SJC Women's Network eNewsletter - April 2024

Welcome to the Trinity edition of the SJC Women's Network newsletter.  Hilary Term drew to a close just as the daffodils and crocuses began to open.  The month of March hosted the global event, International Women's Day.  This Network supports all women, and we aspire to Celebrate, Inspire, and Empower the members of the SJC female community in whatever path of life they follow.  Kate Molesworth, our Chair, wrote a post on this year’s  theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” on our LinkedIn page, in which she reflects on the five elements that the UN acknowledges are needed to accelerate women’s economic empowerment, particularly in poor countries.

We have a suitably full newsletter with a variety of interviews, introductions and events that you can join us at. Please join us to discuss how to lead in our upcoming event ‘How to Run Effective Meetings and Workshops’ led by Alex Bollen.

We also talked to Lucy Sarrell, (a current undergraduate student and SJC WN steering group member) about her experiences volunteering with with refugees.  Lucy has been JCR Women's Rep and Gender Equality Officer, as well as a long serving SJC WN steering group member through these roles.  Read her thoughts on volunteering in Lesvos between terms, and the trials faced by refugees there.

Last term also saw the Women and Minority Gender Dinner in College, at which Kate, our Chair, was the guest speaker.  This was a fantastic evening attended by a true cross section of College - from JCR and MCR members, both academic and non-academic staff, and the College President alike. College continues to create opportunities for fellowship and rejoices in its communities, in this case with a glass of something sparkling.

Do you ever wonder how College has changed over the years?  Whether it has been 5 years or 15 years since you were a student at SJC, we wanted you to feel like you’ve stepped back through the Porter’s Lodge, by hearing from three current female students about what life in College is like now.  Read our in-conversation pieces with them to hear from JCR President Elizabeth Heywood, Women's Officer, international student and Maths PhD candidate Shaked Bader, and member of the award winning Sister’s of Funk band, Oxford's first and only all women and non-binary funk, pop, and soul band.  Drop us a message to let us know how it compares to your experiences at College.

The last few months have been a flurry of new faces on the SJC Women's Network Steering Group as we welcomed two new members, Joanne Skolnick (who joins as a decade rep for the 1980s) and Zoe Stockton (Human Sciences, 2016), who joins as Secretary.

Finally, would you be prepared to help current SJC students?  We are looking for alumni to share career advice at the Undergraduate Careers’ Fair. This term the JCR are hosting a series of informal talks with undergraduates to share alumni career stories.  Please contact Harshitha Shankar via email to volunteer to assist. We are also interested in speakers for our Women’s Leadership Programme, for College’s MCR students.  You can read more about the positive and impactful programme in the article below, and we encourage you to email woman@sjc.ox.ac.uk to volunteer to speak.

Rose Sundt (2015, Oriental Studies)
Communications Lead for SJC Women's Network
Click here to read more about Rose