The theme for International Women's Day 2024 is Inspire Inclusion.

When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world and when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment.

Help us to create a wonderful online gallery of inspirational women by sharing who inspires you.

My mum and my nan are the most inspirational women in my life. I can honestly say I would not be who and were I am today without either one of them.

Sadly we lost my nan a number of years ago now, but she was a force of nature! She was little but feisty and had the respect of everyone she came into contact with. She was an amazing role model and something I try to emulate from her everyday is her unwavering ability to accept and encourage people to be true to themselves.

My mum is all that amazingness from my nan and more. She has always encouraged me to be myself and to be self-aware. I did not appreciate that at all when I was younger but as an adult that self-awareness is what allows me to cope in this amazingly crazy world!!

They are both an inspiration to me every day!

I have been so fortunate to have two amazing friends in my life Luisa and Kerry, who have been my rocks in times of doubt and personal struggles. Their friendship comes packed with love, trust, without judgement and has been a constant in my life.

Lastly, I wish to mention my beautiful girls Hannah and Kirsten. As a parent I am so proud of the wonderful women they have become but I never imagined they would be my daily inspiration to believe in myself. To be confident in my abilities, follow may passions and to remind me that I am capable of anything if I put my mind to it.

Thank you, I feel so privileged to have you in my life.

She’s been there for me through thick and thin and no matter what she will always be there. I can always count on her to help me through tough times or even if I just need to have a chat with someone.

She’s one of those people who you feel so comfortable around and know you can tell them anything and they’ll listen. She’s trusting, loving, caring, the list can go on and on. Which just shows how much of a special person she is.

She’s inspired me to play hockey and to be able to play on the same team as her week after week is honestly a dream come true and I’ll treasure every game with her.

My mum is the kindest person I know, she’s the best mum in the world and I honestly don’t know what I would do without her. I love her to bits.

Clare is a Registered Nurse with 30 years’ experience in End-of-Life Care (EoLC). Whilst the rest of us were absorbed in mundane activities and while bringing up two children she studied for her masters.

She has worked in hospices, the community, and acute hospitals as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, and - at a national level - as a Consultant Nurse for the Gold Standards Framework, improving and standardising the best patient and carers experience. Clare is a CQC - the health sector’s equivalent of OFSTED - a Specialist Advisor for EoLC and a Lasting Power of Attorney Consultant. She is passionate about being an advocate for advanced care planning and a patients rights campaigner.

Clare is the owner and director of Speak for Me which helps organisations to improve EoLC and provides professional and public education about Palliative and End of Life Care and Advance Care Planning. Since 2022 she has hosted the podcast Conversations about Advance Care Planning.  In these Clare has discussions with eminent global specialists in this field.  She also talks to people with lived experiences. She is a proud contributor to best-selling author Wendy Mitchell’s "One Last Thing" and has been invited this year to speak at the International Conference in Advance Care Planning. She also has contributed to numerous Youtube videos and webinars as a guest speaker.

Clare believes “ HOPE FOR THE BEST AND PLAN FOR THE REST” She has 3 broad aims:

·         To improve professional understanding of Advance Care Planning

·         To raise public awareness about Advance Care Planning

·         To normalise the important conversations we all should be having

If anyone has need of some of her incredible experience and knowledge you can learn more or contact her at http://speakforme.co.uk or listen to her podcasts on all usual platforms.

As well as going above and beyond in her professional life Clare is a qualified fitness and yoga instructor. She is an intrepid traveller, keen vegetable grower and thoroughly fabulous friend!

My friend,

and my hero.

Rosey saved my life 💙

Mum inspires me with the hard work and creativity that she puts into everything. When designing and creating resources, events or programmes, her natural ability and individual flair shine through. Her example, and the support she's unconditionally given, let me know I can reach for whatever goal I set my sights on (but also that it's okay to stumble along the way!).

