Trinity Celebrations for International Women’s Day 2012 Announced
Posted on: 29 February 2012
A week of events to celebrate International Women’s Day 2012 will see staff and students work together to host a range of original events, talks and activities. Trinity’s International Women’s Week takes place each year in College celebrating women’s contributions in different artistic and scientific fields and marks Trinity’s participation in a global campaign for rights and equality. Trinity’s International Women’s Week 2012 runs from Monday 5th to Friday 9th March next.
The week of events will be launched by the Vice-Provost of Trinity College Linda Hogan with DU Amnesty on Monday March 5th when staff and students will be asked to join in Fly a Kite for Women’s Rights in Afghanistan at 1pm in Front Square. The symbol of the kite was chosen to represent the discrimination that still confronts women and girls in Afghanistan. Monday will also see the launch of Siren magazine with the support of the College Equality Fund.
The panel discussion Shadows and Lights on Wednesday March 7th (7pm Emmet Theatre, Arts Building) will explore the role of women in Irish visual culture with practitioners from different fields of art, architecture, digital animation and art history. This event aims to create new levels of awareness of women’s contributions to Irish visual culture and will provide dynamic platforms for further exploration and debate. Panellists will include performance artist Amanda Coogan, art historian Isabella Evangelista, Professor of Visual Computing Carol O’Sullivan and architect Ruth O’Herlihy. The panel will be chaired by Dr Angela Grifith, Adjunct Lecturer in History of Art Departmentat Trinity. Feminism in Literature on Tuesday March 6th will reflect on gender and feminism in literature and will feature participants from the Anti-Room and the DU Gender Equality Society.
Speaking About Sexual Violence on Thursday March 8th (6pm, GMB) will address an issue that is still silenced and ignored. This event will include voices from the various organisations that work to prevent sexual assault and to support survivors of violence in the country. The discussion will be chaired by Senator Ivana Bacik. There will be an opportunity for men to participate in raising awareness about sexual violence and women’s rights at the Step in Her Shoes event on March 8th (2pm, Front Arch) in support of Amnesty.
For those seeking more active involvement there will be free self-defence classes on Tuesday and Thursday with Judo club. Cancer Soc are also seeking volunteers to form a giant pink ribbon in Front Square to raise awareness for breast cancer prevention on Thursday 8th. An international perspective is provided by the Italian Society film screening ‘For one more hour with you’ on Tuesday 6th.
International Women’s Day was first commemorated in 1911 following increasing demands across the industrialised world for better working conditions and voting rights for women. It has since grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across the developed and developing world. For more information see www.internationalwomensday.com