As always Soroptimists have been busy around International Women’s Day – a really important day in the calendar for women’s rights campaigners all over the world.
The two themes for IWD this year are #EmbraceEquity, and the United Nations theme: #DigitALL : Innovation and technology for gender equality. The photo below is of St Albans Soroptimists at the 13 Mar Club meeting in the #EmbraceEquity pose.
St Albans Soroptimists Debbie Tankard, Barbara Saunders and Jane Slatter were delighted to attend the St Albans Girls’ School International 
Women’s Day Inspiring Women Careers Event for Year 8 and Year 12 Students on Friday 10 March. The photo above of the event was taken by the school. These girls all have a great future – we hope we helped to inspire them! Soroptimists have been participating in this annual event since it’s inception. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Assistant Head Teacher Ellen McHugh, who is moving onto pastures new. Ellen assured us that her replacement would continue with these networking days and mock interviews that we get involved with as part of the girls’ career development. In the photo l to r are Debbie, Ellen, Barbara and Jane.
At our Club meeting on Monday 13 March (the closest to IWD on 8 Mar) we discussed opportunities and obstacles facing women and girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths/Medicine). We had planned to do this at our February meeting, to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science but the agenda was too packed so we thought it would fit well with the UN IWD theme #DigitALL : Innovation and technology for gender equality. This theme recognises and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. With only 37% of women able to access the internet this UN theme and the associated focus happening this week at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities – they are saying that without Internet access and associated skills it diminishes opportunities for women to pursue careers in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths/Medicine) related fields where 75% of jobs will be by 2050. This theme also highlights the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and gender-based violence.
Members who spoke at the meeting about their experience of science in education and in the work place were Denise Powell, Jane Slatter, Joan Williams, Diana Kingham, Barbara Saunders, Sarah Lichman and Bev Keech. Gill Clegg who couldn’t attend sent us her thoughts in an email. There was a big difference between the different companies people had worked for – some had experienced outright sexism and bias as the norm in their careers and others had had a much better experience. Schools had sometimes made it impossible for these Members to study the science subjects they needed for the first career choices – so their career opportunities were disadvantaged right from when they were teenagers at school. We discussed the gender pay gap and getting to the top of companies as well as these other inequalities. The roles that women take on are often seen as less valuable and this is a barrier to equal pay and to more women at the top of organisations. Some science fields, like optometry, are seen as more female friendly and in fact the majority of the workforce are women. We all agreed that things are better than they were (in this country at least), and that there is a long way to go for gender equality.
We also covered Club Business in the meeting and welcomed prospective Member Helen Atkinson – who immediately made herself useful helping to set the room up at the start and taking the #EmbraceEquity photo. There was lots of lively chatter as people left the hall – always a good sign that it had been enjoyable and inspiring evening for everyone.
Walk in Different Shoes for Gender Equality – on 8 March, International Women’s Day 2023, we joined our sisters in Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE) to focus on gender inequalities by wearing two different shoes to bring greater awareness to the continued global inequality women experienced in 
daily life. See the montage of images for some of our Club Members’ odd footwear!