International Womens' Day – 8th March

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day, held on 8th March each year, is also used to call for the acceleration of womens' equality across the world.

The first IWD was held in 1911 and supported by over a million people. Today the event is celebrated across the world by hundreds of millions.

Here we celebrate all the wonderful efforts from our female volunteers at the branch and discover three famous women from our local area and celebrate their achievements and efforts in years gone by.

It wouldn't be International Women's Day without making a special mention of the amazing efforts made by all of our female volunteers at the Manchester and Salford Branch.

Over 65% of our branch volunteers are female and in the last 12 months our female listener volunteers have covered 4,092 shifts - that's an incredible 12,276 hours!

You all make a massive difference, not just today, but throughout each day of the year!

Emmeline was born in Moss Side in 1858 and was a political activist. She is best remembered for organising the UK suffragette movement and helping women win the right to vote. She is widely celebrated for her work and is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.

In 2016 it was announced that a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst would be unveiled in Manchester, making her the first woman to be honoured with a statue in the city since Queen Victoria more than 100 years ago. The statue was unveiled on 14 December 2018, one hundred years after British women were first able to vote in the 1918 general election .

You can visit the statue in St. Peter’s Square, opposite the Library Theatre…it’s just a short walk from the Branch office on Oxford Road.

In 1921, Clara Walkden of Oldham Borough Police became the first sworn-in Police Woman Constable in the Greater Manchester area. This meant she had the power of arrest, which until 1919 had been considered illegal for a woman to undertake due to them not being able to physically restrain violent males. Clara was one of only three female officers in the area right up until the late1930s

She pioneered a path that thousands of other women would follow – there are now over 1,200 serving female Police Officers in Greater Manchester Police.

Longsight-born Ethel 'Sunny' Lowry was the second cousin of famous Salford artist LS Lowry. Aged just 22, Sunny was the first British woman to swim the English Channel, which she achieved in 1933. In her later life she was a keen supporter of the campaign to keep Manchester's Victoria Baths open, which unfortunately closed in 1993.

The location is now used as an entertainment venue, following securing of Lottery funding to renovate and secure the structure.