I think what inspires me most about Mum is the time and care that she invests in people around her. She always gives so much of herself (maybe sometimes too much!) to not only friends and family but also to others, especially the young people she's keen to support. Her innate want to help others has definitely inspired me to try and follow suit.

Very proud of you and to be celebrating you as part of international women's day this year, Mum.

She is a Ukrainian fencer. She has won a silver medal at Olympic games in 2016.

She inspires me because she showed lots of respect to Ukraine at a tournament against Russia. After she beat a Russia fencer Anna Smirnova at an international tournament in Italy but because she refused to shake her hand in respect to her country, she wasn’t given her fairly won medal. Despite the fact it was her dream to win international competitions, she chose to respect her country.

Pete and Kerry x

She won Silver in the road race in the 2012 Olympic games and has won the British National Road Race Championship four times! In 2021 Lizzie won the first ever Paris-Roubaix Femme (in terrible weather) and became the first woman to win the Triple women's monument classics.

Lizzie always perseveres even in the toughed hour during long and hard races. She is a clever cyclist who uses her vast experience and tactics to better her opponents. She has a successful career and is at the top of her game despite have two young children and now being in her mid-thirties (considered old for a cyclist). She is my inspiration.

Bianca has been a part of my life for the past 12 years. She is an inspiration to me because of her positive outlook on life and her passion and dedication to her friends, family and business. She is hardworking, resilient, open to new ideas and is not afraid to face any challenge that comes her way. Although still quite young, Bianca’s achievements are impressive and her enthusiasm and joie de vie continue to inspire me daily.

When my father died,I was ten years old,I had two sisters and five brothers and she took care of us.We went to school,we ate three times a day and she gave us a good education.

Today we are all good and brave men and women.

She died in August 2017.

One of the most inspiring aspects of Amelia Earhart's life is her relentless determination to break barriers and defy societal expectations. In an era when aviation was largely dominated by men, she fearlessly pursued her passion for flying, becoming the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Her groundbreaking accomplishments shattered stereotypes and paved the way for future generations of female pilots.

Earhart's courage and adventurous spirit are qualities that I deeply admire. Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks throughout her career, including mechanical failures, financial struggles, and societal discrimination, she never wavered in her pursuit of her dreams. Her unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of what was possible serves as a reminder to me to always embrace challenges head-on and never let fear hold me back.

In conclusion, Amelia Earhart's courage, determination, and advocacy for equality make her a timeless source of inspiration for me and countless others. Her pioneering spirit and trailblazing achievements serve as a reminder that with perseverance and passion, anything is possible. As I navigate my own journey, I am inspired by her legacy to dream big, break barriers, and strive for excellence in all that I do.

Elham

I would like to tell about an amazing woman Hedy Lamarr. She was called the Hollywood Star and the most beautiful woman in the world. She considered her beauty as a curse: she was worshiped as an actress, but not noticed as a scientist.

She was born in 1913 in Vienna, in the family of a banker. Thanks to her father she had the desire to study.

From 1930 Hedy started to act in films. In 1937 she moved to the USA and continued to act in many films in Hollywood.

However, apart from cinema, Hedy loved science, she set up a laboratory in her house, and in 1942 she and George Antheil ,a composer ,were granted a patent for the creation of "Scratch Communication Systems".

But their idea was skeptical and only later it was used in the US military communication system satellites.

This idea is now used in Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi.

In 2000, Lamarr died. She was inducted posthumously into the American Inventors Hall of Fame. She is considered the "mother of WiFi."

Lamar was convinced "People's brains are more interesting than their looks."

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, led a nonviolent women's movement that played a crucial role in ending the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Gbowee organized Christian and Muslim women to engage in peaceful protests, including a sex strike and mass prayer gatherings, demanding an end to the violence. Her efforts helped bring about a peace agreement and paved the way for the election of Liberia's first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. In 2011, Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing it with Sirleaf and Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman.

For a part of my A-level coursework I created pieces inspired by McNish’s prints.

Florence, Cobham Hall

For my painting, I use green because for me it’s the colour which represent freedom. I also try to make a portrait which represent the most her.

