This academic year’s Women in Media Conference (WIM) is running from April 22 to 23, and promises to be a jam-packed weekend of inspiring live interviews, networking, and workshops. Born and bred in Manchester, and founded by students of the University in 2016, this is now the conference’s eighth consecutive year.
WIM is a conference which celebrates the voices of women and non-binary people across the media, from photographers and journalists, to filmmakers and podcasters. As it has always been in the past, this year’s conference is sure to be a truly inspiring weekend, with networking opportunities available for students hoping to get a foot in the industry.
Generally, I noticed a lack of opportunities for networking and events available for students wanting to work in the media. When comparing this to other subjects, such as law, business, and the sciences, there are huge discrepancies in terms of accessibility and general opportunity. This year’s conference in particular hopes to address this discrepancy, expanding opportunities to those who might not otherwise have them.
This year’s conference is sponsoring two incredible charities working to support women in the city: Manchester Action for Street Health (MASH) and Smart Works Greater Manchester. MASH helps women working in the sex industry to have better access to good health, safety, and emotional well-being. They provide drop-in health clinics as well as personal case workers who help women set up bank accounts, report crimes, attend appointments, apply for courses, and fill out forms.
Smart Works also does fantastic work, helping women across Greater Manchester secure employment and write their CVs – helping to change the trajectories of their lives. The conference will also be collecting for UoM’s Once a Month, a student-led project which aims to reduce period poverty in Manchester. We are so proud to be fundraising for these incredible charities and are hoping to raise as much money as we can towards their causes.
Our first fundraising event for this year’s conference is taking place at Handlebar on December 8, with a quiz commencing at 8:30pm. Entry is only £3 and prizes for the winners are up for grabs! You can stay until late, or use the quiz as a vamped-up pres. Whatever you decide, we can’t wait to see you all there!
If you want to keep up to date with WIM and receive the link to buy tickets to our fundraiser, check out the Instagram @wimconmcr.
