Today (March 8) marks International Women’s Day — an annual opportunity to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women in our community.
This year, the United Nations set the theme for the day as “Changing Climates: Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow.”
"When women’s voices are included, they demonstrate how to navigate opportunities and constraints, empower themselves and become effective, strong leaders for climate adaptation and mitigation," wrote Dal's Theresa Rajack-Talley, vice-provost equity and inclusion, Alice Aiken, vice-president research and innovation and Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president finance and administration, in a memo to the university community Tuesday.
At Dal, Human Rights and Equity Services has once again extended its celebration and community programming to an entire week (March 8-13) and added its own theme, "Feminist Connections."
This year, as communities around the world celebrate International Women’s Day more than 100 years after its establishment, HRES encourages everyone to make a pledge: to not only work to promote gender equality, but actively support an inclusive and sustainable environment.
Leadership, self-care, community connection
To launch off the week locally, the Halifax Regional Municipality is holding a virtual talk in partnership with the Halifax Central Library. The keynote speaker is Natteale Battiste, a member Acadia’s First Nation’s council.
The week continues with a workshop on spoken word hosted by artist and author Guyleigh on Wednesday evening and a panel on Thursday night discussing feminists in leadership. Panelists include poet El Jones, Dal’s director of Indigenous community engagement Cathy Martin, MLA Susan Leblanc and Madeleine Stinson, ±«Óătv's Student Union president.
On Friday morning, a virtual workshop on self-care is offerd by BlueNile Massage Therapy. In the evening, a virtual paint night hosted by the HRES Peer Educator team.
Programming finishes over the weekend with a boardgame night at the Boardroom Café on Saturday Night a virtual yoga class on Sunday.
For a full list of details about this year's programming, visit HRES on the web.