The CityUniWomen staff affinity network is pleased to present a selection of activities to celebrate International Women's Day 2021, which includes events from throughout City, University of London.
International Women's Day takes place on the 8th March annually to celebrate the achievements of women, to raise awareness against bias and to inspire and empower us all to take action for equality. The theme for 2021 is #choosetochallenge: “from challenge comes change. So let's all choose to challenge.”
As well as the events below, you can sign up to receive our one-off IWD special newsletter featuring a collection of books and podcasts, by women or celebrating women, as well as women-led research and recommendations for activities from CityUniWomen.
To receive this or to attend 'Women supporting women' please register via the sign up button.
Women supporting women: Considering its value and importance in challenging inequality
2pm- 3pm. Panel discussion. Open to all. Registration via the sign up link.
Join our panel, chaired by host Dr Glenda Cooper, for an empowering discussion centred on the value of women supporting each other and how this can be an important step towards changing and challenging inequality.
The panel will present their stories, reflecting on how connections and collaborations with women have affected their personal and professional achievements. Joining us are Angela Chitkara, Gwendolyn Myers and this year's addition to City's wall of Extraordinary Women.
If you have any queries about this event or to be added to the CityUniWomen staff affinity network mailing list please contact cityuniwomen@city.ac.uk.
Speaker biographies
Angela Chitkara
Diversity and Inclusion has been the backdrop of Angela K. Chitkara’s life as she traversed the globe as a television journalist, entrepreneur and educator in an effort to effect change and level the playing field. Chitkara is a fourth-generation educator. Her baseline research titled #PRDiversity: The Struggle is Real.
Meeting Business Objectives with a 2020 Mindset, has been published in The Holmes Report and The Harvard Business Review (HBR) while she served as PR Track Director in the Branding + Integrated Communications (BIC) program at The City College of New York (CCNY) in Harlem, NYC.
Angela has been recognised for the impact of her work as part of the Innovator 25 North America list for “changing the game by shining the D&I spotlight.” Most recently, Observer’s PR Power 50 List cited “The world is finally catching up to Angela Chitkara.
When the former journalist started urging diversity and inclusion in public relations back in 2016, she did not exactly find a receptive audience; one executive trashed her disruptive research as “fake news.” Chitkara is Founder and CEO of US India Corridor (USIC), a strategic communications firm specialising in socially-impactful public-private engagement.
Chitkara launched the World in 2020 Project focusing on issues relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, corporate sustainability, social purpose, and Environmental, Social Risks and Governance (ESG) in the age of transparency and accountability. She serves on the faculty at Columbia University in NYC. Follow her @AngelaChitkara.
Gwendolyn Myers
Gwendolyn S. Myers has a MA International Politics and Human Rights (2019) from City, University of London and was selected as City's Extraordinary Woman 2020.
Myers has over ten years of experience working in Peace and non-violence education among, in and out of school youth.. She’s the Founder& Executive Director (2008-Present) of a non-profit, youth-led peacebuilding organization; Messengers of Peace- Liberia Inc managing over one thousand five hundred Young Volunteer Peace Messengers.
Recognized as Time Magazine 2019 -Top Eight Young Reformers Across the Globe Shaping the World and 2019-Top Seven-African Women Breaking Barriers in Peacebuilding in Africa by CARROT CO. (FrontlineWomen).
Her non-profit, Messengers of Peace-Liberia (MOP) became the first recipient of President George Manneh Weah National Peace Prize Award 2018, celebrating the 15 years of unbroken peace in Liberia.
She’s a Certified Folke Bernadotte Academy Young Mediator and recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) based in the United States of America and Board of Trustees of a UK based non-profit; Coalition Peace.
Dr Glenda Cooper
After working on the 2004 tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake as a journalist, Dr Glenda Cooper was inspired to research how social media changed the way disasters are reported.
This became the subject of her subsequent monograph ‘Reporting Humanitarian Disasters in a Social Media Age’ (Routledge 2018) and play ‘Aid Memoir’ performed at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington and as part of the 2018 ESRC Festival of Social Science.
A former Guardian Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, her current research includes the DMINR project, funded by the Google News Initiative, to create an AI tool for journalists and ‘live journalism’ looking at the interaction of theatre and journalism.
