Two year’s ago this embarrassing video was published by the European Commission as part of a campaign to entice more women to a career in science. The commission said that the video had to “speak their language to get their attention” and it sparked a Twitter furore like we have rarely seen since.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g032MPrSjFA
Thankfully feminism is firmly on the cultural menu these days and the poor EU commission SERIOUSLY misjudged their audience when they put this vid together. Girls and science? How will we ever lure them into this sector?
What if we depict the lovely girls attracting the attention of this hot scientist?
That’s right, Doctor, it’s sexy female scientists.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so scarily recent. This Sunday 8 March is International Women’s Day and throughout the week there are incredible events worldwide to celebrate women and highlight ongoing injustices.
In New York there is The Empowerment Bridge: Building a Lifetime of Opportunity for Women and Girls which is a high-powered event that brings together international leaders to effect global change in the rights and education of young girls and woman from around the world. Chelsea Clinton previously spoke at this event and this year’s most hotly anticipated contributor is Sakena Yacoobi, Executive Director of the Afghan Institute for Learning who has done valuable work on behalf of Afghan children.
In Luxembourg Microsoft Luxembourg are promoting women in tech with a Mums and Girls Code workshop.
While in London there is the fifth annual WOW – Women of the World Festival – a week-long festival which will be focused on violence against women and aims to celebrate the female of the species through theatre, music, comedy, debate, literature and performance. Highlights include talks by the likes of Caitlin Moran and Juliet Stevenson.
Locally there are loads of exciting events around Dublin this week. On Friday 6 March, Dress for Success is teaming up with Dublin companies to collect clothing and raise awareness for women returning the work force in need of support.
On Thursday 5, Friday 6 and Saturday 7 March, the Umbrella Theatre Company are staging a preview of Safe by Celia De Fréine to coincide with International Women’s day. The play deals with loss, empowerment and forgiveness. Most crucially the play questions whether attitudes towards the issues that face Irish women have really changed in the last fifty years.
And perhaps the most important event on the agenda, Discotekken & GirlCrew are collaborating to present the International Motts’ Day Party at Dublin’s Sugar Club on Saturday 7 March. Book the daddy-day care.
For a full list of events see here.
