Today, I find myself thinking about all the women who have shaped my life.

I was born in Zimbabwe and, in my early years, was raised by my grandmother. I remember her bicycle, with me sitting on the back as we travelled together. She was my protector, my guardian, my advocate, my everything.

At the age of eight, I came to the UK and joined my mother and father.

My mother was a strong woman. Her own mother died when she was just a baby, and not a day went by without her reminding us that she had been orphaned so young, and how that loss had shaped her determination, resilience, and ambition.

Throughout my life, I have been blessed to encounter many strong women. Women who have guided me, supported me, challenged me, and helped shape the person I have become. Women who encouraged me into my chosen career and helped me keep going when the road was not easy.

Now, I am a mother, and I have my own daughter.

I have tried to support and guide her as a mother should. I want a world where she can raise her own family, if she chooses to, and also succeed in her chosen career.

Yes, both. Not either/or.

Today, I think about what it means to be a woman, and all that women are still told they can and cannot do.

The work of being a woman is not easy, not because women are weak, but because of the environments, cultural expectations, religious interpretations, and beliefs that so often place barriers in our way.

Too many women are still told:
you cannot,
you should not,
you are less,
you will be paid less,
you should make yourself smaller,
you should be grateful for less.

And worse still, if you are a Black woman, or a woman from another marginalised background, the battle is often even harder.

Yet there is a bond that connects women across the world. We understand, often without needing many words, the challenges, the barriers, the daily negotiations, and the quiet strength it takes to keep going.

From an early age, many girls learn not only to survive, but to care, create, hold others together, and carry burdens that are often unseen.

And still, in some parts of the world, girls are told that education is not for them. That their role is only to find a husband, raise a family, and remain in the background.

We still live in a world with boardrooms whose doors are hard to open and ceilings designed to exclude.

Some say we are entering an era of hyper-masculine politics, driven by dominance, spectacle, and misogynistic narratives. An era in which power is performed through force, and tyranny is mistaken for strength.

But strength without empathy is dangerous, and power without humanity is destructive. That is not the future we should be building.

We need girls in school, educated, protected, and empowered across the world. 

We need young women leading teams, shaping ideas, and becoming future leaders. We need communities and homes where women and girls are safe.

Because the safety of women is not optional.

We have seen the terrors women can face, even in their own homes: harassment, coercion, domestic abuse, trafficking, exploitation, and modern-day slavery. These are not isolated issues. They sit on a continuum of harm that we must be willing to name, challenge, and change.

So today, I honour the women who came before me.
The women who held me.
The women who shaped me.
The women who showed me how to keep going.

And I think about the girls and women still coming after us.

We all have a part to play in creating the future we want for our girls, our young women, and our future leaders.

What part can you play?
And what support do you need to play it well?

6 minute YouTube video

https://youtu.be/cEus1HnjLcs

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