To celebrate International Women's Day (IWD), we are shining a light on some of the amazing women who help shape National College of Ireland. Find out what IWD means to them.
Lisa Jing Xia Miao, Home Visitor in the Early Learning Initiative at NCI
International Women’s Day, March 8th, 2025
Shining a light on the women of NCI.
In Ireland, my name is Lisa, but my Chinese name is Jing Xia Miao. Many Chinese people who live outside of China have an ‘English,’ name which we were encouraged to pick when we got here. Lots of Chinese names have Xs and Qs which English speakers really have trouble with! I have been in Ireland for over twenty years and now everyone calls me Lisa.
I have been working as a Home Visitor in the Early Learning Initiative at National College of Ireland for the last 11 years.
Work/Life balance
I came to Ireland from China when I was 20. My plan was to stay 3-5 years and then go home, but it didn’t work out that way! I met my husband in Dublin, and now over twenty years later we have four children and live in Dublin, in the community I work in.
Before working in NCI, I worked as hairdresser. It was difficult with small children. Your busy times, weekend, and evenings are the times when everyone else is off and the children are not in school or creche. My husband worked in kitchens, so he was also working weekends, it was too hard. In the end it was not worth it, you came home really tired.
I went to a local family resource centre in Hill Street. Now there are lots of Chinese people involved there, but when I first went with my eldest child, who is now 22, there weren’t many Chinese people. That’s where I heard about ELI. They were looking for people who spoke the mother language of the families they were visiting. So, I did the training.
I much prefer working with families and the role is really flexible; it suits me and my family. You plan your own work. I can work out the times that suit me and my family. The team, with our pink shirts, are very nice. My children say, ‘I saw your friend today,’ if they see anyone in a pink shirt.
Being with my children and being there for my family and community is important to me.
From only child to mam of four
In China I was an only child. I was also the youngest in school as I was sent early because my mother was unwell, and I was thought to be a bit wild. I was very lonely. I had no siblings, my classmates were much older than me, my parents worked a lot, and I had no cousins my age. I also found it hard in school. My concentration was not that good, and I didn’t really understand my peers as I was much younger. My skills just were not valued, they prized maths and Chinese, but I loved art. I was so lonely; I would have loved a sibling. I played card games with myself.
Because of my experience I wanted to be with my children as much as I could, and for them to have siblings - so now I am very social! And very interested in art and culture. My big family is strange to the Chinese at home, they wonder why so many?
It is hard to go home too often as it is so expensive and that is difficult as an only child. I worry about my parents, and who will mind them as they get older. They did come to Ireland, but, because of COVID-19 they got trapped here for three years. They were very homesick. I understood, I was very homesick for the first 10 years, it is extremely hard leaving family. My mother was particularly upset. Her beautiful garden and her fish died, as there was no one there to mind them. It caused a lot of emotional distress for them, although they did bond with my youngest daughter, who speaks very good Chinese.
International Women’s Day – valuing women
IWD means two things for me. In China, married women are celebrated on IWD. Only married women, as culturally you are a girl until you marry! You get a day off, and the community buys you a present. It’s a big celebration. But it is a party, it is not about equality.
Now I have changed how I see it. It is not about a little present, it is about women’s rights, how women should have the same opportunities as men, how women should not experience abuse. It should be less about a day off work and more about improving lives for women; I have three girls, and I want more for them.
I am from a traditional part of China, which is famous for traditional roles, where girls were less valued. It is in my roots, part of my identity, what I knew growing up. But every year culture changes – slowly - but it is changing. I want the world to be a more friendly place for women, with more opportunities for my girls, I tell them every day how much they are valued.