Today is International Women’s Day; It falls on March 8th every year and has been observed since the early 1900’s.

I was asked to represent David Burrowes MP at an event to celebrate International Women’s Day. David Burrowes is the Conservative MP for the constituency I live in of Enfield-Southgate. I feel proud to have been asked and that David Burrowes has shown faith in my ability to speak publicly for him.

The event was being celebrated by Enfield Saheli and Naree Shakti. Naree Shakti is an organisation that aims to provide an informal advisory service for Asian women who are isolated, by language and cultural barriers. They also provide a number of activities for Asian women, including regular social events, yoga, and an elders drop in club. Naree Shakti have focused on women suffering from domestic abuse and have been very influential within the Asian community in Enfield.

The day to celebrate women was inspiring to say the least, all of the women speakers gave interesting talks or readings. Vijay Rattan gave an informative talk on the historical landmarks in Women’s history and how women have forced change.

The Mayor of Enfield spoke of personal experience, about being widowed and finding the strength like many other women in similar situations to carry on.

My talk gave a bit of background about me trying to progress my career in a male dominated profession and then a message from David. I then summarised the action that the Government is taking to tackle violence against Women and Girls and finally I read parts of a letter from Justine Greening MP written in celebration of International Women’s Day.

The message from all of the speakers was of encouragement to women and of the strength of women.

I am a school governor and mother so my favourite quote of the day was “Educate a man and you educate one person, educate a woman and you educate a generation”.