Today is the first International Women’s Day in two years which women around the world will be able to celebrate in person. Covid has had a devastating impact on the lives of women and girls. From the horrific rise in domestic abuse to an increase in FGM, the pandemic laid bare how much more we need to do in order to make gender equality a reality. As an activist and survivor of abuse, it has been hard to watch so many suffer. But I also know there is hope.
Just yesterday, I was at two events where I was able to meet and talk to incredible people who are using their platform to do more for women and girls everywhere. At the Women’s Aid event in the House of Commons, I met Melanie Brown MBE — better known as Scary Spice. It was incredibly surreal to tell the woman who gave me the confidence to talk about FGM as a teenager how much she has changed my life and how, in my role as a independent adviser to the Government, I was willing to do whatever it took to ensure her campaign for survivors of abuse got the attention it deserved.
