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International Women's Day

Events Programme 2023

Here you can find the links to details of all the events, activities, talks and more taking place as part of International Women’s Day at Queen Mary.

We will be adding to and updating our listings throughout the month, so check back here to see what’s happening.

Online Events

Career progression and leadership, key learnings from a CEO

Time: 17:00 – 18:00

Date: Thursday, 9th March

Location: Online via MS Teams, sign up via Careers Hub

Speaker: Burcin Ressamoglu,

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Careers and Enterprise are hosting a webinar with a leading female CEO.

During this session, Burcin Ressamoglu, CEO of Sodexo Engage – a leading employee engagement company working in over 30 countries -  will share her story, challenges, and key learnings.

You will also have the opportunity to ask her live questions and get advice first-hand.

Sign up to attend here.

Lunch and Learn: Experiences of Neurodivergent Women and Girls

Time: 13:00 - 14:00

Date: Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Location: This event was held online, via MS Teams: Watch the recording

Speaker: Elizabeth Quinn

Staff and students are invited to attend a Lunch and Learn event on the experiences of neurodivergent women and girls.  

The session will include contributions from those with lived experience who are part of the Queen Mary community.

Lunch and Learn Talk: How do Women Get Forgotten? Recovering women’s work in the history of international thought

This event has been pre-recorded. Watch the recording 

Speaker: Professor Kimberly Hutchings

Standard accounts of the history of international thought rarely mention any women. It’s as if no woman has ever had anything significant to say about world politics, or at least not prior to the late 1980s. And yet, you don’t have to actually look very hard or very far to find many women, from many different backgrounds and parts of the world, individually and collectively making important contributions to explaining and understanding world politics throughout the twentieth century. This talk will discuss some of those women, how it is that their legacies have been so easily forgotten, and why the question ‘where are the women?’ is one we must always keep on asking as feminists and scholars. 

Bio: Professor Kimberly Hutchings started her academic career teaching philosophy at Wolverhampton University then moved to the Department of Politics at Edinburgh University, where she taught political and international theory and was also Head of Department (1999-2002). She spent the years 2003-2014 in the International Relations Department at the London School of Economics, where she was Professor of International Relations (from 2007), and also Head of Department (2010-2013).

Kimberly came to QMUL in 2014 and was Head of School 2019-20. Her main publications include Kant, Critique and Politics (1996), International Political Theory (1998), Hegel and Feminist Philosophy (2003); Time and World Politics (2008); Global Ethics: an introduction (2nd edition, 2018); Violence and Political Theory (with Elizabeth Frazer) (2020); Women’s International Thought: towards a new canon (Co-Editor with Patricia Owens, Katharina Rietzler and Sarah Dunstan) (2022).

Lunch and Learn Talk: My HR Journey

Time: 11:00 - 12:00

Date: Thursday, 16 March 2023

Location: This event was held online, via MS Teams: Watch the recording

Speaker: Leonie Malvo

This talk explores insights into Leonie's background including her personal HR Journey from beginning as a HR Assistant and progressing to my current role as Strategic HR Business Partner and a member of Queen Mary's HR Leadership Team. This talk also reflects on holding down a senior position alongside caring responsibilities for a parent.

Bio: Leonie Malvo is Strategic HR Business Partner for Professional Services at Queen Mary. She has over 25 years HR experience working for various education sectors as well as a postgraduate degree in HR Management. Through her career Leonie has gained experience in  Employment Law, Employee Relations, HR Consulting, Business Partnering, Training and many other areas of HR. Outside of work, Leonie is a Trustee Member for an Academy School in East London. Leonie enjoys helping and supporting people, coming up with creative ideas and working collaboratively with management to proactively contribute to the University’s values, and help to achieve ambitious goals. She is a carer for her mother who has Alzheimer’s which she balances alongside working as well as a wife, mother and grandmother. 

Lunch and Learn Talk: Transatlantic Journeys, Sugar, Health, and Family Food Choices

Time: 12:00 - 13:00

Date: Monday, 20 March 2023

Location: This event was held online, via MS Teams: Watch the recording

Speaker: Professor Cynthia Pine

Families are at the heart of my presentation and transatlantic journeys are part of my personal and professional history. I will share how the transatlantic slave trade meant I will never know my family name. The sugar that was a key harvest for that trade led to tooth decay in wealthy families and in our time to tooth decay being the number one reason for young children’s admission to hospital. My career in dentistry and public health overlaps with international history. My father came across the Atlantic in wartime and met my mother. Transatlantic travel back to the UK made me a member of the Windrush generation. My research has taken me around the world and remains embedded with family food choices and the role of sugar.

