Whether its smashing through glass ceilings, battling for the vote or setting the political agenda, Greater Manchester's women have achieved some remarkable things.
Our city has been home to Elizabeth Gaskell, Emmeline Pankhurst and Marie Stopes, and today the tradition of changing the trajectory of history endures, with another generation of gamechangers leading the way. To mark International Women's Day we've put together a list of inspirational women - who are from, or have lived and worked in the region - making a difference in Manchester today.
Below you'll find everyone from activists and actors, to curators and chefs, as well as musicians, writers and politicians.
Read more: When is International Women's Day 2023, what's the theme and how can I get involved?
Professor Erinma Bell MBE DL
A professor, a councillor, a deputy lieutenant and a peace activist with an MBE for voluntary services to her community, Dr Erinma Bell is a formidable force of good in Greater Manchester.
The co-founder of CARISMA, Dr Erinma fights tirelessly for young people and to provide them with positive outlets and alternatives to street and gun crime. Her work promoting social cohesion and conflict resolution has seen a 92 per cent decrease in gun and gang crime across Manchester.
She is also a chair for Nostalgia Trust and Greater Manchester Police’s Independent Advisory Group, which advises the police force on its procedures and practices. She was also the first ever woman to be commemorated with a statue in Manchester town hall in recognition of her work. In 2022, she was elected councillor for Moss Side, where she lives.
Figen Murray
Figen Murray lost her 29-year-old son Martyn Hett in the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack and has fought tirelessly for peace, kindness and tolerance in Martyn’s memory.
She launched Martyn’s Law, a legislation requiring venues to improve security against the threat of terrorism and to ensure all venues in Manchester have counter-terrorism plans in place. Her petition to make the law mandatory was signed by more than 23,000 people.
Last year, Figen was awarded with an OBE in the 2022 New Year's Honours List and also graduated from University of Central Lancashire with a masters in Counter Terrorism. She regularly tours schools speaking to students about radicalisation and has also visited bomber Salman Abedi’s former high school in Burnage a number of times for talks.
Yasmin Finney
Manchester-born actress Yasmin Finney has grown a fast reputation online, where she is often regarded as one of TikTok’s biggest influencers with 1.8M followers and 23.6m likes.
Having appeared in productions at University of Manchester's Sackville Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Yasmin came to wider prominence last year playing Elle in Netflix’s superhit Heartstopper. For the role of the trans teenager, Yasmin received a nomination at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards and won the On Screen Trailblazer at the Gay Times Honours.
Since then, Yasmin has appeared on the front cover of British Vogue and will appear on our screens later this year in the next series of Doctor Who.
Bev Craig
Originally from Belfast, Bev Craig has been an honorary Mancunian since she moved to the city-region in 2003. First elected as Burnage councillor in 2011, Bev has served as Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing and as Manchester Council’s Deputy Leader.
In 2021, Bev was appointed Leader of Manchester City Council, becoming the city council’s first female and LGBTQ+ leader in the process. Her work remains focused on COVID recovery, equality, and creating an inclusive and sustainable economy. She is also the Economy, Business and International lead for Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
DJ Paulette
An icon of Manchester's music scene, DJ Paulette was the first female resident to get behind the decks at The Hacienda and held a residency at the legendary space between 1992 and 1995.
From her monthly slot at the Hacienda to world tours with the Ministry of Sound, Paulette Constable has been at the forefront of house music across the UK and Europe. Today, she continues that legacy with regular slots at venues across Manchester including at queer club night Homoelectric, amongst others.
While she was the recipient of the DJ Mag Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Award last year, she is also known for her monthly radio shows with Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, Reform Radio and a Global Residency show, and is a regular DJ guest and presenter stand in for various shows on BBC 6 Music.
Maxine Peake
The Bolton-born actress is, without doubt, one of our finest Thespian talents, and took the first steps of her career at the town's Octagon Youth theatre aged just 13, before a period at the youth theatre of Manchester's Royal Exchange.
