funds from your membership and you won’t get to vote next year!
If you are not a member of the WGSG and would like to join to either support our ongoing work by allowing us to claim a subvention on your behalf, and/or to ensure that you are included in next year’s vote, then please change your details on the form attached to your RGS-IBG subscription renewal and send it in the freepost envelope to the RGS-IBG. Alternatively, you can renew your subscription online (http://www.rgs.org/JoinUs/Membership+renewals.htm) and/or send the membership office an email via the link on http://www.rgs.org/JoinUs/Join+us.htm to request membership of the WGSG.
Thanks for considering this matter, and for your continued support if you are already a member of the WGSG!
Best wishes,
Nichola (Secretary of the WGSG)
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Dr. Nichola Wood
Lecturer in Critical Human Geography
School of Geography
University of Leeds
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom
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