Soroptimists ‘Find Calm in the Chaos’ for International Women’s Day

Síofra Grant

‘Find Calm in the Chaos’ was the well chosen theme given the news headlines in the last week for the International Women’s Day event the Soroptimists Mullingar and District hosted on Thursday.

The Annebrook House Hotel was packed for what the organisers had billed as ‘an uplifting celebration of female wellbeing’ as guests enjoyed complimentary Prosecco or and juice on their way in to browse the wares and services of a variety of female owned retailers selling their wares.

There were pre-loved clothing stands selling bags, clothes, books, and jewellery, the Wellness hub, and various resources available to anyone interested. Wellness clinics, reflexology, the Women’s Shed and the Women’s Community Project were all represented, and there were nutrition supplements and sound baths.

Sarah McCormack, Soroptimist and one of the organisers, was delighted with the turnout and the quality of the evening. “It’s a day that has got great attention globally, so there’s wonderful celebrations for International Women’s Day, and we’re celebrating the achievements of women.

“We are also highlighting how much more work that we have to do in relation to women, particularly in relation to women’s equality, and the other key part is about ending gender based violence.”

Sarah highlighted the retailers present on the evening. “We have the wellbeing hub and you can see we’ve actually got a sound bath, which is new, we’ve got the Juice Plus Plus, we’ve got a whole lot of therapies from the Congress Centre.

“Later on, we’re having our guest speakers, Dr Niamh Clarke, who’s going to be speaking on balancing stress, and we have Dr Dionne De Gouveia, and she’s speaking in relation to managing menopause with or without HRT.

“Then we have Marion Moffatt from Nuts and Grains, who is going to talk about the use of natural products and how they can help our health and wellbeing.”

There was a brilliant buzz in the room, as under the soft purple light, women of all ages flitted from stall to stall, laughing and chatting prior to the speeches.

There were roses on white chairs, and purple balloons all over. The local Soroptimists each wore their signature yellow white and blue scarves in different styles and the retailers were kept constantly busy with interested customers.

One woman in attendance, Carolanne Moroney, gave her thoughts on the event. “It’s quite strange to be in a room full of women, I don’t think I’ve ever been where only women are present.”

Another guest, Catriona Sullivan, highlighted that she and the Women’s Shed, which she was representing, were out to support, “the sisterhood.”

At the halfway time, everyone took their seats, awaiting the speakers to come to the floor.

Members of the Soroptimists handed out chocolates to everyone in the audience, as Sarah took to the stage. “The reason International Women’s day is so important to us is that at the very foundation of the work we do is to achieve gender equality and to end gender based violence.

“Because if that could be achieved, it brings a huge benefit for women in society and it makes that parity, and any society that has that parity, and has women there in it, benefits from a whole economic perspective.

“As well as that, I do want to say that we all worked together to make this evening happen but I have to say Caroline Connolly worked and walked her shoes off with me to get this event here.”

Sarah handed over to Dr Niamh O’Connor, HSE principal psychologist and the psychology manager for Longford Westmeath. “We are seeing more and more people presenting with stress, and not everybody needs to see a psychologist, but Ireland is doing really poorly at the moment.

“So you can see,” as she referenced to the presentation behind her, “we’re ranked very high in the stress level, sixth in Europe, which is extremely bad for such a wealthy nation.

“At least one in four people every day experience and say, I’m actually stressed. And because of that, it’s much more prevalent in women, no surprise, and under 35s.”

Niamh also made clear that stress is common in women experiencing menopause. She presented a free programme that aids in stress management.

Dr Dionne de Gouveia, a GP with a special interest in women’s health and menopause, also gave an address. She talked there about the fact that for a long time, menopause was a taboo subject, and about the importance of women talking about it and being able to support each other in relation to it.

She said if we don't talk about it, then it does become a taboo subject. She also brought with her what she described as a bag of tricks, and she showed many different items available to support women during the menopause.

Most importantly, she said that every woman is different in relation to how they go through the menopause; said that it is important to understand not everybody is challenged during menopause, but for some people, it can be a tricky stage in their life.

The more and more discussion, the more that is known about it, and the more support that comes to women, the better that it is.

The Soroptimists Mullingar and District have, since 1991, been a constant pillar in standing up for women and girls. Friendship is the core of their organisation and it was clear on Thursday night as the members supported each other’s hard work.

Members meet once a month at the Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar; contact them at soroptimistmullingr@gmail.com.