International Woman's Day 2022.

I wasn’t too sure of what to expect going into this degree, as I’m the first person in my family to study law and to attend Trinity, which was a bit intimidating! I was lucky enough to start working with FLAC as their First Year Rep in 2019. More experienced committee members like Niamh, Nadine, Celia and Ciara welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like my contributions were valuable. I have no doubt that these women were key factors in me feeling welcome in Trinity and confident enough to take on leadership roles in FLAC and wider activism work. I feel so lucky to have spent all 3 years of my legal studies working alongside a large number of wonderful women on FLAC, all of whom bring so much empathy and passion to their work.

In 2020 I started working with The Pad Project, an American organisation focused on alleviating period poverty. The organisation produced the Oscar-winning documentary Period. End of Sentence. I began my work as their Irish Ambassador and have since been promoted to the role of Public Policy and Advocacy Advisor. In this role, I lead a group of researchers and advocates around the world trying to change their local and national laws to allow for the provision of free period products. I also get to engage with global leaders on this issue in the political, academic and advocacy spheres.

I have a Provost’s PhD Award at the School of Law on “Citizen-Led Constitutional Reform: Assessing the Promise of Deliberative Democracy”. I am particularly interested in how the political system is making use of deliberative forums such as the Citizens Assembly to engage citizens in the decision-making process. In recent years, Irish citizens have driven important political change, including in two referendums and I was proud to campaign locally for marriage equality and reproductive rights. I worked for four years with former Senator Ivana Bacik on a number of pieces of legislation including on the Gender Pay Gap and on collective bargaining rights for freelance workers and also on the Vótáil100 events marking 100 years of votes for women. I am currently a candidate in the Dublin University Seanad Bye-Election.

I graduated from Trinity in 2012 with a BA in English and Irish and I was Auditor of the Hist in my final year. I was appointed Director of Hist250, which marked 250 years of the College Historical Society and co-curated the Hist250 exhibition in the Long Room launched by the Chancellor of the University, Dr Mary McAleese. I am now a Vice-President of the Hist. I also have a Higher Diploma in Psychology from UCD and a Diploma in Legal Studies from King’s Inns. I was part of the Emerging Voices Group at the Institute of International and European Affairs from 2018 to 2020 and contributed a piece on Social Europe and the Sustainable Development Goals to A Future of Europe Anthology and I am now a board member of the IIEA.

My name is Lynn Vos and I am currently a Master’s student in International and Comparative Law. I was born and raised in The Netherlands, where I finished my degrees in European Studies and International and European Law at the University of Amsterdam in 2020 and 2021 respectively. During my studies, I was active in a charity organization which was aimed at improving children’s Dutch language skills by reading with them. After an exchange semester in Bonn, I wanted to stay in an international environment and I became a board member for the International Student Network Amsterdam. Working in a team with people from various backgrounds was incredibly inspiring, and it was one of the factors that led me to pursue a Master’s abroad. Within my degree I focus on human rights law and intellectual property law. After graduating, I aspire to work in an international organization within one of these fields.

While being a student here at Trinity, I continue to be inspired everyday by the incredible women whom I am proud to call my friends. For me, seeing other women succeed in their studies and careers and learning from each other in the process is an incredibly empowering experience. That is why the importance of a day such as today cannot be underestimated. Happy International Womens Day.

My name is Lucy and I am a 3rd Law and French student currently on Erasmus in Paris. I have a passion for art, photography, and graphic design and have worked heavily on student society committees creating graphics, social media content, and organising events. I am really grateful to have worked with so many strong and amazing women through being involved with societies! Last year, I was elected as a Scholar of my course. If I am not mistaken, I am the first person/woman of colour to be have been successful in the Schol exams in Law and French! I am really grateful to be able to bring visibility and representation for people and particularly women of colour to the institution of Schol. Happy International Womens Day!

Dia dhuit ! My name is Ruth. I am a third year Law and Politics student and I am the Secretary of this years 88th session of the LawSociety. Essentially this means that I can sometimes be found in an EU law lecture and can always be found at LawSoc events ! Law Soc has been a really key part of my college experience and my college education. Last year, as the Social Secretary of the LawSociety, I had the joy of hosting online social events including an online law ball ! However, this year, as Secretary, I have had the opportunity to organise all of the speaker events. At 20 years old I can say I have brushed shoulders with and organised the visits of Mr Patrick Dempsey, Mr Jean Claude Juncker and Ms Gloria Allred to name but a few. More importantly, I have met incredible individuals in the law school and have discovered the many ways in which I can and will use my law degree after college. For example, this summer I look forward to trying something new and going to London to intern at a public relations firm. The sky is the limit.

