Events across LJMU to celebrate International Women's Day 2023
LJMU is proud to be supporting this year’s International Women’s Day theme #EmbraceEquity, with a selection of events open to all staff and students, happening across the University over the next two months.
Here's what's happening at LJMU for International Women's Day
1823 Podcast: Inspirational Alumni
This International Women’s Day celebratory episode will be released on the 8 March.
As part of the university’s 200 celebrations, Diversity and Inclusion’s Julia Daer spoke to Honorary Fellows Beth Tweddle, Angela Samara and recent graduate Selma Bazara, about their careers and their time at LJMU. Listen to the podcast from Wednesday 8 March here.
Faculty of Science (School of Sport and Exercise Sciences)
8 March 2023, 12 – 1pm: Negotiating a Transnational Career around borders: Women's stories in boundarly-less academia.
29 March 2023, All Day: Launch of Digital inclusion calendar via the RIDE webpages
8 March 2023 - 29 March 2023, All Day: National Biomechanics Day/IWD 2023 event: Women in Biomechanics: A Powerful Force!
Faculty of Science (School of Biological and Environmental Sciences)
7 March 2023, 1 – 2pm: Promoting Women, Female and Non-Binary Staff’s research in the School
6-10 March 2023, All Week: Poster Board Display of BES Women Female and Non-Binary Network research interests inspirational women role models
Faculty of Business and Law
8 March 2023, 10am - 12:15pm: Movie Screening: Hidden Figures
8 March 2023, All Day: Celebration! Redmonds Building (Café/Sitting Area) Tea/Coffee, Cupcakes, ‘Who’s your hero?’, games... and more!
An Afternoon with Helen Sharman CMG OBE, The First British Astronaut
18 April 2023, 2-3:30pm
Helen Sharman became the first British Astronaut in May 1991. Join LJMU’s Diversity and Inclusion event where Helen will share aspects of her meticulous training, how weightlessness feels, her science experiments, the team spirit and readjusting to life back on Earth. Register for An Afternoon with Helen Sharman here.
To attend any of the above events or to find out more details, contact equality@ljmu.ac.uk
Our Diversity and Inclusion team explains the origins of IWD and why it’s important here at LJMU:
What is International Women's Day and when did it start?
A worldwide celebration of women's achievements and call for gender equality, International Women's Day can be traced back to the early 1900s. The earliest observance of a Women's Day was 28 February, 1909 in New York. A year later, German Socialist, Luise Zietz put forward the proposal of an International Women's Day and was backed by Clara Zetkin, a key figure in the Social Democratic Party of the country. The idea was a simple one that had staying power – one day each year every country would celebrate women and push for their progress.
Where are we now?
‘Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #EmbraceEquity.’ – internationalwomensday.com
The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren't enough. We must explore further than this and understand that people start from different places, and therefore equity can only truly be achieved through deliberate and purposeful action.
Whilst we have seen an increase in equity awareness over recent years, the aim of achieving full equity for women is still an on-going challenge. Globally, figures show that women remain worse off than their male counterparts when it comes to areas such as education, pay and domestic violence. And within the UK, we are still yet to see equal representation in the world of sport, business and politics. We can all support and drive change. So, what will you do to #EmbraceEquity?
Executive Director Human Resources, Tina Purkins, said:
“Here at Liverpool John Moores University, we recognise that the fight for equity for women is one that everyone must continue to place importance on and strive to achieve. Women represent 54% of our workforce and we are committed to continue to understand the barriers to achieving equity, across the university. We believe in the importance of hearing the voices of the women within LJMU, but also the importance of the voices of others, whose support and challenge will help us in our endeavour for equity. We are proud to be celebrating this day and to see such a range of activities taking place for our staff and students to get involved in.”
