The University hosted an event in honour of International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements of women and how they can reach their career goals through higher education.
Date: 15 March 2018
London Metropolitan University organised an event to celebrate International Women’s Day on Thursday 8 March.
London Met’s widening participation and outreach team, invited two guest speakers for the event; Aleksandra ‘Sasha’ Krstanovic, Director of American multinational engineering firm, AECOM, and Dr Preeti Patel, Head of Computing at London Met. The guest speakers, representing females who have been successful in typically male dominated industries, delivered presentations with the aim to inspire the young female students in attendance to not let gender disparity prevent them from doing what they love.
This was echoed more generally by London Met Student Ambassadors from all areas of the University, who gave the students a ‘taste’ of what their course is about and what it is to study at London Met.
Aleksandra Krstanovic, who goes by Sasha, stressed the importance of working in fields that you are happy in. “I chose to study mathematics because it is something which comes naturally to me,” she said.
“At AECOM, we are working hard on nurturing the female staff within the company to increase the number of women who work with us.”
Dr Preeti Patel said: “You don’t need anyone to ‘open a door for you,’ As you open one door, another one and another and another will open for you. Volunteer. Turn up. Get involved!
“There’s a shortage of Women in Tech so have a curiosity for innovation!”
The event ended with an activity led by the Students’ Union; visiting students were supported to write spoken word poetry pieces around the theme of International Women’s Day. These were performed against the backdrop of a quilt made by London Met to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Georgia Robinson, Sabbatical Officer for The Cass, reflected on the event: “We want to thank you for allowing your students to participate in our International Women’s Day event. It created a very special bond just hearing their stories and individual voices expressing their thoughts. I think we all learnt something new and wonderful through this engaging experience.”
With thanks to Renzo Veschini, Emily Link, Amaka Achike and Charlotte Gaughan from the Community, Outreach and Events team for organising this event.
