Female tales

The music video for Anne-Marie's Beautiful shows a young woman getting out of bed and reaching for her crutches. "Hello," she types on her computer. "My name is Dima. I am a runner from Syria. A stupid bomb cost me my leg."

That was in 2012, when Dima was 18. But she did not let it end her dream of becoming an athlete. In 2018 she arrived in England with her family, and three years later crowdfundingFunding something by collecting small donations from lots of different people, often through the internet. bought her a running blade.

With it, she took part in a half marathon. Now she hopes to qualify for the 2024 ParalympicsAn international sports competition for athletes with disabilities. . In December, the BBC included her in its annual list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

Ibijoke Faborode from Nigeria was also on the list. She is the co-founder of ElectHER, an organisation which supports women standing in political elections across Africa.

Some Nigerian girls, she said,¹ are conditioned by their upbringing to take second place to men. But she believes that with more women in parliament such attitudes can be changed.

Kimiko Hirata is a Japanese environmental campaigner. In 2011, a tsunamiA Japanese word describing a succession of waves caused when an earthquake or volcano displaces a large body of water. resulted in meltdowns at a nuclear power plant in FukushimaA prefecture in Japan that was the site of a nuclear powerplant meltdown in 2011. An exclusion zone around the nuclear power plant still exists ten years after the disaster. . This persuaded the Japanese government that it should build 50 coal-powered plants instead.

But Kimiko realised that this would be terrible for the environment, and started a campaign against them. So far it has managed to get 13 cancelled.

Jane Rigby is an American astrophysicistScientists who try to understand the contents of the universe. specialising in how galaxies evolve. She is a leading member of the team that launched the world's largest space telescope, the James Webb.

As a schoolgirl, she says, she was inspired by Sally Ride, the first female US astronaut: "It was because of her that I realised that astrophysics was a profession, that physics was a subject girls could study, that NasaThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration, responsible for the US space programme. needed astrophysicists."

Yes: The situation of women in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran is appalling. In Britain there are shameful inequalities in pay and job opportunities. The day helps draw attention to them.

No: The world has moved on since International Women's Day was launched. Women now occupy hugely influential positions and it is patronising to suggest that their role needs to be highlighted.

Or... Women's experiences differ widely from one country to another, but there are challenges they all have in common. An international day as a rare and valuable opportunity for them to come together.