TUS Celebrates 'Breaking the Bias' for International Women’s Day festivities
The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) celebrated International Women’s Day with a host of great activities, which began with a flag-raising ceremony across its Athlone and Moylish campuses.
International Women’s Day, an event first celebrated by the United Nations in 1975 recognises the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women globally.
This year’s theme, ‘Break the Bias’, calls for the acceleration of gender parity, a reduction in bias and for the creation of a more gender-balanced world.
One of the highlights of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations at TUS was a keynote address by Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District, Uruemu Adejinmi, who spoke about her journey from Nigeria to Irish politics.
Cllr Adejinmi, who graduated with a MBA from TUS (then AIT) in 2011, made history when she became the first migrant, first African, and the first black woman to ever be appointed mayor in Ireland last year.
She explained how she dealt with and overcame cultural challenges and discrimination, such as racial profiling and stereotyping, but “broke the bias” by becoming the “first migrant mayor”.
She also stressed the importance of representation in politics and encouraged more women and minorities pursue politics as a career.
“My very first council meeting - it got me thinking this is where policies are made that affect the lives of people in the local community and there was no representation of immigrants. Without representation, people can only imagine what challenges you face,” Cllr Adejinmi said.
TUS President Professor Vincent Cunnane, who opened the event, commented on the need to be conscious of the significant impact of bias on women’s equality. “We need to be aware of it, recognise it and challenge it in all its forms,” he said.
“We are a TU with a heart, facilitating access, participation, and ensuring a sense of involvement within the wider community – regionally, nationally and internationally – and a community within itself.”
As a new technological university, TUS has already taken steps to furthering equality, diversity and inclusion across its six campuses, most notably through its commitment to the Athena SWAN charter, a framework used to support and achieve gender equality within higher education (HE) and research.
Marian Duggan, VP for People, Culture and EDI at TUS, also spoke about some of the work that is taking place in TUS to tackle the issue of violence against women, by holding consent workshops and the launch of Speak Out, a tool which enables students and staff to anonymously report incidences of bullying, harassment, discrimination, hate crime, assault and rape.
“Several members of staff across all campuses, faculties and functional areas have been trained to become first responders in supported disclosures,” she said.
Commenting on the fantastic turn out for International Women’s Day across all six of TUS’s campus, Ms Duggan said, “To see such an attendance, I think it’s truly reflective of TUS’s progressive attitude, support of women and its commitment to helping create a fairer, more gender-balanced world.”