Westminster celebrated Women’s History Month and this year’s theme of Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories throughout March, with several inspirational and thought-provoking discussions and events.
Women's History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society, with International Women’s Day taking place this year on Wednesday 8 March with the theme of #EmbraceEquity.
A number of events were held at Westminster throughout March to celebrate the month, starting with the Myth of Meritocracy for Women of Colour on 7 March as part of the World in Westminster Festival, which saw the Fawcett Society and the Runnymede Trust to discuss their ground-breaking research about women of colour’s experience of racism in the workplace alongside two Westminster Business School postgraduate students, Tashan Maxwell and Dawn McWhinney, who spoke of their lived experiences of racism in the work place.
On International Women’s Day, the Westminster community was invited to listen to award-winning Franco-Irish journalist, filmmaker and writer, Myriam Francois, discuss the balancing act women must do to navigate their careers and their home lives, and if women can really have it all, as part of an event organised by the Women of Westminster (WOW) Colleagues Network.
Also organised by the WOW Network was a compelling discussion, on 13 March, about achieving racial equity in the workplace, titled Tackling Issues of Race in the Workplace, with alumna and award-winning career coach, Jenny Garrett OBE, as a guest speaker. The event proved to be an essential reading for those who want to educate themselves and influence others to do the crucial and complex work of achieving racial equity in the workplace.
Speaking about Westminster’s celebrations for Women’s History Month, Sobia Razzaq, Senior Lecturer in Law and Co-Chair of the WOW Colleagues Network, said: “We are pleased to be spearheading difficult conversations about racism, sexual gender-based violence in the workplace and are continuing these important conversations by designing follow up workshops that can contribute towards the culture change we need. The Women’s History Month is a reminder that we need to be courageous in committing to advancing the rights and opportunities for all women.”
Dr Kumari Juddoo, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Taxation and Co-Chair of the WOW Colleagues Network, added: “The Women’s History month is an opportunity to recognise Women achievements, raise awareness and encourage everyone to work towards gender equity and diversity and it would be great for it not to be limited to one month in the year.”
Find out more about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Westminster.
Related articles
