International Women's Day is celebrated every year on 8th March, celebrating the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women. This year's theme was balance for better, leading the way for a balanced world being a better world.
We asked you who you wanted to celebrate this International Women's Day, and here's what you said...
Mary Twining by Martha Nye
She ran Twinings for 21 years when her husband Daniel (son of founder, Thomas) passed away in 1762 – women still weren’t even allowed in the coffee shops so having her run a coffee/tea shop was pretty big news. She continued the exportation and focused the business on quality. Tea was taxed at 119% and so smuggling was massive, but she made a point of only buying quality tea from legitimate sources. Her tea was therefore better than everyone else’s and the higher prices drew in the upper classes.
Dame Kelly Holmes by Sam King 
As a lifelong Athletics fan, I’d lived through my fair share of Team GB disappointments growing up, and by the Athens Olympics of 2004, I longed to see more success on the track.
At the age of 34, Kelly Holmes had spent most of her career battling through injury. So much so, it caused her to suffer mental health problems that she has since opened up about.
In the summer of 2004, she overcame those problems and accomplished the stunning feat of winning not one but two Olympic golds in the 800m and 1,500m - a truly inspirational achievement.
Iskra Lawrence by Liv Gill 
It’s nice to see someone using their profession and influence to try and disrupt the status quo, someone who does not try to be perfect but instead presents themselves with confidence while being open to feedback and improvement. In an online world of tensing fitness models and over photoshopping I think that putting herself out there and being real and open, when she does not owe anyone that, is inspiring and positive to me and a lot of people.
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Michael Painting 
Heiress to the Duchy of Aquitaine & County of Poitiers (a domain larger than that held by the king of France), Queen consort twice (France...and then England), and mother of two English kings. She went on Crusade, was a patron of the arts and was regent of her sons realm in their absence. When her husband, Henry II, had an affair she led her sons in an armed rebellion and almost deposed him! She was a major political force in her own right (and the most powerful women in 12th c Europe) in an age when women were often seen as little more than chattels. And of course we have a connection, before merging with Total we part of Elf Aquitaine S.A. the French energy major.
Anna Whitehouse by Amy Devlin 
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #balanceforbetter, so I have chosen a woman who is leading the way for flexible working. Anna Whitehouse, aka Mother Pukka, is a journalist fighting for more access to flexible working for all. This isn’t just for parents, we all have things going on outside of work which make us the people we are inside of work. Her Flex Appeal campaign has recently taken her to Parliament to make the case for more flexibility for all.
Emma Haruka Iwao by Ceiran Sheehan 
Emma is an employee of Google from Japan, who it was announced on Pi Day (March 14th) had set the world record for calculating Pi to a certain number of digits. The previous record of 22 trillion digits was obliterated and now stands at 31 trillion - so just the 9 trillion different. For context that’s 9,000,000,000,000 more digits.
The world record is highly sought after in the maths world and this really is an incredibly impressive achievement. The calculation she wrote took 121 days to run and she hopes to break this record again going forward.
What do you think of our profiled women? Who are your female icons?
