March 8 International Women's Day Celebrated with a Series of Events

International Women’s Day is a global day observed all around the world to raise women’s political and social awareness on human rights, and celebrate their economic, political, and social achievements. Our Rector Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk attended a series of events organized in celebration of March 8 International Women’s Day as invited speaker.

Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk delivered the opening address of the “Women in Business Summit” organized by OzU Business Cub on March 8, and addressed university students in Turkey. Following the opening remarks of Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk, the event, which was held online, continued with keynote speeches of Deniz Tavşancıl Kalafatoğlu, President of the Animal Rights Center at Istanbul Bar Association, Begüm Nalcı, Regional Human Resources Director for Turkey and Middle East at Danone, Dr. Aslı Zuluğ, Faculty Member at Özyeğin University and Entrepreneur, and Simay Akar, CCO and Co-Founder at INOSES. 

On March 9, Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk participated in an online panel discussionorganized by Özyeğin University and the Initiative for Critical Studies of Masculinities in collaboration with the Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul where our Rector Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk delivered the opening address with Peter Ericson, Consul General of Sweden in Istanbul.

The panel discussion "Man's Intervention to Gender Inequality: What Can Be Done?” put the spotlight on the studies which explore men’s participation in promoting gender equality and in the fight against violence in Turkey. During the online panel, the Violence-Free Men’s Workshops project team introduced their new handbook. The event moved on with the keynote speeches of the AÇEV and HeForShe representatives and UNDP Turkey Goodwill Ambassador Mert Fırat, who talked about their ongoing projects.

In addition to these events, our Rector Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk also took part in a video prepared exclusively for International Women’s Day by Social Umbrella Club, where she delivered a special message to celebrate this day.

The “Women in Business Summit”  video is available at https://bit.ly/3emkD7v as well as on Social Umbrella Club’s Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/p/CMIBeDCgvxr/.