‘We have to celebrate these special days’ says Olympian Sarah Lavin at Tipperary talk
Lavin was one of four women to lead a discussion in Boston Scientific Clonmel about ‘women rising and unseen barriers’
The first of a series of forums called ‘Connecting Women in Work’ took place in Boston Scientific Clonmel on Tuesday, October 8. Boston Scientific and Tipperary Chamber of Commerce came together to host this panel discussion where the topic discussed on the day was “women rising and unseen barriers”.
Irish Olympic athlete Sarah Lavin gave a unique perspective of what it’s like to be a woman in professional sports.
Speaking about the topic of the challenges women in sports face, Sarah said there were huge barriers. “Olympic sports as a whole and those who control things are still very male dominated and it’s very rare to have a female at the top of the circle.”
She said that there is still bias in the media too: “As a woman in sports the media wants to know everything about you, for males they usually are only interested in their sports abilities.”
On hearing about Boston Scientific's Vice President of Cork, Sinead O'Neill's husband’s decision to take parental leave, Lavin said that “it’s so refreshing to hear males are taking parental leave, we should be striving for equality”.
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Sarah Lavin finished the panel discussion by saying: “To be amongst women celebrating women, we don’t have it historically so we have to celebrate these special days.”