International Women's Day 2026: Give to Gain

Lizbeth Goodman

Lizbeth is Chair of Creative Technology Innovation and Full Professor of Inclusive Design for Education at UCD. She is the Founder/Director of SMARTlab and the Inclusive Design Research Centre of Ireland.

"In my long life, I have had relatively few female role models but I remember all the nuggets of wisdom and moments of truth that were shared by those remarkable women – my amazing mother, my grandmother, and some wonderful teachers and professors.

In retrospect, I think the most important thing that those women gave to me was a belief that my voice and my story mattered; a sense that I should take up space in the world and stand for what I believe in. I do my best to give that understanding and respect back to all the students and researchers I work with today.

Everyone has something to offer. But I do believe, based on my own experience as well as decades of research, that on the whole, women's ways of seeing and understanding the world through connections and human empathy as well as knowledge and wisdom of other kinds, have long been under-valued.

I hope that we as a global society are now finally ready to stop encouraging the 'lean in' culture and instead encourage a collaborative, thoughtful and well-informed debate that facilitates all voices to be heard, so that all ideas and ways of solving the problems of our world can be found collaboratively, in peace and with respect for the widest human diversity.

Technology is neither our friend nor our enemy in this effort: it is simply the scaffolding to hold us up while we seek more humane ways of engaging and protecting one another so that everyone can thrive and shine. Algorithms that promote harm and elevate the worst voices and images must be retrained with women's voices and perspectives at the centre, with Inclusive Design ensuring diversity and respect in a real, genuine and impactful way."