It is International Women’s Day today and the Cabot Institute has much to celebrate. We are an organisation filled with amazing and inspiring women (and men) who conduct valuable environmental research inevitably for the greater good. In this blog I would like to celebrate some of these women.
Firstly I will talk about how I feel about being a woman and why International Women’s Day is so important. As a youngster, I suppose you could call me a tomboy with a love of playing outside, and hanging out with my dad, a mechanic, and watching him tinker with engines. Going to secondary school was when I first encountered sexism. I was really good at design and technology, the only subject I got A* in, but one of my teachers would not let me use the drills and other machinery because I was a girl, he would have to do the drilling for me. This made me so angry I was put off the subject.
When I entered the work environment I encountered glass ceilings and male-dominated top management, yet I worked closely with women at lower levels who could probably do the top jobs with their eyes closed.
Things are improving but there is still a lot of work to do. International Women’s Day is important to me because there are women across the world that are not safe and are not equal. It is women like the Cabot Institute women who help ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding. Through their work, they are highlighting the importance of women in the world and are intelligent, beautiful and courageous role models to many.
Here’s a small selection of female researchers and academics at the Cabot Institute to celebrate today:
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| Kathy Cashman – a world-renowned volcanologist, this lady certainly deserves all the credit she receives. |
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| Sue Porter – an amazing woman who looks at environment and disability. |
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| Wendy Larner – a formidable force in environmental social science and a key player on our steering group. |
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| Jo House – looks at greenhouse gas emissions, land use change and climate change mitigation, Jo is a key contributor to IPCC reports. |
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| Jemma Wadham – carries out world-class research into melting ice sheets and their effects on the planet. |
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Susanna Jenkins – looks at disaster risk reduction, helping to make the world a safer place.
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| Philippa Bayley – the manager of the Cabot Institute, I’m not just saying this because she is my manager but because she is truly an inspirational person and has driven the Institute forward in so many ways. |
There are loads more women in the Cabot Institute who I haven’t mentioned but who are just brilliant. I would like to wish them all a very happy International Women’s Day . You go girls!
This blog is by Amanda Woodman-Hardy, Cabot Institute
