Throughout our history, City Lit has played a significant role in educating women in Londoners. Empowerment through education – regardless of gender – has been at the centre of our activities throughout this time. Since we opened our doors millions of women have benefitted from City Lit’s broad and flexible courses, managing study alongside work, and other responsibilities.
We have many inspiring women amongst our alumni and staff including international best-selling author Malorie Blackman who attended writing courses here at City Lit and Lucille Lewin, founder of high street fashion brand ‘Whistles’, who pursued her passion for ceramics completing a City Lit Ceramics Diploma and completed her Masters at the Royal College of Art in 2017. She has exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery and her work is held in private collections internationally. City Lit lipreading tutor Fiona Pickett won the Festival of Learning Tutor Award in 2019. Fiona was a trained secondary teacher but losing her hearing meant she couldn’t return to a standard classroom. After starting lipreading classes rekindled her passion for teaching, Fiona has gone on to master the skill, and to help others do the same as an advanced lipreading tutor at City Lit.
As an employer, City Lit is committed to equality and inclusion, and with 46% of our Governing Body, 43% of our Executive Committee and 65% of all staff and tutors being women, City Lit certainly recognises itself in regards to the International Women’s Day campaign #ChooseToChallenge!
Throughout our broad programmes, our tutors take every opportunity to promote and celebrate the achievements of women across arts, culture, and social history.
To celebrate International Women’s Day not only on Monday 8th March but all through the coming months we have a range of online courses happening exploring and celebrating the significant contributions made by women to life, society and culture…
Upcoming online courses at City Lit:
Great women poets: Sappho, Dickinson and Tsvetaeva
Starts Thursday 29 April, 10:15-12:15, 8 sessions
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125 years of women directors: from Alice Guy Blache to Greta Gerwig
Start Friday 7 May, 18:00-19:30, 6 sessions
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Black women’s writing
Starts Monday 7 June, 18:00-19:30, 6 sessions
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Shakespeare's women: Rosalind, Ophelia and Lady Macbeth
Thursday 17 June, 10:00-12:00
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Women’s prize for fiction
Starts Saturday 24 July, 10:30-13:30, 2 sessions
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Representations of femininity in contemporary Independent American cinema
Starts Tuesday 15 June, 19:45-21:30, 6 sessions
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As City Lit has moved into its second century we will continue to inspire, champion, celebrate, enable, empower and support women from all across London through learning to work towards greater balance – in education, the arts, culture, the workplace and society as a whole.
International Women's Day
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The campaign theme for International Women's Day 2021 is 'Choose To Challenge'. A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. So let's all #ChooseToChallenge.
Find out more about this year’s International Women’s Day campaign.