At 16, she finally left home, without even graduating from high school and life didn’t get any easier for her for the next years. With every challenge faced, from sleeping in shelters to working multiple jobs at the same time, grace would become her foundation since she met a boy that taught her mediation and that’s how she learned to let go of her past. Education became her beacon of hope; she pursued it relentlessly, eventually earning a degree in social work.

So Anastasia decided to use her own experience and knowledge to help others overcome trauma and finding their way to deal with it. As a counselor, she brings profound empathy and wisdom to those she aids, having walked through so many horrible things herself before. The scars of her past remain, but they are not her chains; they are the testament to her journey and the source of her formidable strength, that’s how she describes herself now.

One evening, Ayesha gathered the courage to express her longing for education. Her father, moved by her determination, decided to challenge the village norms. He faced opposition but remained steadfast. With time, his persistence paid off, and Ayesha was allowed to attend school.

Ayesha’s journey inspired other girls in the village, gradually transforming attitudes toward girls' education. Her determination and her father's support became a beacon of hope, proving that change is possible, even in the face of deeply rooted traditions

Dukureh was appointed Regional UN Women Ambassador for Africa in February 2018. In 2016, she was named in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. And for her work in activism, she was named the following year as one of the 100 most influential Africans by New Africa Magazine. She’s also a nominee for the Nonel Peace Prize.

On October 13 2021, Dukureh announced her candidacy in the 2021 Gambian presidential election for the People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism.

One evening, Ayesha gathered the courage to express her longing for education. Her father, moved by her determination, decided to challenge the village norms. He faced opposition but remained steadfast. With time, his persistence paid off, and Ayesha was allowed to attend school.

Ayesha’s journey inspired other girls in the village, gradually transforming attitudes toward girls' education. Her determination and her father's support became a beacon of hope, proving that change is possible, even in the face of deeply rooted traditions.

Jude, Maria, Bethany, Rumaysa, yukiko, Amrit and izzie

She works part time in her grandmother’s corner shop, selling cultural items to the locals.

First of what is a Latina,Latina is an ethnic category, and one that encompasses various racial groups.Latinas are women of

Puerto Rican,Cuban,Dominican, Central American, North South American, Spanish origin and Brazil.

Theirs a common stereotype that Latina women, as being fiery and fierce or a little bit crazy.But i think the quality, so many latinas possess is strength,fortitude and passion.

Crazy fact El Salvador has a total ban on abortion and has one of the strictest anti-abortion laws.There was even case of a savadorian woman who was recently just freed from prison

from more than seven years after she was convicted for having an abortion even though baby died due to health complications.

El Salvador's total ban on abortions was introduced in 1998.

It does not include exemptions in cases of rape or when the pregnancy poses a health risk for the mother.

Salavarrieta Ríos, also known as ‘La Pola’, was a young woman of Spanish origin from Guaduas in Socorro (present-day Colombia).

From 1815 she lent her support to the Patriot guerrilla forces which fought against Spanish rule during the Spanish ‘reconquest’ of viceroyalty of New Granada

(a Spanish colonial jurisdiction which corresponded mainly to the territories which comprise modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama) during the Latin American Wars of Independence.

Salavarrieta Ríos spied for the Patriots and sent information to their fighters. In Bogotá, she worked as a seamstress, a profession which allowed her to

enter the houses of prominent Royalists and to obtain information to pass to the insurgents. She also entered prisons to take food to captured soldiers,

taking advantage of the opportunity to supply them with information about the military situation.

Done by Basit,Hannah, Genevieve, Apoline and Isabell

Basit -

Li has spoken on growing up with a lack of positive East Asian and biracial representation onscreen. Being born to an English mother and Chinese father, her conflict over her dual heritage was compounded when she began auditioning, where she noticed mixed-race roles would sometimes go to fully East Asian or white actors.

Li is also very open with her support for the LGBTQ+ community, identifying as queer herself, and is very passionate of the protection of transgender youth.