Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) and the Darden Student Association (DSA) hosted an International Women’s Day celebration, featuring faculty speakers, creating space for togetherness and highlighting treats from female-owned local bakeries. Attendees gathered to celebrate womxn and commit to action towards gender parity.
In a community email, GWIB described International Women’s Day, sharing, “Typically celebrated on 8 March, International Women’s Day is an annual celebration of womxn’s achievements “without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.” This year, the UN’s theme for International Women’s Day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” which encourages us to recognize and take action against the digital gender gap, protect and advocate for the rights of womxn in digital spaces, and celebrate the roles of women in STEM.”
Bianca Eyales serves as the Vice President of International Student Affairs for the Darden Student Association (DSA) helped to organize and host the event. On how the event was conceptualized, she commented, “Women play an invaluable role in the Darden experience. In the classroom, we bring a differentiated — often a humanistic and empathetic —perspective in case discussions. In our community, women are the driving force behind a multitude of initiatives: Our Darden Student Association Vice Presidents of Social who organize and deliver large-scale events for Darden are women, women have led international celebrations on Grounds like Diwali and Asia Business Club at Darden (ABCD) Gala and women are at the helm of exciting conferences like the recent Emerging Markets Conference and the upcoming Ethics Conference. 45% of incoming club presidents at Darden are women.”
“All of this begs us to celebrate women and their achievements at Darden. International Women’s Day emerged as the ideal moment to do just that, given its origins and intent. I was inspired to reach out to Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) and conceptualize the celebration. The vision was to create a space where women can recognize each other’s successes, honor our journeys and have a fun, enjoyable time together. We were especially thankful to have Professors Vidya Mani and Yael Grushka-Cockayne model the spirit of the event in their remarks. We hope that this will become a tradition for women at Darden for years to come!”
The United Nations shared, “If women are unable to access the Internet and do not feel safe online, they are unable to develop the necessary digital skills to engage in digital spaces, which diminishes their opportunities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields By 2050, 75% of jobs will be related to STEM areas.” Learn more about International Women’s Day here.
