Women who inspire from Yorkshire and beyond: International Women’s Day

To commemorate International Women’s Day, myself and Janet are bringing together women from across Yorkshire and beyond to celebrate, share and connect with each other through the stories that we have collected. We are uniting through virtual connections and bringing to life the everyday stories of ordinary women who have and are making a difference. You can find the inspiring stories that were sent in by women on our IWD Blog.

Please read, Tweet, comment, share and connect using the #IWDy hash tag. All the stories have links to LinkedIn, Twitter names and contact details.

More about IWD

The roots of International Women’s Day (IWD) can be traced back to the struggles of women workers in the late 19^th and early 20^th century during a time of expansion and turbulence in the industrialised world.

Oppression and inequality was spurring women across the world to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change, demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

International Women’s Day was formalised by the United Nations in 1977 and is a time for women to connect, inspire and celebrate the economical, social and political achievements of women, past, present and future.

In the Western world, women have won the right to vote, seen better pay, become more visible, have greater legislative rights though inequalities still exists in areas such as pay, in the boardroom and in business and politics. The struggle still continues for many women across the world who are not legally allowed to own land, able to work in certain jobs, do not have a public voice, and experience violence…..

Some facts

70%  of the world’s poor are women

66%  Women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the property

10% Women earn less than 10 percent of the world’s wages, but do more than two thirds of the world’s work.

2% In Sub-Saharan Africa, women own less than 2 percent of the land, but produce more than 90 percent of the food.

Giving women access to land, technology and other agricultural resources it could reduce the number of hungry people by up to 150 million ( UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 2011)

 Make a difference: think global, act local