Drama therapy brought to campus for women's empowerment

Guided by the trainer, attendees at this Drama Therapy class gradually let go of the control over themselves, and were completely immersed in the spontaneous performance.

The attendees commented on the event being inspiring. Lily Cai, a female staff member said it was wonderful to de-stress with colleagues and students in such an improvised but carefully devised way.

An anonymous attendee said: “The key take-away is to be spontaneous. We are all role players in our life and that sets limits on what we do and what we don’t do. We need to let go of that control sometimes and be more courageous.”

According to the trainer, Wanning Jen, a professional drama therapist, the goal of improvisation theatre is to guide women to think outside of the box, to uncover one’s potential and hopefully to transform towards a better self. 

This is merely one of the many events organised by the International Women’s Day Committee at UNNC. Fitness and music workshop, book exhibition, film screening, sharing sessions and symposiums, everyone can find something they are interested in.

Echoing the 2019 theme for International Women’s Day – Balance for Better, a social media campaign named Inspirational Women invited students and staff across all Nottingham’s campuses to nominate female colleagues by explaining their inspirational achievements. Almost 150 submissions were received celebrating women at all levels and job types.

UNNC Vice-Provost Professor May Tan-Mullins, Chair of the UNNC International Women’s Day Committee said it was the University’s long-standing commitment to promote equality.

“UNNC has long been an advocate for equality, not just gender equality but equality in a broader sense,” Professor May Tan-Mullins said. “Last year, we organised a fundraising event, aiming at enabling disadvantaged girls to receive quality education that they needed. As a result we collected more than 20 thousand Chinese Yuan in donation, which was a great success."

According to the Human Resources Office, female staff make up 50% of the University’s total amount of staff members. UNNC is also one of the few universities in China to have a student club aiming at promoting equal opportunities for all races, nationalities and genders at UNNC.