International Women’s Day

Posted 8th Mar 2021 3 Comments by prowexplorer

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

Marked annually on 8th March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

celebrate women’s achievements
raise awareness about women’s equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
fundraise for female-focused charities

To learn more about International Women’s Day and how you can get involved please see the link below which will take you directly to their website:

IWD: About International Women’s Day

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge‘. A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. So let’s all #ChooseToChallenge.

I grew up having to crush stereotypes being a bit of a tom boy myself I was often found digging in the mud with the boys rather than playing dress up with the girls. My parents always supported whatever I was interested in, making sure I was able to go to Brownies and Cubs as a kid, going on to join my local Scout group and not continuing on to Girl Guides. My parents always encouraged me to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors, I was the only girl on the school orienteering team and found that generally it was seen as a boys sport and that girls should be off dancing rather than reading maps and running around the countryside.

I am very lucky to be surrounded by inspirational, incredible women in my work life and personal life. It’s been amazing to see more women featuring on social media following their dreams in the outdoor industry and completing world records. This is beginning to normalise women leading hikes, championing women specific kit in a very male dominated sector and encouraging ladies of all shapes and abilities to get out and do what they love despite what views others may have.

I hope that I can help to normalise outdoor activity for all women whatever shape or size. It’s time we did things to make us feel good and not be worrying about how we look as we do it!

I’ve challenge stereotypes throughout my career from having to prove I was capable as a chainsaw operator to dealing with older generations not believing a young woman is able to undertake enforcement actions. This really frustrates me, it should be expected that women are capable of the same jobs as men and not a surprise when we are able to do these jobs just as well as our male counterparts. I’m very pleased to have now secured my dream job alongside some very powerful and passionate women amongst a mixed gender team, who all believe we are equal and all capable of achieving some great things for equestrian access throughout England.

Alongside my full time job, I’m proud to be on of the Ordnance Survey 2020/21 GetOutside Champions. Using my blog and social media influence to entertain, inspire and educate my followers to get outside. It’s amazing to be part of a team with other magnificent women championing diverse groups in the great outdoors.

I’m also very proud to volunteer as an Ambassador for This Girl Can Suffolk. Telling my own story about how I have fitted exercise into my busy life, the barriers that I’ve faced and the positive impact that exercise has had on my life. As an ambassador I help to inspire others to become more active, encouraging women and girls to remember that it doesn’t matter how well they do it, how they look or how red their face gets. I take pride in my body which isn’t a chiselled model like form but with lumps and bumps that don’t make a difference to how I enjoy getting outside.

I’ve met some truly wonderful women over the last year despite being in lockdown for much of it. I joined The Outdoorsy Type Suffolk group to meet some like minded people and attend some great activities such as wild swimming, walks and paddle boarding. At these events that are open to all I’ve met some lovely ladies and can’t wait for more events to come. After attending a few events I became good friends with the 2 founding ladies Helen and Nicki and I have recently been invited to become one of The Outdoorsy Type team which is so exciting. I have since started training for the Mountain Training Hill and Moorland Leader qualification so that I can lead walks, this means some very exciting things are planned for the group as lockdown lifts so if you’re interested in joining us keep an eye out on the Facebook page and group for these exciting events!