#ChooseToChallenge

This year in keeping with the international theme for Women's Day, Munster Technological University community Chose To Challenge gender bias and inequality by celebrating the tremendous efforts by MTU women locally, nationally, and globally to shape a more equal future.

On Monday 8th March, we  hosted MTU EMPOWERING WOMEN 2021 to encourage, inspire and support our female students, staff, alumni, and wider MTU community in celebration of International Women's Day 2021.

The event was a great success with an audience of 948 guests tuning in to partake in the festivities. Attendees were treated to inspirational speeches by Professor Maggie Cusack, Leanne McDonagh, Sylvia Fouhy and Deirdre O'Connor. 

The MTU staff and students were represented by 35 MTU IWD 2021 Ambassadors who gave their views about what International Women's Day means to them.

A particular highlight of the event was when  Professor Cusack returned live to discuss the issues being raised by the speakers and our MTU Ambassadors.

We received wonderful Messages of Support and solidarity from an array of influential and inspirational women, starting with a strong message of support and encouragement from Ireland's First Lady, Sabina Higgins. 

Another definite highlight was the wonderful performances by Cork School of Music, beginning with the tremendous RISE written and performed by Cork School of Music students especially for this event, as part of their course work; FATE, a dramatic delight, with fabulous set and costume design, performed by CSM Theatre & Arts students, EVOCATION performed by Kelley Lonergan Petcu (soprano) and Gabriela Mayer (piano), and a spectacular  showing by CSM BA in Musical Theatre Vocal Ensemble performing an excerpt from "Nothing Without You" by Neil Bertram.

The event gave a shout out to all those staff in MTU that have been working on the COVID-19 frontline in a variety of capacities.

MTU STEM Graduates, now working in PM Group, ARUP, DePuy Synthes - Johnson & Johnson, VMware and JRI America, also participated in our celebrations with a video expressing their views on International Women's Day and their hopes for the future.

The event closed out with Remembering Cara, a moving tribute to  the late Cara O'Sullivan with an introduction by Dr. Áine Ní Shé, Registrar & Vice President for Academic Affairs at MTU.

A core value of MTU, and our Athena SWAN Charter, is to support, encourage and nurture inclusivity, diversity, and equality within the student, staff, and alumni community.