International Women’s Day events aim to inspire county’s women

Monmouthshire County Council will mark International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8th March with a series of events reinforced by a social media campaign to nominate inspirational and influential females. The main focus will be on a seminar at Caldicot School entitled: “Empowering Women in the Workplace” featuring six female speakers focusing on building future leaders. Over 160 GCSE and “A” Level students will attend. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Among those to address the school are Liz Maher of Chwarae Teg – a charity that works to help ensure that women in Wales can enter the workplace, develop their skills and build rewarding careers – and Dr Ami Jones of the Wales Air Ambulance charity. Ami will share her stories about leading teams for the charity together with her time saving lives while serving with the Army in Afghanistan. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Joining Liz and Ami are Monmouthshire County Council chief officers Kellie Beirne (Enterprise), Sarah McGuinness (Children and Young People) and Claire Marchant (Social Care, Health & Housing) with Rachel Jowitt (Head of Waste and Street Services). A shorter lunchtime version of the seminar taking place in Usk’s County Hall will be filmed and live-streamed on YouTube. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

The county’s communities are invited to join the celebrations in the council’s community hubs where staff will highlight books about great women in history and encourage people to read books by inspiring female authors. Meanwhile, council staff will be urged to wear purple – the traditional colour of the suffragette movement – and pledge a pound to support Abergavenny-based charity Love Zimbabwe, which works directly with the Chinamhora community, near Harare to combat extreme poverty. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Underpinning the council’s International Women’s Day involvement is a social media campaign asking people to nominate the most inspirational and influential female in their lives by uploading images and text onto Twitter (@monmouthshirecc) and the council’s Facebook page – the Twitter hashtag is #PledgeForParity. The council will also employ its social media accounts to relate the stories of Monmouthshire’s many women volunteers. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Councillor Phil Hobson, Monmouthshire’s cabinet member with responsibility for equalities said: “We’re proud to mark the contribution of the county’s women and to participate in International Women’s Day. We believe that the events we have organised will help to empower young people to realise that the sky really is the limit. I’m sure that everyone can think of an influential female in their lives so I hope the community will enthusiastically take to social media to tell us all about her.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​