Book Reading: Be the Change by Gina Martin

Image via: https://assets.teenvogue.com/photos/5d23844086bc970008ec76f1/16:9/w_2991,h_1682,c_limit/00-promo-upskirting.jpg

As I expressed my interest to create a campaign around my project grew, a classmate recommended the book Be the Change by Gina Martin. Gina Martin is an activist who took the initiative to create a campaign to make upskirting illegal in England after suffering from such violation herself. After the incident, she reached out to authorities and there was nothing they could do since the man who upskirted her had not committed anything illegal under England’s law. She knew many other women and girls faced the severe problem that upskirting is, and decided to take it upon herself to start a campaign and find a lawyer that could support her through the process of lobbying the government to make upskirting a criminal offense. She pointed out that upskirting was illegal in both Scotland and Wales, but not in England, and after several months of lobbying the UK government she was able to pass a law making the offense illegal.

In addition of telling her story, in her book she goes through the processes she went through when starting her campaign and lobbying, and gave several insights to encourage others who are interested in campaigning and influencing the law. She divided the process into the 3 As: awareness, advocacy and action, where each step has a range of things to do in order to make a campaign gain and keep momentum.

In my case, I’m really interested in beginning a campaign to shine a light in the challenges that not being able to be self-employed as an international student creates. I found Be the Change to be an amazing read and Gina really inspired me to keep my project up. After finishing the book I listed a few action items that I’ll seek to follow in order to keep up my project, following her guidelines for awareness, advocacy and action:

  1. Highlight Australia and Canada’s self-employment rules (Awareness): As Gina pointed out, when she started her campaign upskirting was illegal in Scotland and Wales but not in England. I’ll highlight out that in Australia and Canada international students are allowed to be self-employed, and they’re both countries in the top 5 of most popular countries to study abroad after the US, the UK and China (Pathways to AUS, 2021) (Venture Connection, 2020) (Studee, 2021). As the UK seeks to increase their international student population by 2030, it could be a good incentive to match the professional opportunities that Australia and Canada give their students to avoid missing out on potential people interested in studying in the UK (UK Visas and Immigration, 2021).
  2. Create a Twitter (3 As): Twitter has the benefit of being a news source for many with little barriers to reach out to experts and speak your mind. I’ll create a Twitter for Inter.work and find journalists, accounts and people who are interested in student immigration and speak up around different issues.
  3. Make a list of experts (Advocacy): I’ve started a spreadsheet with several people from different backgrounds to reach out to and who could be supporters of my cause. I’ll continue looking for lawyers, journalists, and educational institutions who might be interested in promoting self-employment for international students.
  4. Find a lawyer interested in lobbying (Action): Finding the right person in both the US and the UK willing to participate and help take the legal action needed for a successful lobbying campaign might not be easy but I’m committed to finding the right lawyers.
  5. Reach out to other international students (Advocacy/Action): I’ll continue reaching out to other international students in order to get an insight into their experiences and have them be part of the campaign as well.
  6. Create a timeline (Action): I’ll create an ideal timeline to follow throughout my project and campaign and divide it into the 3 As.
  7. Interrogate my issue (Action): Find podcast producers, journalists, educators, etc. who have knowledge on student immigration and could provide helpful insights.
  8. Draft a hypothesis of causes, consequences, and long-term effects (Awareness): Deep dive into what not allowing international students to freelance might entail for the US and the UK.
  9. Make a list of gatekeepers (Awareness): I’ll list who is keeping international students from freelancing and learn as much as possible about the process of lobbying in the US and the UK. I’ll then write down steps to get to the gatekeepers.
  10. Brainstorm strategies (Action): How many ways are there to reach my goal?
  11. Elevator pitch (Awareness): Finalize a brief and effective elevator pitch following Gina’s template:
    1. The problem in one sentence
    2. Evidence of the problem in one sentence
    3. How you think the person being pitched to can help
    4. Why is solving the problem so important
    5. A single unarguable statement
  12. Use elevator pitch to reach out to experts and stakeholders (Action/Awareness): I’ll use the elevator pitch created with these steps when reaching out to experts and talking about my campaign.
  13. Make a hashtag (Advocacy/Awareness): I’ve come up with the hashtag #IfICouldFreelance for students to use and share their works and experiences.
  14. Set up a petition (Advocacy/Awareness): Look up platforms where a petition to support my cause can go around.
  15. Set up meetings (Action): I will continue setting up meetings with more stakeholders and gatekeepers.
  16. Engage in public relations (Awareness/Action): If the campaign gets traction, I’ll draft a press release to send to journalists and outlets that may find interest in the subject.

The above is a non-exhaustive list of steps I can take to take the campaign aspect of my project further. As I engage with each of them I’ll adjust as needed, and if any challenges arise I’ll continue to develop new ones to adapt to the circumstances.

Reference List:

Martin, G. (2019). Be the change. 1st ed. Sphere.

Pathways to Aus. (2021). How To Apply For An ABN For International Students. [online] Available at: https://pathwaytoaus.com/general/abn-for-international-students/ [Accessed 22 June 2021].

Studee.com. (2021). Most Popular Countries For International Students – Best Countries to Study Abroad. [online] Available at: https://studee.com/guides/10-most-popular-countries-for-international-students/  [Accessed 25 June 2021].

UK Visas and Immigration. (2021). Graduate route to open to international students on 1 July 2021. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/graduate-route-to-open-to-international-students-on-1-july-2021 [Accessed Day 22 June 2021]

Venture Connection. (2020). Starting a business in Canada as an international student. 2020. Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection. Available at:

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *