UNHS Resident Interns Bella Amiryan and Jackie Stahl attended Scottish Women‘s annual convention, celebrating International Women’s Day at the Scottish Parliament building. The convention heard from many powerful speakers including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone MSP, SWC Chair Agnes Tolmie, and other prominent women’s rights activists on the 4th of March.
The convention (SWC) offers a platform for women to come together and voice their insights on the state of gender equity, highlighting recent and past successes, ongoing issues, and the directions in which they seek to advance gender equity in the various facets of personal life, government, and society.
This year’s convention united women from across Scotland to discuss their common goal of making Scotland a better and sustainable place for women. The event highlighted the theme "Celebrating Women in Scotland" to honour our women's diligent and heroic efforts throughout the past two years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SWC’s goal is to showcase the incredible work done by women from all sectors of life from being on the medical frontlines to sustaining a life doing remote work. In addition, the convention also demonstrated heartfelt support for the women in Ukraine and those who had to flee due to the full-scale invasion by Russia.
Shortly after the event, Bella and Jackie started to brainstorm on ideas to bring this type of unity and inspiration to young women back home in California at school campuses. They are immensely grateful for the opportunity to attend the SWC, as well as having to meet and talk with those women that inspire them in the Scottish Parliament. They hope to share more about their experiences back in America and inspire the unity they witnessed and were a part of. They also are incredibly thankful for their mentors, Pat Black and Margaret Mowat from Soroptimist International, for making this opportunity possible.