The Gender Expression Fund
_2021-22

The Gender Expression Fund: a community-led fund that transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming students can use to buy up to £50 of gender-affirming items, such as (but not limited to): new clothes/underwear, chest binders, breast forms, packers, wigs, affirming sports/swimwear, makeup/nail polish, and pronoun badges.This is the information site for Warwick University's 2021-22 Gender Expression Fund, organised by Warwick Pride, the LGBTQUIA+ Association, and made possible by the Warwick Innovation Fund

• Central Information Hub for the Fund

🔚 The 2021/22 Gender Expression Fund has now ENDED 🔚

--- ℹ️ Current Status Update ℹ️ ---The Gender Expression Fund for the 2021/22 academic year is now over!We spent £2,234 on gender affirming items for 66 students 💙If you would like to learn more about how the fund came to be, how it was implemented, and its outcomes, we hosted a talk on just this! You can currently find a recording and transcript on Teams if you are a member of Warwick University, and we are working on a properly captioned version that we will host publicly soon. We are also leaving this carrd up as a record of the fund happening.We are currently looking at funding options for the 2022/23 academic year and will announce on Warwick Pride's social media if it goes ahead.


--- ⚧️ Trans Rights Wristbands ⚧️ ---Our wristbands have now run out! Thank you to everyone who picked one up, we hope you wear them proudly 💜Part of our budget was granted to spend on freebies to give out - so we've got some Trans Rights Wristbands!They are the trans flag blue, pink and white, with the text "TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS" embossed in black, and a heart on each side of the text with the trans symbol enclosed.These have now arrived and are available for free!You can collect them from a few places:
1) At upcoming Sober Social events hosted by Warwick Pride;
2) By collecting one from the Liberation Space in SUHQ;
3) From the front desk of SUHQ - if they're not on display, just ask the receptionist.

About

The Gender Expression Fund: a community-led fund that transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming students can use to buy up to £50 of gender-affirming items, such as (but not limited to): new clothes/underwear, chest binders, breast forms, packers, wigs, affirming sports/swimwear, makeup/nail polish, and pronoun badges.

Going to University is the first time that many will have the opportunity to live away from home. This affords the privacy and security to explore and affirm sexual orientation and gender identity in a welcoming and accepting environment. However, there are still barriers to gender affirmation, especially for students who come from a lower socioeconomic status, who do not have familial monetary support, and/or who struggle to pay their rent and living costs. These people often do not have the funds to spare for what are life-changing gender-affirming items, and may instead choose to go hungry in order to buy them.From student records for the 2020/21 academic year, 1% of students at Warwick explicitly said that they do not identify as the gender they were assigned at birth. The actual number is likely higher, given barriers to disclosure. With a student body of ~29k, there are at least 290 students who fall somewhere under the transgender umbrella - a not-insignificant number, equivalent to the yearly intake of a large undergraduate course.From Student PULSE Survey data in 2020, we know that LGBTQUA+ students are, compared to non-LGBTQUA+ students: 6% less likely to be satisfied with their university experience, 5% more likely to have seriously considered dropping out of university, 7% less likely to feel that the university cares about their wellbeing, and 6% less likely to agree that there is a strong sense of community at the university. It is of great importance to address these disparities to ensure the happiness, health, and subsequent success of LGBTQUA+ students at Warwick. With this project, we aim to make a difference to their University experience.To this end, Warwick Pride, the LGBTQUIA+ Association applied and won funding for “The Gender Expression Fund” from the Warwick Innovation Fund.Applications for items are assessed solely by transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming exec members of Warwick Pride, the LGBTQUIA+ Association, as they have an understanding and appreciation of the needs of the community. This addresses the significant barriers posed when applying for similar funds administered by those outside of the community, e.g. the University hardship fund. LGBTQUIA+ students fear disclosure to and judgement from those outside the community assessing their needs, with whom the knowledge and appreciation of their needs is not guaranteed.

With thanks to:The Warwick Innovation Fund and its generous donors for providing the funding for this project.Ares Osborn (Social Media exec for Warwick Pride 21-22), for writing and submitting the application, overseeing the logistics of the project, liaising with Warwick SU, and creating this carrd and the application form.The Warwick Pride 21-22 exec, for their help and support with the project.Sam Parr (Warwick SU Campaigns and Liberation Advisor) for proof-reading the application and offering support and guidance.Louise Marjoram (Warwick SU Projects and Campaigns Manager) for helping out with the logistics and supporting the implementation of the project.Mel and Scarlett (Warwick SU Marketing Team) for designing the advertisements.
Read the application made to the innovation fund:

• Innovation App

Applications

❗ Please ensure you read all of the text below before applying ❗👇 The application form can be found at the bottom of the page 👇

To access this fund, you must:💷 Be a current student at The University of Warwick;
💷 Identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender-diverse (this includes identities under those umbrellas and identities that are equivalent);
💷 Be able to provide links to the item(s) you wish to purchase with the fund that come to a total monetary value (including UK shipping) of no more than £50;
💷 Be able to collect these items (or nominate someone to collect them on your behalf) from Warwick Students’ Union by the end of the 2021-22 academic year;
💷 Agree to your data being used per the "Data Usage" statement later on this page.
Application process:*📋 The first round of applications are open from Mon 17 Jan, midday to Sun 6 Feb, midnight (the end of Term 2 Week 4).
📋 Applications will be assessed solely by transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse members of the Warwick Pride exec team during Weeks 5 and 6 of Term 2 (Mon 7 to Sun 20 Feb).
📋 Emails will be sent to everyone who applied by the end of Week 6 (Sun 20 Feb), detailing whether or not their application was successful and what items are being purchased for them.
📋 Items will be purchased directly from the fund during Term 2 Week 7 (Mon 21 to Sun 27 Feb), and delivered to the Students’ Union in the following weeks.
📋 The members of the Warwick Pride exec team who assessed the fund will examine packages as they come in and then arrange pick-up with their recipients via email. We hope to have all items handed off to their owners by the end of Week 1 Term 3 (Sun 1 May).
📋 Everyone who applied for the fund will be contacted after items are distributed, sometime during Term 3, for feedback on The Gender Expression Fund. This will be used in the final report (see Data Usage statement).
📋 If there is money left over in the fund after the first round of applications, a second round will be opened at the beginning of Term 3. The amount of money on offer and whether applications from those who have already received money from the fund will be permitted will be decided depending on the outcome of the first round.*Please note: dates listed are estimations and may be subject to change. For updates, you are encouraged to keep an eye on Warwick Pride's social media, and to contact [email protected] with the subject line "Gender Expression Fund" if you have any queries.
Guidance on choosing items:⭐ Your items must be available in an online store with delivery - we cannot physically go and collect items in-person.
⭐ Please select items from a UK store where possible; stores outside the UK will be subject to additional tax and shipping that must be included within the application maximum of £50.
⭐ If your item goes out of stock between your application and when we make purchases, we will work with you to find a suitable alternative.
⭐ Please make sure you check sizing guides. It may not be possible for exchanges to be made if the clothing doesn’t fit or the item is not eligible for exchange, but we will work with you to try and do this should it be necessary.
⭐ Unfortunately, we are not currently able to part-fund items for logistical reasons. The entire cost must come to £50 or less.
⭐ If you're not sure where to begin looking for what you're after, we've collected a brief guide to some of the more popular, well-known and trusted brands in the UK. Head on over to the Retailers tab for all the info!
Data usage:The data provided to the application form will be solely accessed by transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse members of the Warwick Pride exec team.The data provided to the application form will be used for 2 purposes:
👉 To assess applications and award money to applicants from the Gender Expression Fund;
👉 To prepare a report at the end of the project that will be shared with stakeholders of the Warwick Innovation Fund, Warwick Students’ Union, and publicly on Warwick Pride’s platforms. No data that allows any individual to be personally identified will be included in this report (including names, student IDs, emails)All data submitted to the application form will be wiped following the publication of the report and by the end of the academic year 2021-22.If you wish to withdraw your application and have your submitted data deleted at any time, you may email [email protected] with the subject line “Gender Expression Fund - Data Withdrawal”
Form details:There are 4 sections in the application form:
🕐 Data usage agreement (compulsory) - so that we can process your application
🕑 Personal details (compulsory) - so we can contact you and so that we can confirm you're eligible to apply to the fund
🕒 Demographic questions (optional) - so that we can get an idea of who is applying to the fund and why
🕓 Purchase request (compulsory) - so that we know what we're purchasing for you!
If you wish to apply for the fund, please click the button below to go to the application form!

• Apply

UK Retailers

You are not limited to these stores, but we've provided this list of UK-based retailers a good starting point if you don’t know where to look!

Contact

The Gender Expression Fund is managed by the exec members of Warwick Pride, the LGBTQUIA+ Association, the Warwick Students' Union Liberation Association focused on socials, campaigning and welfare for LGBTQUIA+ students and their friends at the University of Warwick.Any questions regarding the Gender Expression Fund should be sent to
📧 [email protected]
with the subject line "Gender Expression Fund"To learn more about Warwick Pride, you can find information and socials via their linktr.ee
🌳 https://linktr.ee/warwickpride

Advertising

If you're a University of Warwick student/staff member and wish to advertise this to your friends, student society, colleagues, departments, research groups etc, we'd absolutely love you to!Below are some links to our advertising graphics and text that you can copy-paste to make this super easy for you to to do, and to ensure that what you're advertising is accurate.

• Text

https://pastebin.com/u/warwickpride/1/NahRqWgE

• Graphics

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/182Y9fAdY1mGguy-B8NHHowgVuO2wCCoS?usp=sharing

You can also help by sharing our Social Media posts!Below are the links to our main advertising posts on our 3 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter