The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) is #InspireInclusion, which aims to collaboratively create a world that is more inclusive for women. The campaign aligns with the ethos that when women feel included, there is a sense of “belonging, relevance and empowerment“. It is everyone’s responsibility to promote inclusivity, from policy and procedure implemented in organisations, down to every-day interactions at an individual level. No one is too small to make a difference. 

Therefore, this IWD the Faculty is partnering with Smalls for All, a UK-based charity that collects new pants and new/gently worn (laundered) bras for adults and children in Africa and the UK. Working with reputable partners, such as MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), a charity providing services to women working in the sex industry in Greater Manchester and Days for Girls (Barry), delivering hygiene kits to women and girls in Africa, the underwear is transported and distributed directly to those in need. To date they have donated 2,155,346 items of underwear! 

If you would like to #InspireInclusion this IWD, you can donate your items across campus until the 29th March at:

• The IWD event (Chemistry Building, G54)
• Simon Building, Rooms 3.69 and 3.63 
• Stopford, Carys Bannister and Michael Smith Receptions

Your donations ensure that a lack of access to essential necessities is never a barrier for women and girls’ education and everyday life.  

This is alongside our extra-special bicentennial flagship IWD event, where we will be joined by Professor Oliva Mugenda, former Vice Chancellor of Kenyatta University. Within FBMH, there has been a 7% increase in the number of woman professors in the past 5 years alone. Olive will give a lecture sharing her insights and reflections on navigating women’s challenges in the workplace. 

Professor Mugenda is currently the Chairperson of the Kenyatta University Teaching Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH) which under her leadership, has partnered with FBMH to help improve the prevention and management of cancer in Kenya by creating a world-leading research centre.  The initiative is seeking to improve cancer detection and management to reduce health tourism to India and the Middle East from Kenya and the East African Region. 

The event is being held on Wednesday 6th March 2024, 12:30-1:30PM, room G54 of the Chemistry Building. The lecture will also be recorded and uploaded to YouTube afterwards for those not able to attend on the day. You can sign up for the event via Eventbrite.  

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