Each year the day is marked by millions globally. The aim is to celebrate achievements of women and raise awareness about women’s equality. This year International Women’s Day takes place on Wednesday 8 March with the theme focused on Embrace Equity (#EmbraceEquity).

The University has teamed up with Code First Girls, an organisation that has taught around 100,000 women to code. Its active community of trainers and coaches is one of the largest in the UK and its goal is to help more women break into and excel within the tech industry. The purpose of the group is to ultimately eliminate the gender diversity gap and transform tech globally through free education and employment for underrepresented groups.

The partnership between Leeds Trinity University and Code First Girls is to offer free courses for women and non-binary students from the University. This will add to the range of skilled graduate jobs they can then access, especially within the tech arena, where there is a high demand for a more diverse workforce.  

Emily Ramsden, Careers and Employability Project Officer at Leeds Trinity University, said: ‘’Our partnership with Code First Girls is just one of the ways that we can help bridge the gender gap that exists within industries. We’re empowering girls and non-binary people across all courses to consider upskilling, by joining one of their free coding courses.

“We are always looking for ways to keep pushing our students to think outside the box when it comes to their career plans. The additional training available to students, alongside their degree, will not only improve their chances of employability, but it will also give them paid opportunities to work with Code First Girls as mentors for future participants.’’

As part of International Women’s Day students from the University were invited to a Code First Girls pop-up event in Horsforth giving them an opportunity to find out more and sign up to courses. Code First Girls also offers online open courses for all women, girls and non-binary people from all backgrounds interested in coding.

In addition, on Tuesday 7 March, Hawa Bah, the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) survivor providing a lifeline in Leeds, will take part in a talk and Q&A at the University. Hawa actively encourages new migrant women to make positive choices and embrace their culture and new life. Hawa arrived as a 17-year-old Guinean asylum seeker from a traumatised background and since has been granted limited leave to remain. Since then, she has made educational achievements, set up her own business, became successfully employed, established and managed a charity, and contributed to countless articles and media events. She is the advocate for women at the Blossom Clinic in Leeds.

On International Women’s Day itself, at 12.30pm, Leeds Trinity University will host an online talk and Q&A with Dr Lindy-Ann Blaize Alfred, Senior Advisor in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Advance HE. The ‘Ain’t I a woman!’ event will discuss themes of equality, humanity and sisterhood. This will be livestreamed online for members of the public to watch.

Nicky Danino, Head of School of Computer Science at Leeds Trinity University, will also take part in a Twitter ‘Lunchtime Chat’ at 1.00pm on International Women’s Day giving other women an insight into her career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Nicky Danino said: “I hail from Gibraltar and moved to the UK at the age of 18 to pursue my studies. On a day-to-day basis, my focus is educational technology. The basis of my doctorate is the use of social media, and specifically Twitter, in education.

“I love my work as a STEM Ambassador. Along with other colleagues at Leeds Trinity, I work towards trying to engage more young people with Computer Science, and more specifically, girls. I would like to see an increase in the number of girls studying computing and I work towards trying to address the gender stereotypes around professions in the discipline.”

For more information about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Leeds Trinity University, visit the website.