Additional reporting by Georgina Hood.

Poetry workshops, panels and fancy-dress sports days are just some of the events taking place at the University of Sheffield’s Student Union this March to mark Women’s History Month.

The union is also fundraising for several charities, including, Together Women, The YWCA, Mums In Need (MIN) and The Snowdrop Project.

The SU’s Women’s Officer, Eloise Taylor, said: “Women’s History Month serves as a crucial reminder in how our society is indebted to the women who helped create and uplift it.

“It’s a really good time to come together and show solidarity on common issues, like gendered violence. It’s also just a nice space to get to know other women.”

The Student’s union is focussing on two themes this year, one of which is women in the workplace.

The UK gender pay-gap still stood at 7% in April 2024, despite declining year on year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

To combat this and other gender-based discrimination in professional settings, the Student’s Union is hosting a discussion with female and non-binary alumni about their experience transitioning from university to the workplace on 24 March.

They are also hosting a Bystander Training course to help people intervene in dangerous situations and support other marginalised people.

This year’s other theme for Women’s History Month is women in sport.

Sheffield student, Emily Lamb, said that in the past she had preferred using women-only areas in gyms.

She said: “When I was an undergraduate going to the gym, there would be times when men came up to me showing me how to do an exercise or something, and that can be intimidating.”

To encourage more female students to feel confident participating in exercise, the union is hosting a Women’s Sports Day on 8 March and a panel discussion about the benefits of sports in recovering from domestic abuse.

Later in the month, the SU is running a Liberation Festival Creative Workshop in the Information Commons library, on 19 March, where students will make blackout poetry, collages and Reclaim the Night tote bags.

Ms Taylor said: “Women’s contributions are often left out of history, therefore, at our SU I hope we follow a trend of recognition and appreciation rather than dismissal for the women from the past, the present and our future.”