International Women’s Day – Week of Events

March 4, 2013 in main by Martin Lennon

Hey everybody,

This week we are teaming up with the GU Feminist Society, GU Oxfam, Rape Crisis Scotland and Get SVAI to deliver two fantastic days of workshops, film screenings and talks. Since this Friday is International Women’s Day, there are events focusing on Women’s Rights across campus this week (you can find a full list here). Our events are on Thursday from *5 pm* onwards in *Room 230* and *222* of the *St Andrew’s Building* and, in our usual time and place, on *Tuesday* in *QMU Committee Room 1* at *5 pm*.

Amnesty and Women’s Rights Talk: Tuesday 5 pm – QMU Comm 1

Amnesty speaker Elena Soper will talk about Amnesty International UK’s work on violence against women in the UK as part of the End Violence Against Women Coalition. “The End Violence Against Women Coalition is a unique coalition of organisations and individuals campaigning to end all forms of violence against women. We were set up in 2005 when women’s organisations and others came together to lobby the government to take a more strategic approach to ending violence against women, including making a commitment to work which aims to prevent violence against women.”

Women in the Media Workshop: Tuesday 6 pm – QMU Comm 1

A workshop looking at how the gender-stereotyped content of magazines affects the image of women today? There will be a mini presentation looking at the portrayal of women in both men’s and women’s popular magazines. Following the presentation a selection of magazines will be available to make picture boards for a follow-up discussion.

Rape Crisis Scotland: Thursday 5 pm – St Andrew’s Building Room 230

Rape Crisis Scotland are going to present on the work that they carry out, current campaigns and volunteering opportunities. This is a great oppertunity to learn more about a fantastic organisation, who are making a real difference to the lives of rape survivors here in Glasgow every day.

“For over 30 years, we have been at the forefront of campaigning against sexual violence. We have been influential in changing attitudes and in changing laws. From a handful of women who wanted to “do something”, we are now represented at the heart of government on the National Group to tackle Violence Against Women as well as partners with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS).” http://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/

Get SAVI: Thursday 6 pm – St Andrew’s Building Room 222

The Get SAVI bystander programme is designed to give participants the skills and confidence to challenge gender-based violence and harassment in everyday life. This session will be a short introduction to the programme, and will be a chance to learn more about gender-based violence and harassment, and what we can all do to stop it. http://togetherwecanstopit.org/get-savi/

‘How to Educate a Girl’: Thursday 7.15-8.30 pm Boyd Orr Theatre 222

FILM SCREENING: In 2000, 110 million children in the world were not in school—two thirds of them were girls. In 2010, filmmakers Frederick Rendina and Oren Rudavsky traveled to Nepal and Uganda, two countries emerging from conflict and struggling with poverty, to find the answer to one question: What does it take to educate a girl? Framed by the United Nations global initiative to provide equal access to education for girls by 2015, To Educate a Girl takes a ground-up and visually stunning view of that effort through the eyes of girls out of school, starting school or fighting against the odds to stay in school. http://www.ungei.org/

So there’s a lot on this week. We’ll keep the Facebook event (linked here) updated with details and I hope I see you all there.

Martin