International Women's Day

Today we celebrate our women to bring equality into the spotlight.

We want to believe that we live in a free and equal society but often we still hear about sexual harassment, pay inequality and other gender related issues that a cause a difference to life. There are plenty of these issues debated and discussed in the media today but they all bear a negative cloud and can often be difficult to speak out about. We encourage women and men of all ages to stand for what's fair and just - you all have a voice and the right to action.

Today we celebrate those women who have taken action to do incredible things. Things that span beyond gender, societal standings and borders. We've curated a small list but need to acknowledge that there are millions of others fighting not only for womens rights, but for humanity.

Anna Whitehouse

Nominated for Flex Appeal, a campaign known for pushing flexible working to encourage businesses to look at productivity over a bums-on-seats mentality. Anna believes this will prevent 54,000 pregnant women a year from being made redundant.

Malala Yousafzai

At just 18 years of age, Malala is the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize for her incredible work as an activist for women’s rights & child education. Surviving an assassination attempt issued by the Taliban, Malala has gone from strength to strength to ensure her powerful message is heard. She is fighting for education for all children around the world and equal rights for men and women. From blogging for the BBC to her social media movement #BooksNotBullets, Malala is a shining example of a young female standing up to those in power to make a change for the greater good. 

Emma Watson

“If not me, who? If not now, when?”. The powerful words of Emma Watson from her address at the UN Headquarters in New York last year, launching HeForShe and advocating gender equality. Most of us know her as Hermione from Harry Potter, but her wizardry skills pale in comparison to her female rights activism, which has lead to arguably her most important role yet, as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. She’s got the whole “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss” thing happening & we are totally in awe of her meaningful message to the world.

Edna Ogwangi

Edna was born in Kenya and was raised during a time of drought which resulted in starvation across her community. Also during this time, girls were not prioritized to attend school. But Edna’s mother knew she wanted her daughter to receive an education, and Edna side-stepped starvation thanks to the meal packages she was receiving at school. When her eyes caught the text on the side “FROM THE UNITED STATES” as a fifth-grader, she resolved that one day she would travel to the US to send food back to kids like her. Well, guess what she’s doing now?

Edna is now in Raleigh, NC, working as the Chief Impact Officer at Rise Against Hunger, a global social impact organization. She has a Masters in Social Work, and her methodologies have been put into practice and folded into the UN’s sustainability agenda to end world hunger by 2030. Also, in 2008, Edna was part of a group of that testified before Congress to promote the Feed the Future initiative. She advocated on the benefits of local food procurement as well as the importance of promoting food security in developing countries. Eight years later, this ultimately resulted in the Food Security Act. 

Sophie Grig

Sophie works for Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. She helps them defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures.

Her work focuses on campaigning for the rights of tribal peoples living in Asia, including in India, Indonesia, West Papua, Siberia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.