Last year, she was awarded a British Academy grant to carry out the first examination of 60 years of Alistair Cooke’s broadcast output, with special permission from the BBC and the Cooke family estate.
She is the co-founder and co-presenter of City’s journalism podcast The Knowhow (theknowhowpodcast.com) with Dr Lindsey Blumell. She’s also former staff journalist at the Independent, Sunday Times, Washington Post and BBC Radio 4’s World at One and PM programmes.
Citysport
Open to all staff and students. No registration required.
Citysport will be sharing content throughout the day focusing on #choosetochallenge, they will also be hosting the below event. Head over to their Instagram: @citysportec1.
6pm via Instagram: From legwarmers and headbands to lifting weights and more!
Insta-Live chat between Charmaine Scott Obene, one of our resident cycle instructors and Sara Wilkie our Exercise Studio Co-ordinator, highlighting how far women have come in the fitness industry.
Everyday via Youtube
Citysport also post classes daily on their Youtube channel - with everything from HIIT to Yoga; so why schedule some time to focus on yourself and get some of those stress releasing endorphins pumping.
Mindfulness drop-in with City’s Centre for Excellence in Mindfulness Research (CEMR)
12.30pm – 1pm. Open to all staff and students.
Join the CEMR’s mindfulness team for half an hour of facilitated mindfulness practice – making space for community, friendly smiles and self-care. Contact Jutta Tobias-Mortlock to receive the joining details for this session.
Global Women’s Leadership Programme presents: Overcoming job challenges and achieving professional growth during the Covid-19 pandemic
3pm. Panel discussion. Open to all.
Panel members: Samar Elmnhrawy, VP, HR & General Affairs, Nissan Corporation; Noha Hefny, Founder & CEO of People of Impact; Dr Vassiliki Simoglou, Counselling Psychologist. The moderator will be Maria Banti, GWLP Scholar.
If you have any queries about this event, please email: cassGWLP@city.ac.uk.
Career and professional development may have taken a backseat to the many demands’ organisations are facing in the pandemic era. Like so many other things, learning at work has morphed to meet the times. With both the traditional workplace and traditional communication off-limits, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the status quo for all types of institutions.
Given how many people are out of work, and how many jobs and industries need radical transformations, relearning and re-skilling are critical. Organisational efforts, too, must be refocused and fine-tuned for the future.
With the help of our expert panellists, we will explore how individuals can achieve professional growth and how organisations can invest their time, energy, and resources in keeping abreast of the latest practices to adapt to the new times, and to encourage and enable this new era of professional development.
Join us for an evening of engaging conversation that will provide attendees with the tools to continue learning from the shifts that have taken place on a global scale, and to adapt accordingly.
The Global Women’s Leadership Programme seeks to inspire, equip and connect resilient, ambitious, brave, confident, responsible, authentic and thriving leaders. We support women who are not afraid of seeking success, but we also recognise that success may take many forms well beyond corporate and entrepreneurial leadership.
Women helping women succeed in the workplace – learn with LinkedIn Learning
(Access to LinkedIn Learning is available to staff members only)
Organisational Development have put together some LinkedIn Learning resources for staff. Celebrate International Women's Day by giving yourself permission to learn something new. Here’s a collection of 8 short videos for you to watch; most videos are 2-3 minutes long and are part of a longer course which you might be interested to watch in full.
Choosing roles that showcase your skills (Leadership strategies for women)
Mastering the confidence code (Women Helping Women Succeed in the Workplace)
Dealing with requests to do invisible work (Proven Success Strategies for Women at Work)
Your inner imposter (Overcoming Imposter Syndrome)
Strengths women bring to negotiation (Leadership Strategies for Women)
Nice is your superpower (Leading with kindness and strength)
Get inspired: in conversation with Padma Lakshmi (Find your passion)
Train for resilience: positive thinking (Building resilience)
If you are a men wondering how you can support the cause, check out these two courses to learn how you can help boost diversity in the workplace.
To find out more about LinkedIn Learning go to Develop@City or email OD@city.ac.uk
Attendance at City events is subject to our terms and conditions.