A date to remember. Its international women’s day and also one hundred years since the suffragettes’ fought for the vote for women in Britain. The colours of purple white and green were used to signify their struggle.

It should be remembered that when they finally did get the vote it was only for older women who owned property…

International women’s day means freedom to me. The freedom to vote and be part of a democracy. The freedom to control your body and not be forced to do things you don’t want to. The freedom to own your own property and to earn equal pay for work of equal value.

As a woman I have seen years of inequality. I have seen mysogeny and misanthropic behaviour. But not everyone is like that. At the end of the day we need to learn to respect one another. After all women are not another species. Equality is still some distance away, people shouldn’t be judged on the way they look or act. Life can be hard work. With age comes experience. Women don’t need patronising it’s time for equality.