A Miscellany of Women's Voices

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 equality.

International Women’s Day has occurred for well over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, International Women’s Day belongs to all groups, everywhere — a movement powered by the collective efforts of all.

Please join us to celebrate International Women’s Day 2026 at The Dock. Join a community of voices for an evening of talks, connection, and empowerment — dedicated to sharing knowledge, visibility, and helping women to thrive. Help us honour the achievements of women to build a more supportive world for those to come.

Susan McKay became Ireland’s Press Ombudsperson in 2022, the first woman to be appointed to the role. Originally from Derry, she is a writer and an award-winning journalist. In 2023, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Letters by Trinity College Dublin.

She has been a senior figure in the NGO sector — from 2009 to 2012, she was the CEO of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, and she was the founder of the Belfast Rape Crisis Centre in the 1980s.

Her books include Northern Protestants — on Shifting Ground (Blackstaff, 2021), Bear in Mind These Dead (Faber, 2007), and Sophia’s Story (Blackstaff, 1998). Her journalism has been published in the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the New York Times, the Irish Times, and the Guardian — for which she was a regular columnist before her appointment as Press Ombudsperson. Her essays have appeared in several anthologies.