Today is International Women’s Day which highlights the campaign for equality...but there is a way to go. One in eight of the UK’s top businesses are led by women and across the world inequality is even more acute. Marital rape is legal in 32 countries and only 49 per cent of countries worldwide have gender parity with 129 million girls out of school. Closer to home, Gazette reporter VIKTORIA YORDANOVA speaks to women who are leading the way.
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water,” former US First Lady Eleanor Roosvelt liked to say.
Just like English tea, English women are not only strong, but also determined to leave their mark through history.
From Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria to Jane Austen and Margaret Thatcher, today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate not only the most notable women of our past, but every woman who has chosen to accelerate gender equality.
The first National Women’s Day, as it was called, was in 1909 after Ukraine-born suffragist Clara Lemlich demanded shorter working hours, better pay and improved working conditions for the 15,000 garment workers who went on strike in New York.
More than a century later, women are still fighting to ensure equality no longer falls on deaf ears.
Driving this change have been the women of Lawford, the north-east Essex village which adjoins Manningtree and Mistley.
From headteachers and postmistresses to vicars and council chairwomen, Lawford is a hub for feminism.
And Val Guglielmi, who is the chairwoman of Lawford Parish Council, is one of its stalwarts.
Val says her entry to the world of politics was accidental and it all started in 2014 when she became chairwoman of Tendring District Council after stepping in for a colleague.
Talking about women in politics, she says there is greater equality on a local level and she has always been treated in the same way as her male colleagues.
She said: “I am used to standing my ground. Women are equal, they are not second-class citizens any more. They have got as much to offer in this world as a man has.
“If a woman wants to advance, they should be able to advance these days.
“Females are not just something to stay at home and bring up families. They have a mind.”
Val is a well-known face in her community and three years ago she retired from her job as Lawford’s postmistress.
She has three daughters and six granddaughters and the most important lesson she wants to teach them is to always stand their ground.
“We are obviously going to be a strong family for females,” she laughs. “They shouldn’t be put down by anybody. They should use their abilities because they are all bright young ladies and the world is their oyster.”
Val thinks there is a “bright future” for women as long as they stay true to their beliefs.
It was Val who encouraged Maggie Woods, the current vice-chairwoman of Lawford Parish Council to enter politics.
Maggie’s career has seen her take on different roles in the health sector, including senior lecturer at Suffolk College, as well as manager of a care home.
She said: “Val Guglielmi was running the post office at the time when she approached me and said ‘Have you ever thought about going on the parish council’.
“So I went to be interviewed and they asked me to join and I have been on various committees and this year a vice-chairman.”
Maggie says she has always found Manningtree and Lawford to be open to women in political roles.
But things were a bit different in the past.
She said: “When I first went out to work, I was shocked when I found I was paid less an hour than the guy who was working next to me, simply because he was a boy and I was a girl.
“I have always had that sense of ‘everybody is worthy of the same treatment’.
“I was once told that women didn’t deserve a pay rise because they were only working for pin money.
“I have had situations where perhaps I have been quite vocal when I have come across any unfairness like that.”
Determination simply runs in her veins. Maggie, who is also a lay preacher at the Manningtree Methodist Church, comes from a family of powerful women.
“We are all quite determined,” she laughs. “My mum was a shop assistant and worked her way up to supervisor and my great aunt ran the Methodist chapel in Wyverstone.
“My grandma ran a pub and accommodation and at the time it was quite unusual for a woman to run her own business.”
But it’s not only in little villages around Essex that women have been breaking down barriers and making names for themselves.
Colchester is also full with empowering women and Alison Andreas, the principal of Colchester Institute, has been working for years to break down stereotypes around gender equality.
She joined the college 24 years ago and has taken up various roles since then, including in human resources, quality improvement and teaching.
Alison, who has two children, says she has grown up with the model of both parents working.
She added: “My mum was a primary school teacher and my dad was an engineer.
“There was no real difference there because they both worked full time and I grew up with the expectation that I would too work full time. And I always have done.”
“I am fortunate to have a supportive husband and managed to maintain my career.”
Alison remembers the 1980s when she was a student at Oxford University and belonged to what was then, a single-sex women’s college – Somerville College.
She said:" I was surrounded by many able and ambitious young women. I was also very aware that I was following in the footsteps of hundreds of Somervillian graduates who had achieved great things, whether in industry, literature, politics or science.
"Our Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher had been a student at my College, and whilst our political views were not aligned, she was a woman who’d reached the top of her game.
"I’m still in touch with many university friends. We’re all in very different jobs – and not everyone has pursued the traditional careers in industry, education, medicine or politics.
"But what they all have in common, and what matters most, is that whatever they do, they do it well, really well, and they enjoy it."
Alison is now striving to show young girls they can do anything they put their mind to.
She said: “ We strongly encourage women to get into the sort of careers that people think of as male dominated, and if we are honest are still male dominated, like engineering, construction, and computing.
“Similarly we encourage men to explore non-traditional male roles as well.
"It’s up to educational establishment and families to influence young women to help them believe they can be whatever they want to be.”
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