Sunday 8 March is International Women’s day, and this year the theme is ‘Make It Happen’.
The theme and event aim to ‘encourage effective action for advancing and recognising women’. A goal shared by both the Athena SWAN Working Group (ASWG) and the 50th anniversary Project, ‘Radical Women: 50 Years of Feminism at Kent’. This year, the ASWG and Feminism Project, will be holding events to further the aim of advancing and recognising women.
- Saturday 21 March- One day Symposium on Feminist Action at Kent (50th anniversary Feminism Project)
- Thursday 7 May- Medway Athena SWAN Awareness Event
- 27-28 June- ‘Austerity, gender and household finances’ conference (50th anniversary Feminism Project)
The ‘Radical Women’ events will showcase ways that feminist academics at Kent have improved women’s rights and wellbeing.
The Athena SWAN Charter, aims to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics. While the focus of the Charter is on the Sciences, the work of the Kent Athena SWAN Working Group is aimed at improving the working environment of all staff- both men and women.
Engineering and Digital Arts recently submitted an application for an Athena SWAN Award, and today held a coffee morning to celebrate International Women’s Day. Profits raised from the purchase of refreshments from J’s Tea Bar on Friday 6 March are being donated to Women’s Aid, a national domestic violence charity that helps up to 250,000 women and children every year.
Staff in EDA will also be ‘Getting Their Purple On!’ Purple is the domestic violence awareness colour and was also one of the colours adopted in 1908 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) to symbolise the plight of the Suffragettes.