Women make up over fifty percent of the student population, and it is the role of the Women’s Officer to provide representational support for this crucial demographic area.

The Women’s Officer is elected to ensure that any issue affecting women at Portsmouth University is given a voice and is then acted upon at Union Council, which guides the way the whole Union is run.

One such issue is the recently-launched campaign to make the Students' Union a Hate Crime reporting centre, a place where women can report, in confidence, any known cases of sexual abuse. The 2007 academic year will also witness the first time Portsmouth Students' Union celebrates International Women’s Day on the 8th March 2008, and it would be a primary role of the women’s officer to coordinate events such as debates.

There is also the opportunity to represent the issues and causes that affect female students at a wider, national level. The National Union of Students coordinates two women’s conferences; one on the 17th and 18th November, and the other on the 11th and 12th of March.

The main task of the Women’s Officer is to campaign for the rights of students, to fight against sexism, to raise awareness of issues facing women at university today, to ensure that women feel safe in their union and to provide real representation for the largest group of students in our Union.