Women unite to celebrate global event
Pictured at the Women's Day event were L-R Majella Murphy, Coordinator, NIRWN; Fidelma Carolan, Commissioner, Equality Commission NI; Baroness May Blood; Louise Coyle, Policy Officer, NIRWN; Alma Mc Manus, Clothesology. INTT1113-074X
ONE hundred and forty rural women came from across Ireland, north and south, to Corick House in Clogher to celebrate International Women’s Day 2013.
They came together to celebrate the achievements of women, not just from Ireland but around the globe.
The event was hosted by Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network (NIRWN), with support from The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, The Big Lottery and DARD.
NIRWN facilitate rural women every year to observe this day which has been set aside to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements.
The conference theme for this year was “Live Longer Live Better”.
Among the speakers was Baroness May Blood who was the first woman in the north of Ireland to be given a life peerage.
May paid tribute to the late Inez Mc Cormack, the internationally renowned human rights activist who died in January.
Inez made a difference to the lives of women, and May spoke of the need for women, each day of their lives to look out every window for opportunities to make a difference.
Fidelma Carolan, Commissioner with the Equality Commission, said she was delighted to show the Commission’s support for rural women as they mark International Women’s Day.
“The Commission is working hard to ensure that equality for women is a visible and central concern in all areas of public policy development and implementation”, continued Fidelma.
“We know that there are particular difficulties faced by women in rural areas and by other specific groups such as older women, lesbian and bisexual women, those with a disability or from a minority ethnic background.
“We have just launched our ‘Getting a fair share?’ initiative which is looking at the inequalities women still face despite decades of sex discrimination law. We would like to hear from women about the issues that affect them most.”
Alma Mc Manus from Clothesology gave an excellent interactive presentation on how to improve your confidence by accessing your innate style; this was very well received by the conference participants.
Speaking after the event, Majella Murphy, Coordinator of NIRWN, said:
“Each year around the world, International Women’s’ Day is celebrated on March the 8th. Thousands of events occur, not just on this day, but throughout the month of March.
“NIRWN’s 2013 celebrations are very special; because we are celebrating moving to new premises in Dungannon as well as sharing this special day with rural women and the Equality Commission NI.” The message of the day was one of equality and the role women still have to play in continuing the fight for women’s equality.
The evaluations of the event were very positive with women stating that a wide range of topics had been covered and the whole event was a very useful.
They were inspired by the speakers and had the opportunity to express their top three equality issues for the Equality Commission and NIRWN to take into consideration in their work.
NIRWN would like to thank their funders the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department for Social Development, also the Big Lottery and The Equality Commission for NI.
For further information, visit www.nirwn.org.uk
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Dungannon
Saturday 25 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South west
