NAS celebrates Women’s month in style

Posted on August 01, 2021

Women come in all sizes, shapes and colours – just like their different opinions and views of the world. 

That is just one of the reasons why the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) chose to celebrate Women’s Month by doing short interviews with a few dozen female staff members and students.

You can read the short interviews on the NAS website and the three NAS social media channels (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn).

But watch out, that is not the only way the Faculty will celebrate Women’s Day on 9 August. In fact – NAS will celebrate womanhood throughout the whole of August.

Prof Barend Erasmus, Dean of NAS, emphasised the importance of Women’s Day, saying, ”The pandemic forced many households to share home life and work life in the same physical spaces. However, society at large now has a better understanding of some of the challenges that women faced before the pandemic and continue to face during the pandemic. Let’s use this new awareness to trigger the tough conversations in pursuit of a lasting and equal dispensation for women in NAS.”

Another highlight on the events calendar in August is the Third Conversations@NAS on 19 August, which will address “Reaching beyond the glass ceiling”. A few invited panellists (to be announced soon) will share their opinions on the topic. There will be opportunities for questions from the audience as well.

Ms Jessika Samuels, NAS Research Manager, will lead the panel of Conversations@NAS. “The event will highlight the unique challenges and lived experiences of the women in NAS, shining a light on cultural, stereotypical and unconscious biases that often impede the progression of women. We encourage  all staff to attend and contribute to the dialogue.” There will also be virtual ‘NAS Young Women Speak Up’ events for undergraduate and postgraduate students (dates to be announced soon). Prof Paulette Bloomer, Deputy Dean: Teaching and Learning and the Faculty Student Advisors (Dolly, Rebecca, Chandre and Ntji) will host the events. According to Prof Bloomer, ”It is genuinely enriching when different generations of women can share what is important to them and also what they are concerned about, in a space where they feel safe to do so.”

Keep an eye on the website (www.up.ac.za/nas) and social media.

- Author Martie Meyer

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