The focus of this month is reflecting on the amazing women in our lives. After international women’s day (march 8th) and Mother’s Day (march 10th) I wanted to hear from everyday local successful women and their experiences and thoughts as women in this generation. 

‘Inspire Inclusion’ was the 2024 theme for international women’s day so I asked Niamh Beaumont what this means to her and how this can be implemented on a day to day basis in which she responded “inclusion ,i think, can be implemented in every day situations even a small gesture like having more woman in the workplace or including women in important conversations can make the biggest difference ” how will you implement inclusion for women? 

Not only should we celebrate the successful women in the workplace but we should also acknowledge the successful women in our everyday lives more specifically our mothers. Whether stay at home mums, single mums or full-time working mums we can do our part to make them, feel seen and successful. To reflect on this and the power of being a mother I asked Frankie Jones how she balances full time work and being a mother to three children “yeah I’m not going to lie its hard work but it’s so worth it I suppose its empowering, I feel successful and like I can do anything now” 

I also asked some students of Colchester sixth form what women have inspired them or made them feel seen here are some replies: Marcie Block “my mum is my inspiration”, Poppy Ganderton “the first woman I think of is my mum” and Charlotte Holmes “my inspiration?it's definitely my mum". As you can see a constant theme of mothers being women’s inspiration came to light giving us a small insight on how much of a lasting impact women and our mother figures have on us. 

Paul Olley also shared an inspiring story about his wife and their marriage vows. The traditional vows still include the archaic promise for the women to “love honour and obey” their husband. Michelle (Paul’s wife) understandably said that this “undermines everything women had to do to gain equality” and so they changed the old-fashioned vows to “love honour and respect”. This small change shows tremendous steps forward showing the distance women have come in achieving equality and being heard. So what small changes will you make today?