ORGANISATIONS are coming together virtually to mark this year’s International Women’s Day with a series of online events designed to inspire and enthuse young women.
A range of organisations have risen to the challenge and joined forces to launch a regional online festival, with the aim of encouraging women to realise their potential career prospects and future ambitions.
This will be set out as a diverse programme of virtual events to honour the occasion whilst still adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.
Teesside University, Assist Women’s Network, Tees Business, Just Williams and Darlington Building Society are just some of the regional partners coming together to stage a series of inspirational talks, sessions and competitions.
International Women’s Day takes place on March 8, and is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
The theme for 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’, with the aim of calling out gender bias, inequality, and creating an inclusive world by challenging societal perceptions and celebrating the achievements of women.
The festival will include pre-recorded sessions featuring International Women’s Day Ambassadors, as well as live panel discussions on different themes, with an opportunity to shape the conversation and submit questions in advance.
The festival will also launch a #ChoosetoChallenge competition, inviting schools and individuals to share their goals and challenges through a creative medium– such as poems, videos, pictures, stories, and posters.
A panel comprising of previous winners of the Tees Businesswomen Awards will pick the winners and offer prizes, which could range from work experience opportunities to a future workshop in the winning school.
In the build up to International Women’s Day, a ‘Wall of Fame’ is being created which will see women who are considered inspirational from the region contributing photos, quotes and videos explaining what success means, what challenges they have faced, and how they overcame them.
The International Women’s Day event will also be used to re-energise the Power of Women (POW) campaign, which started in 2020, but was put on hold because of the impact of Covid-19.
Led by Professor Jane Turner OBE DL, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Business Engagement) at Teesside University, the Power of Women campaign aims to lift the aspirations and ambitions among young females in the North of England.
The aim is to build a dedicated interactive POW website, accessible by all schools in the region, providing content that helps young women address a whole host of issues whilst giving a voice and platform for them.
Professor Turner said: “Although things are a little bit different this year, we are proud of how the region has come together to celebrate International Women’s Day.
“It is so important for girls, especially in our region, to meet and engage with positive role models and have people they can look up to and identify with as they start to think about their future careers and ambitions.
“We have some fantastic women in this region who are doing amazing things and I am proud that we are all able to come together in this way to mark such an important event.”
To find out more about International Women’s Day visit tees.ac.uk/sections/about/internationalwomen/
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here