International Women’s Day next Tuesday - building on Women2Win great work in politics

Next Tuesday is International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was marked for the first time in 1911 and was established to honour the movement for women’s rights.

In Northumberland, it is right that we have come to mark the day each year by paying special tribute to Morpeth's Emily Wilding Davison, whilst recognising the contribution many other local women have made in striving for equality.

Emily spent much of her adult life campaigning for women’s rights through the Suffragette Movement and died as a result of her protest at the Derby in June 1913 after running in front of the King’s horse to draw attention to the cause she believed in and fought so strongly for.  She paid the ultimate price.

Next week, to mark the occasion, there is a service at St Mary’s Church in Morpeth at 12:00 noon, followed by a procession to her grave, and the laying of wreaths and flowers. It is absolutely right, that we continue to mark this day - women’s issues far from stopped at universal suffrage. This year, International Women’s Day is geared towards a campaign for complete pay parity, a crucial issue in our time. Women’s issues are everyone’s issues. I remain very active in Women2Win,  the campaigning group that exists to get more women into public life. Have a look at their video here:
http://www.women2win.com/about-us
Some examples of what we have done are here: http://guyopperman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/women2win-10th-anniversary-celebration_20.html

For more information on International Women’s Day visit the website: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/