Happy International Womens Day! I am a Masters student in International and Comparative Law, focusing on human rights law. I am from the United States and graduated from the University of Michigan with two majors in Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience and Organisational Studies. I was drawn to international law after her experience working as a strategic consultant for Deloitte for major multi-national organisations and as a pro-bono consultant in Puerto Rico for a non-profit organization focused on sustainable development in underserved communities. I am proud to be the Postgraduate Convenor for the School of Law and to serve on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. I aspire to contribute to the field of human rights law after graduation by working for an international organisation focused on the implementation and development of international law into policy (and action!). In my spare time, I am learning to play roller derby and love travelling, counting the 37 countries visited so far.

My name is Beatrice and I am a final year law student from Belfast. Passion has always been and will continue to be my priority as a human but specifically as a young woman trying to find and use her voice. I grew up with a lot of traditional Irish music at home in Belfast and I found a real passion for the way music can bring people and communities together. When I came to college, I was wary that law was too functional a degree to find some passion within it, just applying legal words to factual situations. Across my four years, I have moulded my own understanding of the law; an amazing and unique opportunity to facilitate accountability and change. That is now where my passion lies. That passion has led me to great success in my time at Trinity, becoming a foundation scholar in 2020 and winning the Law Society’s Junior and Senior mock trial competitions throughout my degree. Whilst I have now found my own legal perspective, I certainly haven’t lost my love for music… passion isn’t linear! I am extremely excited to use my passion to help and hopefully bring joy to others.

This International Women’s Day, I think it’s so important to acknowledge the impact that women make in all areas, but I think women in sport can particularly go unrecognised at times. Some of my sporting heroes are camogie players who would be household names if they were men, but barely get a look in just because they’re women. At club, school, college and county level I have had direct experience of the disadvantages that sports teams face simply because it’s a women’s teams. Our successes are not celebrated to the same extent as men’s, and it’s incredibly unfortunate. Therefore, I’d encourage everyone to, if they watch men’s sport, consider also tuning into the women’s teams. The matches are often just as, if not more, skilful, technical and downright exciting. International Women’s Day, to me, is a day for acknowledging women and the many different areas in which we excel. Sport has given me so much, but it’s time that women’s impact started to be recognised and celebrated. Happy International Women’s Day.

Hi, my name is Beatrice, an LL.M Postgraduate student from Uganda. I’m a professionally qualified lawyer and I’ve been working on the protection of human rights for over four years. I am strongly passionate about defending human rights. I aspire to make a long-lasting positive impact in human rights protection globally. As we celebrate IWD 2022 #BreakTheBias, a reminder to all women: Our worth is immeasurable! We are enough! And we are totally deserving! Cheers to the achievements well done & to breaking more barriers - we are unstoppable!

I am in my final year of studying Law, I am the Chairperson of Trinity FLAC, member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and, a Copyeditor of the Dublin University Journal of Criminology. I have been involved with a variety of student-led organisations such as Law Society, Dublin University Photography Association, the TCDSU Welfare and Equality Committee and, the Dublin University of DJ Society.

Trinity FLAC have worked with amazing female-led organisations such as Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Women’s Aid, Safeguarding Ireland and Homeless Period Ireland. Thirteen out of our sixteen committee members on Trinity FLAC are women. It is genuinely such an honour to work with so many brilliant, uplifting, hardworking women so thank you to all the FLAC women: Georgia Dillon, Isobel Davis, Eimear O’Neill, Jules O’Toole, Lucy Shuyao Lu, Muireann Carton, Bríd Kenny, Sorcha Byrne, Leanne Healy, Patricia O’Reilly, Rebecca Cleere, Simi Oluborode. I have a keen interest in music and have hosted DJ Workshops for Women and Gender Minorities. Music has given me the opportunity to connect with like-minded people in college who are always pushing diversity within the creative scene. I am very thankful for societies such as DU Players, Trinity Arts Festival and Trinity FM that have given me and many other women opportunities to explore their artistic talents!