GMIT has announce an exciting programme of events to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day on the theme ‘Each for Equal’ (#EachforEqual ). International Women’s Day on March 8 celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and is a collective day of global celebration and a call for gender equality. GMIT is marking this special day with a series of events running until March 12 in all campuses.
Highlights include public talks, presentations, seminars, and workshops delivered by GMIT lecturers and special guests including journalists, a TD, and leaders and academics from other higher education institutes.
Tomorrow, Friday, a lunch and learn seminar on Women’s Health and Nutrition will take place on the Galway campus from 12 noon to 1pm. Dr Paula Conroy and Ross Corbett, lecturers in the GMIT Department of Natural Sciences, will share expert advice on how to optimise health and the physical, social, and psychological benefits of movement and exercise.
On Monday March 9, Sinn Fein TD Rose Conway-Walsh will give a talk on ‘Women in Politics’ in Room POO2, Mayo campus, from 1pm to 2pm. At the Galway campus Professor Anne Scott, head of diversity at NUI Galway, will speak about ‘The evolving Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion agenda at NUI Galway’ from 12 noon to 1pm.
Also on Monday, at 2pm in the Galway campus, broadcaster and journalist Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh will recount her experience of sports reporting in an engaging session titled ‘From the Aviva to Croke Park, The untold stories of sports reporting’.
The Galway International Hotel School is also hosting a series of events on Monday at the Galway campus. Jacinta Dalton, head of department, and food writer Dr Sally McKenna, will co-host a networking event for women in the food and hospitality sectors. The event will consist of lively panel discussions with food writers, artisans, farmers, and chefs, all designed to showcase to students the array of occupational opportunities in the sector for women, in a fun environment. There will also be a session on wellness for women in the sector presented by former broadcaster and hotelier Bibi Baskin.
Also on Monday, in GMIT’s Letterfrack campus, the National Centre for Excellence in Furniture Design and Technology, Dr Marion McGarry will discuss ‘The career of Irish furniture designer Eileen Gray (1878-1976 )’, at a guest lecture in the campus library.
The final event, on Thursday, March 12, Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley, lecturer at NUI Galway and president of the Women’s History Association of Ireland (WHAI ), will deliver a guest lecture entitled ‘Who we remember – the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, commemoration and historical justice’. This will take place from 1pm to 2pm in the library training room.
The events are open to the public, except the Women in Food networking event on March 9 and the lunch and learn event on March 6.
Mary Nestor, equality, diversity, and inclusion manager at GMIT, said: “We are excited to hold such a broad range of events to mark this important day where the achievements of women are celebrated and given the recognition they deserve. The IWD events at GMIT are open to the public and aim to celebrate women’s contribution to society in a positive and affirmative way.”
