Conference at Cork City Hall to promote leadership of women 

AWARD-WINNING broadcaster, actor, and author Stefanie Preissner is to host this year’s Cork City Council’s Women’s Caucus Conference, called Pathways to Participation.

The one-day conference will take place on Tuesday, November 22, at 10am in the City Hall, and is aimed at ‘attracting and sustaining women as leaders in communities, politics, and business’.

The caucus consists of five Cork women, Cllr Mary Rose Desmond, Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Deirdre Forde, Cllr Collette Finn, and Cllr Lorna Bogue, and is organising the event in collaboration with Women for Election and is supported by the Department of Housing.

The conference will focus on how to “rebalance power in communities, politics and business so that women, of all backgrounds, have a stronger voice and greater influence”.

“We are united in trying to raise this with people. This is our second conference, but the first in person. Previously it was online,” said Cllr Colette Finn.

With screen and stage writer Stefanie Preissner as MC, guests will hear from a range of inspirational leaders including Cllr Forde, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Peter Burke TD, the chair of Cork City Council’s women’s caucus Cllr Desmond, CEO Women for Election, Catriona Gleeson and VP Dell Technologies, Bob Savage and director of department on Status of Women, San Francisco, Kimberley Ellis.

The two keynote speeches will be delivered by Mary Crilly, CEO Cork Sexual Violence Centre, and Ms Ellis of San Francisco, which is twinned with Cork. It is the first city in the world to adopt a local ordinance reflecting the principles of the UN’s convention on the elimination of all discrimination against women.

Ms Ellis, a captivating orator who educates, motivates, and inspires people to action, is frequently interviewed by leading political media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press.

The conference will also see the launch of a caucus commissioned research report entitled Women’s Voices in the Council Chamber, by Dr Aodh Quinlivan, of UCC.

Joining the keynotes on November 22 will be Dr Philip Murphy, department of government and politics, UCC, Dr Emmanuelle Schon-Quinlivan, lecturer in European politics and director of the hub in active European citizenship, UCC, and Luke Bishop, European Youth Parliament who will speak about the importance of political engagement among adolescents.

Caitriona Gleeson, CEO of Women for Election and Louise Purcell, principal officer, Department of Housing, will take part in a moderated discussion with Jonathan Healy, of Healy Communications, who will speak about their work to inspire and equip more women to enter and succeed in Irish politics.

A panel discussion with Fionnuala O’Connell, Cork Migrant Centre, Eileen O’Shea, Pride of Place and Elena Canty, Businesswoman of the Year 2021 with a compelling focus on Pathways to Participation, will be moderated by the caucus’s chair, Cllr Desmond.

A soap-box will be delivered by Lauren Duggan, co-founder of Riley who will discuss the everyday impact of period poverty, following on from the successful roll-out of Cork City Council’s pilot period dignity project launched earlier last month.

Meanwhile, Bob Savage, VP Dell Technologies and Maria Desmond, Network Ireland Cork branch president will take part in a couch discussion, moderated by Cork City Council’s director of services, Mike Larkin, on empowering women in leadership which will conclude the conference.

Members of the public can now register for the free event on Eventbrite.