Bio: Cynthia Pine CBE is Emerita Professor of Dental Public Health at Queen Mary University of London. She made history in being appointed the first woman ever to be Dean of a UK Dental School (2003-2008, University of Liverpool). Her research is multi-disciplinary with partners in health and clinical psychology, biostatistics, health economics and education. Her considerable expertise in community clinical trials of caries preventive agents for children has meant that her research has informed policy in oral health promotion through work with the Departments of Health in England and Scotland and with the World Health Organisation (WHO), latterly, as the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Oral Health of Deprived Communities. Prior to joining QMUL, Cynthia Pine was Pro-Vice Chancellor International at the University of Salford. Recipient of international awards for her research, most recently by the IADR in 2018 for “the originality of contributions and record of achievement in the field of oral health promotion and on the significance of research carried out on the oral health of children.”

Hybrid and in person events

Commemorating women in East London for International Women's Day

Time: 14:00 – 16:00

Date: Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Location: History Senior Common Room, Fourth floor, Arts Two

Women’s history is often absent from history in public places. They have rarely been commemorated by statues or sculptures, and their names do not frequently appear on memorials or street names.

This International Women's Day, we will be running a collaborative workshop between Queen Mary students and staff to commemorate women from our local community in the East End in a variety of ways:

  • putting forward proposals for the famous blue plaque scheme*
  • researching women for a commemorative song project being run by Spitalfields Music
  • supporting efforts to memorialise the match girls in local public spaces

* If you have an idea for a blue plaque, please check this with us in advance, as it must conform to strict criteria, and not already be under consideration. Otherwise, we have some ready prepared!

This is a hands-on workshop which will give students and staff from all disciplines the chance to work together to highlight and honour women who have been significant throughout the history of the East End. We will briefly hear from some of those associated with these projects, but the emphasis is on doing rather than hearing. No experience is necessary, though you can expect to practice skills relevant across disciplines: research, communication, and presentation.

Participants are welcome to drop in at any time and do not need to stay for the full session. We will provide tea, cake, access to useful resources, and peer feedback. This is a collaboration between the Mile End Institute, the School of History, and the Women in History Forum. It is open to everyone across the university regardless of discipline or role. Please register in advance so we have a sense of numbers.

IWD Film Screening: The Farewell

Time: Meet from 17:30, Film starts at 18:00

Date: Friday 10 March 2023

Location: Endocrinology Seminar Room, John Vane Science Centre

The William Harvey Research Institute EDI Team invite you to celebrate International Women's Day 2023 with a movie night featuring the BAFTA nominated movie "The Farewell". 

Register online

Gender Equality Staff Network Inaugural Meeting

Time: 10:00 – 11:00

Date: Wednesday, 15 March 2023

Location: Dept W 1.23 and MS Teams

This year, Queen Mary is launching a new Gender Equality Staff Network. Staff Networks are places where people with shared identities and backgrounds can connect with colleagues and make positive change across the university. They can fulfil several roles including providing peer support and a forum for social interaction, as well as working alongside the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Team to positively impact staff and student experience.

This meeting will be the first of many with the opportunity to review key governance documentation. Colleagues are also invited to propose agenda items. Please contact Liz Grand, EDI Manager (l.grand@qmul.ac.uk)

This meeting is hybrid and will be facilitated over MS Teams and in person in Dept W Room 1.23

Please sign up on Eventbrite

Women's Reproductive Health Panel Talk

Time: 13:00 - 14:00 
Date: Thursday, 23 March 2023

Location: Graduate Centre GC201

As part of International Women's Month, Radhika (Vice President Communities) has organised an open event for all students and staff.

The event is an opportunity for you to learn more about women's reproductive health and related conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis and cancers of the breast, cervix, ovaries and womb. The session will cover what to look out for and how to check for common symptoms and will provide more information about women's reproductive health more generally.

The speakers will include Dr Rehan Khan and Dr Tina Chowdhury from Barts NHS Trust who are specialists in women's reproductive health. 

The event is free to attend.

Confidential HIV & STI Testing with Positive East

Time: 14:00 - 17:00

Date: Thursday, 23 March 2023

Location: Student Health Service - Geography Building, Mile End Campus

The Student Union has teamed up with Positive East to offer free, rapid and confidential STI and HIV testing on campus. The next drop-in session will take place on Thursday 23 March from 2pm-5pm in the Consulting Room at the Student Health Centre in the Geography Building, Mile End Campus.

