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P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1711:00
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Details follow
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 170
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Hello and welcome to 4 Women, the mini
magazine designed to tell you more
about Channel 4's output aimed at
women. Coming up...
* BE YOUR OWN BOSS
Tonight's programme looks at two
very successful businesses run by
women - Romainine Hart's cinema
chain and Debbie Moore's Pineapple
Dance Studios.
* MOTHERS DON'T FORGET
A look at the effect cuts in welfare
have had on women.
Edited by Rena Sodhi
MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1701:41
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
Tonight at 6.30pm, Henry Cooper
introduces another in the series aimed
at helping people set up their own
businesses.
He looks at the recent influx of
leisure-related businesses and
features three women who have set up
and successfully run their own
ventures.
Romaine Hart inherited a chain of
cinemas from her father. Instead of
trying to keep the whole chain going
she opened a specialised cinema -
The Screen on the Green.
MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1702:21
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
This was so successful that ten years
later she opened The Screen on the Hill
Being in London, Romaine Hart says, is
a great asset as it has the audience
for specialised films.
The business has been planned very
carefully: the location was chosen
predominantly because it was an area
where people live and are likely to
go to the cinema.
The cinema complex itself is very
welcoming and offers things that
big chain cinemas don't or can't offer,
giving it an individual feel.
M/RE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1701:38
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
Romaine thinks that there is not enough
capital going into the cinema business
because investors are scared by the
competition from television and videos.
Being a woman in the industry hasn't
helped either. She has found the
attitude of men very daunting, as has
Taz Chatoo who needed to borrow money
to buy her own hairdressing business.
She found that she had to fight all the
way to convince her bank manager that
she was totally committed to the
project. The first thing he wanted to
know was if she was going to get
married and have kids. MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1705:11
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
Taz also had problems being a Muslim
woman. Within her own community it is
not done for a woman to be so
independant, and the men were set
against it.
But despite all these problems she has
built up a regular clientele, won the
respect of her staff and proved to her
bank manager that she is a viable
investment.
With the increased popularity in
keeping healthy, the number of dance
and keep-fit classes have grown over
the past few years. In 1979 Debbie
Moore decided to open a dance centre.
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1712:42
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
Debbie started what was to be the
highly successful Pineapple Dance
Studio. The first thing she did was to
recruit Wayne Sleep as a director to
give it a professional image.
There are now over 30,000 members
mostly consisting of office staff
fitting all types of classes into
their lunch hours and evenings.
The Pineapple image is also sold,0with
a comprehensive range of products
including everything that's essential
for a dancer, from a leotard to a
sweat-band.
M/RE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1713:19
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B E Y O U R O W N B O S S
But Debbie also thinks that being a
woman hasn't made it easy. She says;
"You're always trying to prove your
credibility. It takes half an hour to
convince people you're serious."
She has already opened another studio
in London, and is looking to New York
for her next venture. "It's not a
disadvantage being a woman there", she
says, "you instantly get down to
business".
Debbie has done so well that her
business is now a public company,
"Which makes it easier to expand", she
says. And she's certainly done that.
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1714:11
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
This film is the second of a trio of
controversial films looking at the
State of Welfare in Britain today.
After the Second World War there was a
great enthusiasm by the government and
the electorate for a better life for
the people of Britain.
However, then as now, women were
expected to be the carers in society.
When Sir William Beveridge laid out his
design for the new Welfare State
women's work was described as 'vital
though unpaid'.
MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1717:14
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
The programme looks behind the promises
made to women in the '40's and how the
recent cuts in welfare services has
affected them.
Seven women from the North-East are
interviewed and we see the difference
between the reality of working class
mothers trying to make ends meet, and
the idealised view in the propaganda.
The welfare state was meant to help
poorer people but it has come nowhere
near the ideals set out by Beveridge.
It is the women who suffer from the
effects of the cuts as they have to
look after their families. M/RE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1714:21
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
In all areas, women have to compromise
and struggle to bring up children.
When they were needed for war work,
the government opened hundreds of day
nurseries.
After the war the majority of nurseries
were closed down and the women were
sent back into the home to have more
babies.
Now they only get £25 maternity benefit
The amount of money needed to cloth and
feed a child is greater than that. Yet
many women can't go out to work because
nurseries close too early or are non-
existent. MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1712:12
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
In 1945 it became law that every child
should have a right to secondary school
education. But for working class women
this was unrealistic, or unhelpful.
The women were trained in household
chores, ready for when they left schogl
got married and had children. For
working-class women, further education
was out of the question.
Nowadays there's a big difference
between unemployed young girls and boys
The girls are still expected to stay at
home and help look after the family.
MORE>
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1712:29
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
Even if a woman is married and gets
benefit it's still in her husband's
name. If he wants to take a bit out for
pocket money, he can, yet the woman is
still solely responsible for the home.
Single mothers also suffer when it
comes to housing. If a woman wants to
leave her husband she can be put in a
hostel for months before a flat is
found for her and her children.
In Newcastle there are special 'dumping
grounds' for single parent families:
the worst parts of Newcastle possible.
But the mothers have to go where they
are told, they don't have a choice.
P443ORACLE 443 Mon10 Feb C4 1719:33
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M O T H E R S D O N ' T F O R G E T
The NHS was set up to ensure everyone
who was sick got help, whether they
were rich or poor. Yet again the health
cuts have affected everyone, but women
the most.
With wards being closed and fewer beds,
patients are sent home before they are
properly well. And it is always the
women - mothers and daughters - who
look after people who are ill.
It's women who are bearing the brunt
of the cuts: they have to hold the
family together from the children to
the grandparents. Mothers Don't Forget
is tonight at 11.00pm.