Another great Women Officer’s Summer School 

TUC Education’s 8th Women Officer’s ‘Summer’ school to place in London in mid October with 14 new women officers from a variety of unions. Usually, the course takes place in the summer but for 2012 only it was held in October, due to the Olympics.

The week long course is designed to develop the next generation of women trade union leaders and women from Unison, GMB, Prospect, SCP, MU, CWU, NUT, UCU and the STUC participated.

The TUC Educational Trust was able to offer 8 participants bursaries from the Mary Macarthur Trust, a fund set up in the name of the early twentieth century trade union leader.

The course has a particular focus on organising and leadership as well as updating women on the latest national policy developments from TUC senior officers. A highlight was a contribution from Mary Boustead, ATL general secretary and chair of the Unionlearn board, sharing her experiences as a senior women trade union leader.

Tea was taken at Westminster as guests of Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities and 22 women representatives from both Houses of Parliament joined participants for discussions on a range of topics. These included Caroline Flint and Rachael Reeves. There were also very informative sessions on the economy, employment and equality law, organising and pensions.

Feedback from participants included:

'realised I am capable of more than I thought’

'increased my confidence to reach beyond my current environment’

Baker told HuffPost Weird News that the family has been involved in the poultry show community for a long time (yes, there is such a thing as a poultry show community) but the little cluckers kept messing themselves up. So she made a diaper that fastens over the chicken's tail feathers and, with the help of a paper towel, keeps everything clean. Plus, it's machine washable.

"Everyone wanted to know where we got them -- and the orders started rolling in," Baker said. "I have a lot of customers that keep their chickens in the house full-time, and they love the diapers."

Her business, Pampered Poultry, also helps out humans. She pays employees at a women's sewing cooperative in Munoz, Dominican Republic to create the diapers, then picks the finished product up once every couple of months.

The chicken diaper colors -- including Ocean Blue, Parrot Green and Purple Rust -- are only available while supplies last. You can get one for $12.50 at pamperyourpoultry.com or check out Baker's chicken saddles and other attire.

 My boobs are big. They are too big for my body, and they hurt. I can't take a shower without holding my boobs, literally. I've seen a lot of doctors. Most told me to lose weight, to stop drinking coffee, stop eating dark chocolate, etc. I lost fifteen pounds within the last year, only to find that my boobs had gotten bigger. I decided I was sick of people telling me this was something I could control, and I wanted to deal with the discomfort as soon as possible. On my third consultation for a breast reduction, the surgeon informed me that I would need to send a picture of my tits, first and foremost, to the insurance company to see if they deemed them "big enough" for my surgery to be "medically relevant." Yes, you read correctly. Not only do I need to send a literal nudie-pic to some unknown person, who is not a doctor, to determine whether or not they think I should have smaller boobs, but I also needed to document that I have tried to deal with my boob-issue multiple other ways. One of the examples most insurance companies give is, "consulting a bra specialist," as if I haven't figured out what type of bra to wear with 30FF/30G tits. Seriously, like I have many options.

I have had mammograms, ultrasounds, acupuncture, physical therapy, massage therapy, you fucking name it...but apparently it hasn't been enough to show that I've tried to deal with my breast pain in a nonsurgical way. Instead, if I want my breast reduction to be covered by insurance, I need to take painkillers for a year to document that I've tried to deal with the pain via medication, rather than surgery.

What really pisses me off, is that I’m expected to wait for someone, who isn’t a doctor, to tell me if they think my boobs are appropriately sized for my body and therefore if the pain I’m experiencing is enough. On top of that, I know a seventy year old man could have the government pay for ED treatment, which causes less physical pain and no more psychological pain than that of a 16 year old in high school being told that if she were only a little skinnier, maybe her boobs wouldn't be so big.