Moreton Hall celebrated International Women’s Day with pupils from across the school gathering to explore the journey women have been on in pursuit of equal rights, the achievements so far, and the work still to be done.

Hosted by Moreton Hall’s Bronwen enrichment society and M-PWR (promoting women’s rights) group, Remove, Lower Four, Upper Four, Lower Five and Lower Sixth pupils were organised into cross-year group tables, each named after an inspiring woman. 

Opening the event, Mrs Lang, Ms Conde and Mrs Ashworth welcomed our guests, local business woman, Alison Parr, communications specialist Flavia Paterson (OM), and journalist Jessica Hatcher-Moore (OM), and together they reflected on the most significant changes they have seen in women’s rights and the work that still needs to happen. Mrs Ashworth highlighted the progress women have made in accessing higher education where they are now 57% of the student population but she also demonstrated how women still predominantly focus on careers paths linked to people skills, with men still dominating in science and technology. Referring to her own time as a reporter with the British Forces, Mrs Lang took the pupils through the timeline of women’s acceptance into the Military, pointing out that every pupil in the room was already born before the decision was made in 2016 to open all military roles to women. Flavia Paterson’s focus was the importance of ‘knowing your worth’ and in highlighting the continuing gender pay gap, she encouraged the girls gathered to have the confidence to make their case for parity of pay in their future workplaces. Linked to this, Alison Parr talked about the lack of women in the top executive roles and the challenge for women accessing top jobs as well as having a family. In talking about her own experience, she reminded the audience about the success many women have in leading their own business as she and her husband have done at Stonehouse Brewery. Ms Conde shared some of her own experiences as a young woman which were the foundations of establishing M-PWR, encouraging our pupils to have ownership of their rights. 

As our keynote speaker, Jessica Hatcher-Moore, gave a fascinating and insightful talk on her own journey from Moreton girl to an award winning journalist based in Kenya, and now as a freelance writer and podcaster juggling her professional and family commitments. She reminisced about how Moreton Hall had encouraged her to think anything was possible and as well as talking about her successful career, she also spoke frankly about the reality of combining life as a professional woman and a mother of two little boys. 

In the second half of the morning, pupils were set a task in their groups to identify a key issue which they felt was a priority in promoting women’s rights and to create a project to showcase this to the visitors. This is just the kind of challenge our creative and talented pupils relish, choosing an eclectic range of issues to focus on including abortion rights, the importance of female education, the right to feel safe walking home at night, women’s sport and the lack of women in construction. Projects included mini-dramas, posters, a film, a paper sculpture of a demonstration and even a re-working of a song from the Barbie movie. Reflecting on their work, Alison Parr said: “the engagement from the pupils was incredible. I am in awe of how much output the teams achieved, in a very short space of time, for their chosen presentations. The passion and knowledge the girls displayed across such a broad range of topics is extremely encouraging for the future progression of equality for women! “

Hattie (Lower 6) revelling in the morning’s activities said: ”The International Women’s Day event was nothing short of exceptional. It felt amazing to have the school together, supporting women’s rights, and discussing what we can do to make the world a better place for women. I especially enjoyed presenting our projects in inter year groups, expressing what we find the most frustrating about the gender gap. The speakers were so interesting, and gave us superb advice on life in the workplace as women.”  Amy (Lower 6) added:” I truly felt like Moreton celebrated International Women’s Day and inspired inclusion across the whole school. The guest speakers were amazing. The advice they provided such as prioritising yourself and your ambitions and holding yourself with confidence in the workforce and life are things I will take with me as I continue on my academic and eventually career journey” and Anna (Lower 6) added : “Women are still paid 14% less than men in any work industry. This gap is still very real. We’ve learnt to not be afraid to negotiate equal pay for our future jobs.” While for Rovian, (Lower 6) the takeaway from the morning was: “: You have a voice so feel empowered to use it because without knowing it you are standing up for all the other women. 

Remembering her own time at Moreton, Jessica commented: “I love that we are talking about so much more now than we ever did when I was a teenager. And I’m genuinely excited to see what this next generation of women will achieve – especially having seen how creative and confident the Moreton girls are today. As women we exist on a continuum and for me it was really moving to see the change that has taken place since I was at school. The M-PWR programme is clearly having a huge impact and I really enjoyed being a part of the conversation and – listening to the girls’ presentations, which were all outstanding.”  Ms Conde agreed: “The pride I felt during this event was overwhelming. To see a group of young people working together to discuss matters impacting women’s rights along with incredible guest speakers was fantastic, but actually having the opportunity to do this within the school – supported both by the well-established Bronwen and our newly formed M-PWR group – is nothing short of extraordinary. I look forward to seeing this successful event continue for years to come.”

Mrs Lang