Her first big break came when she landed the role of 'Twinkle' in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, before going on to star in Channel 4's Shameless, followed by roles in BBC legal drama Silk and The Village, and later in Black Mirror and Peterloo. As an associate artist for Royal Exchange she has also appeared in a number of memorable productions including Hamlet in 2014, A Streetcar Named Desire in 2016 and most recently as late House of Commons Speaker, Betty Boothroyd, in Betty! A Sort of Musical.
In recent years, she has also leant her voice to a number of local campaigns, from speaking at the Peterloo Memorial march to fighting for Oldham Coliseum, following the announcement of its closure due to a cut in Arts Council England (ACE) funding earlier this year.
Aimie and Kiera Lawlor-Skillen
Feel Good Club, which started as an Instagram account dedicated to mental health, now has a home in the city centre too thanks to its founders Aimie and Kiera Lawlor-Skillen.
The couple opened the café, a 2,800 sq ft space in the newly-restored Hilton House in 2020, and have created a welcoming community hub, which encourages normalising conversations around mental health, whilst also being a safe space for people of all identities to come together.
From covering the streets with uplifting messages and mantras, to hosting events that celebrate minority voices, Kiera and Aimie have become beacons of positivity in the city. They're also the authors of 'A Guide to Feeling Good and Being Okay with it When You’re Not' - a toolkit to helping readers navigate their way through life’s positive and challenging situations.
Keisha Thompson
Last year, writer, performance artist and producer Keisha Thompson, was appointed artistic director and CEO of Manchester's Contact theatre. She is first Black woman, first Mancunian and at 32, the youngest to run Contact.
She first performed as an artist at Contact aged 15, and was supported through the theatre's engagement programme as a young poet, writer and performance artist. In 2015, she became part of the core staff team after being nudged by a fellow staff member to see herself as a producer.
Starting her new role as Contact celebrated its 50th year, Keisha saw this as a pivotal moment to elevate the work and projects happening at the theatre, which she describes as a ‘castle of curiosity’ and ‘place of opportunity’ for young Mancunians. Speaking last year, she said: "I want it to feel like a hub, where people can come here, watch shows and do whatever. I want them to walk into the building that’s a weird shape and just go for it."
Esme Ward
Esme Ward is the Director of Manchester Museum, the first women to hold the role in its history. Before this, she was the Head of Learning Engagement at the museum and the Whitworth, working alongside Maria Balshaw, who she with on the £15m transformation of the Whitworth.
Her career has been driven by a commitment to make museums more relevant to a wider audience as evidenced by her goal of making Manchester Museum "more inclusive, more imaginative, and a more caring space”. In recent years, she has overseen the £15m transformation of Manchester Museum, which saw more than 50,000 visitors through its doors during its reopening week in February 2023, with queues of people outside the museum going viral on social media.
A completely new wing and two-floor extension has been built, along with its new permanent South Asia gallery - dedicated to the experiences of South Asian diaspora communities - and the Chinese Culture gallery. Speaking at the opening, Esme said: "it’s clear just how much the museum means – and we hope will come to mean – to so many people."
Mary-Ellen McTague
Mary-Ellen McTague is an award-winning, Manchester-based chef who began her career in the kitchen of Manchester Roadhouse. She later became the first female chef at Michelin-starred hotel Sharrow Bay, before working as sous chef at The Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal.
In 2009 she opened her own fine-dining restaurant, Aumbry in Prestwich, which despite having only 28 covers, put the town on the culinary map and won huge regional and national acclaim during its five years including twice winning the title of Restaurant of the Year at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards. Following this, she was involved in a series of city centre ventures including 4244 in the Northern Quarter and Real Junkyard Project, before opening The Creameries in Chorlton.
In more recent years, she as used her hospitality experience for good lunching Eat Well MCR, a collective of chefs, restaurants and hospitality businesses that work together to provide meals for people sidelind by poverty in Greater Manchester. The initiative has provided over 50,000 meals for Greater Manchester residents facing hardship since March 2020. This year, Mary-Ellen will be cultivating a zero-waste ecosystem within the kitchen of the Ground-Floor Restaurant at soon-to-launch hotel Treehouse Manchester.
Read more of today's top stories here.
READ NEXT:
