International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on the 8th March. It is an opportunity to recognise women’s achievements through society and gender equality. The origins of this event vary throughout the world but there is no doubt that women should be celebrated worldwide.
It’s now more important than ever that women continue to fight for gender equality and celebrate International Women’s Day.
The history of women’s struggles for gender equality is inspirational. Although many, here are just a few of the most influential women:
Liverpool - Hannah Lightbody An early champion of education and welfare reform for the poor, Hannah made great strides for the rights of women in British society. Born in Liverpool in 1776 to a rich family, Hannah was a free thinking, liberal woman whose work centered around the rights of women and the abolition of the slave trade. This was nearly a hundred years before the suffragette movement.
Newcastle - Mary Astell Mary was an author who was born in Newcastle over 300 years ago in 1666. She is credited as not only an author but also a philosopher and considered 'the first English feminist.' She was a passionate advocate for equal educational opportunities for women and was a prolific writer although her published works were anonymous.
Nottingham - Ada Lovelace
Ada's influence may have been a long time ago now, but we can still appreciate her work today. The mathematician is regarded as one of the first computer programmers - a career not typically associated with women in the 1800s. Ada was and is a pioneer for young women who long for a career in science and mathematics, proving that it isn't always a man's world. Her achievements are so prominent still that she's even had a day in the calendar dedicated to her.
Bristol - Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth was born in Bristol and moved to the US, becoming the first woman to qualify as a doctor in America!
Manchester - Emmeline Pankhurst No list of this kind would be complete without mention of the woman who changed the lives of females in the UK forever. If you do not know about Emmeline Pankhurst, then it is your duty as a woman to read more than just this paragraph. She was a political activist and leader of the Suffragette movement who fought tirelessly to allow women the right to vote. She shaped what it is to be a woman in our time, and we should be forever grateful to her and the movement she represented.
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