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International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.

The campaign theme for International Women's Day 2021 is 'Choose To Challenge'.

"A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge."

Here at Psychology we have produced a video message from some of our staff members to celebrate International Women's Day 2021.

Talks & Seminars

On the 8th March 2021 Durham University are also hosting a day of events on women’s work in the time of Covid-19 including Durham colleagues and external speakers.

Click here to book a place, or find out more information

10:30 -12:00 Women at DU: Leading the response to Covid-19.
A panel discussion with women leading the response to Covid-19 at Durham University covering research, partnerships, and impact. Durham University colleagues Prof Jacqui Ramagge, Dr Camila Caiado, Prof Charlotte Clarke, and Julie Swinbank will be sharing their work and experiences.

14:00 -15:30 Women’s Leadership in the Time of Covid-19
During this session, Dr Supriya Garikipati (University of Liverpool) will present her recent research on the impact of gender on the success of leadership of a nation during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Prof Jackie Ford (Durham University) will discuss insights and lessons about women’s leadership of organisations during the Covid-19 pandemic from her research. This will be followed by a discussion, chaired by Dr Gretchen Larsen (Durham University).

15:30 - 17:00 Women and Pandemics: Insights from the Past
COVID-19 has amplified existing inequalities between men and women concerning employment and caring responsibilities. We know that intervention is required to ensure that these differential impacts don’t erode the hard-won gains by women over the last few decades. This raises questions about the impact of past pandemics and whether they were experienced differently by men and women. Can we even identify positive social change arising from these catastrophes? Can studies of the past provide insights into supporting women in the future? These and other questions will be addressed by Dr Monica Green speaking on Women and Pandemics; Janelle Tyler and Elly Cordiner speaking on Bodies of the Black Death: Women, Diet and Social Change; and Dr Robin Nelson on Thinking Small: Using Our Evolutionary Past to Create More Connected and Supported Futures.

(The above image is an ink painting done by 13-year old Rose, daughter of Dr Colin Lever, who aspires to be a Sports Scientist)