FemFest 2017 - Thanks for a great day!

Published: Friday, December 15, 2017

Last month, NWCI welcomed over a hundred young feminists at Liberty Hall for #FemFest, our third annual conference for young women, by young women.  We were delighted to welcome An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who opened the event.

The day was designed by young women, for young women. Young women gathered to discuss the importance of the women in leadership and why young women in Ireland need more female role models. They were joined by a panel of speakers including Sinead McSweeney, MD of Twitter in Ireland; Louise McSharry, presenter at RTÉ 2fm; and Sinead Aherne, Captain of the Dublin Ladies Football Team, which was chaired by Dil Wickremasinghe, Social Justice and Mental Health Podcaster; 

Attendees took part in workshops on Reproductive Health and the 8th Amendment, It Stops Now – campaigning to end sexual violence on 3rd level campuses, and Women in Leadership. During FemFest Talks the young women engaged with Síona Cahill, Union of Students in Ireland; Vanessa Lacey, Transgender Equality Network Ireland; and Eileen Flynn, Irish Traveller Movement on issues that are important to them. 

The day concluded with a discussion with Anna Cosgrave of the Repeal Project about standing out as a 'bossy woman'; a brilliant demonstration of young women throughout history from Demilade Adeniran, No Hate Speech Campaigner; and Jane Hayes Nally from the Irish Second Level Students’ Union, summarised the day for us.

The day closed with a performance from the always exuberant Voices for Choice. 

Read NWCI's Press Release from the day here.