To book your test, please click here or just drop-in on the day. 

100 more by 2030! How to create a more gender-balanced democracy

Time: 18:00 - 19:30

Date: Thursday, 23 March 2023

Location: Skeel Lecture Theatre, The People's Palace, Mile End

As we look forward to the next election, join us to take stock and reflect on what more can be done to build a more gender-balanced democracy! 

While there are currently 225 women in the House of Commons, an all-time high, women continue to be underrepresented in Parliament, local government, and public life as a whole. To rectify this, 50:50 Parliament has set an ambitious target to have 100 more women in Parliament by 2030.

As the UK's major political parties select their candidates for next year's general election, this panel discussion will take stock of their efforts and consider what more can be done to achieve a better, more gender-balanced democracy. In addition to drawing on ongoing research from Queen Mary's School of Politics and International Relations on the motivations and experiences of women political leaders, we will ask our panel to reflect on the actions and successes of leading pressure groups including 50:50 Parliament, the Conservative Party's Women2Win group, and the Labour Women's Network.

Chaired by Dr Javier Sajuria, we will be joined by Frances Scott (the founder of 50:50 Parliament), Professor Rainbow Murray, Kiran Mahil, and Emma Best AM to evaluate how much progress has been made in recent years and formulate strategies to rectify the historic underrepresentation of women in public life.

Sign up via Eventbrite

Gender Equality Staff Networking Lunch

Time: 12:30 – 14:00

Date: Thursday, 20 April 2023

Location: Dept W Sofa Room (Level 1)

Colleagues are invited to join the Gender Equality Staff Network launch for a lunchtime networking afternoon. It is a great opportunity to meet colleagues from across the institution, celebrate International Women’s Day and engage in the development stages of the staff network.

Feel free to bring your colleagues. Please note: all attendees must register and spaces are limited. Please sign up via Eventbrite.

Refreshments will be provided.

For questions/dietary requirements, please contact Liz Grand, EDI Manager (l.grand@qmul.ac.uk)

 

External Events

International Women's Day - Women in Leadership: University of London event

Time: 18.30 until late

Date: Wednesday, 8th March 2023

Location: Senate House Senate House Malet St, London, WC1E 7HU

The University of London invites you to join us for an event in celebration of International Women’s Day on Wednesday, 8 March at 18.30.

We have a panel of senior women to discuss future opportunities in education and effective leadership. This panel session will be followed by a short drinks reception, which will include the unveiling of the recently commissioned portrait of Lillian Penson, the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of London.

Sign up and more information is available here: International Women's Day - Women In Leadership Tickets, Wed 8 Mar 2023 at 18:30 | Eventbrite

Black Female Academic's Network: From PhD to Professor Series 

Time: 11:00 - 12:30 

Date: Wednesday, 8th March 2023

Location: Online via MS Teams - Meeting ID: 385 928 297 588, Passcode: GGARhb 

What is it like to be a black female academic working in Africa and the UK? 

How do you move from a PhD to Professor as a female African, African Diaspora and Dual Heritage person? 

For International Women's Day, the Black Female Academics’ Network has organised an online panel event to interview a group of female international PhD researchers from South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia from the Africa International Collaboration Group https://lnkd.in/gwvjJpJf 

Our panellists will be answering a series of questions reflecting their experiences as Black Women in Academia. 

Facilitator: Mikella Richards (Black Female Academics’ Network EDI Lead and Consultant) 

Guests: Mpho Kate Mholo, Faith Siva, Engdawork Sisay and Dorothy Mugane Murugu 

Embracing Gender Equity and Equality in the Workplace

Throughout March, Online.

Every year on 8 March, we celebrate International Women's Day. This year's theme is 'Embrace Equity'. This is not just a day when we celebrate the achievements of women, but it is also a day that marks a call to action for advancing women's equality and equity. When we embrace equity, we embrace diversity—we embrace inclusion.

Visit the Workplace Options website and log in with the username 'queenmary' and password 'employee' to access the webinar which will be uploaded to the site on Wednesday 8 March 2023.

Participants will benefit by:

  • Understanding the challenges women experience in the workplace
  • Discovering ways to advance gender equality and equity in the workplace
  • Learning to tackle stereotypes and bias
  • Understanding how to empower women to break through the glass ceiling
  • Knowing how to work together as allies
  • Exploring ways to support equality and equity
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