International Women's Day

There was a wave of activity this International Women’s Day, so in case you missed it here’s how our titles covered the big day. 

Virgin Radio

Sugababes legend Mutya Buena spoke about the support system that has helped her since starting in the showbiz industry from the age of 12. 

She pulled together her IWD Playlist exclusively for Virgin and shared a few incredible stories along the way.

talkSPORT

The world’s biggest sports station had a raft of content around International Women’s Day. Early Sports Breakfast host Shebahn Aherne led the day as she brought stories throughout sport.

She wrote a column for our website as only 3 of 240 statues are of female athletes - while England's Chloe Kelly spoke to Shebahn around the unveiling of her mural. 

And later on White and Jordan’s show, Shebahn spoke to Lynsey Lockey on how the landscape is looking for women in boxing. Lynsey is the first Asian women's boxing promoter. She is the CEO of women in boxing which is endorsed by some of the most famous faces in the sport.

Lynsey told how things are on the up for women in the ring, but elsewhere change is needed for more women to have a career in boxing.

On talkSPORT Breakfast Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour were joined by Arsenal and England legend Kelly Smith and Rugby World Cup winner Rocky Clarke.

Hawksbee and Jacobs heard interviews with Olympian Helen Glover on how she juggles being a mum and athlete. Later England and Arsenal forward Beth Mead talked on knockbacks in her career. You can see the full interview here.

talkSPORT’s Drive show had boxer Natasha Jonas as a live guest on the show as well as 

UFC fighter Molly McCann. While during the day talkSPORT also spoke to Jessica Hawkins of Aston Martin - the last female driver to test an F1 car. She notably tested their 2022 F1 car last year with some big praise from former champion Nico Rosberg.

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The Sun

An audience of schoolgirls watched on as five Sun guests, including former England and Arsenal football ace Lianne Sanderson, discussed their experiences in women's sport at our event. 

Swimmer Ellie Simmonds was just 13 when she competed in the 2008 Paralympics, the youngest member of the Great Britain team, and incredibly won two gold medals. She told the audience: “Be confident, do you.”

Lianne was also joined by England netball star Dr Layla Guscoth, Diamond from TV's Gladiators, aka Livi Sheldon, and chief executive of Women in Sport, Steph Hilborne. Steph said: "As a girl, netball was my sport. You couldn't see it on telly. I wept last year when my daughter watched it on TV."

The panel demonstrated how attitudes towards female sports are changing - but said there is still more to be done.

Livi, 29, explained that she was teased as a child for being tall, but that it pushed her into bodybuilding.

"It made me want to be strong and powerful," she said. The 6ft Gladiator admitted she can still get intimidated at the gym, which sometimes seems like a man's domain - particularly the weights zone.

Layla, 32, a qualified doctor, plays goal defence for England and said she has faced racism in both careers. As a medic, she has been asked "where is she really from?"

Check out some of the panel highlights here:

Meanwhile Sun Editor Vic Newton hosted a Women’s Aid panel with Melanie Brown MBE, Farah Nazeer and Amanda Cupples asking politicians and business leaders that it's their responsibility to ensure women are protected.

Spice Girl Mel implored Rishi Sunak to ramp up funding for domestic abuse services before more women die. Read more here. 

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TalkTV

TalkTV with JJ Anisiobi and Sarah Hewson discussed the Parent Pay Gap which means mothers earn £4.44 less than fathers due to extra work associated with childcare, a gap which is widening. 

This was discussed throughout the show’s paper review. There was further discussion on IWD with Esther Krakue who felt the day had been hijacked by people with privilege. 

Meanwhile on Vannesa Feltz’s show there was a discussion on the importance of International Women’s Day with Rebecca Hutson, Editor of The News Movement.

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Times Radio

On Cathy Newman’s IWD show there were conversations with Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh discussing her work with the International Rescue Committee on refugees and Nazrin Chaudhry, Oscar-nominated Director who talked about her film Red, White and Blue.

The Moneytalks podcast featured women investing while the day before IWD Jane and Fi chatted to the CEO of MumsNet Justine Roberts about the Spring Budget and why members are backing Labour at the election.

Ed Vaizey’s International Women’s Day show saw an all-female guestlist. The three-hour show began with Caroline Dineage, Conservative MP for Gosport, reflecting on Theresa May announcing she won’t contest the election when it comes.

Other highlights included a package from backstage at the Fortune Theatre with cast and co creators of Operation Mincemeat about Hester Leggett - the forgotten heroine of the show who ran the MI5 back office and has just been given a plaque at the theatre.

Christina Athenayou, Times Archivist, told us about Martina Navratilova’s milestone from 38 years ago today and in Business Crunch Ed spoke with entrepreneur Emma Sinclair MBE, about the Angel Network which aims to encourage more investment in female-led businesses. 

CEO of the week was Pamela Harper, of Halcyon Days, while there was a chat with Titi Oliyide, a senior process safety engineer at Supercritical Solutions and a former young woman engineer of the year. 

The Culture Crunch feature saw conversations with  Mina Fry, from the Writer’s Prize,  Jane Desborough, curator of Zimingzhong Chinese Clocks at the Science Museum and Maryiam Zulfiqar, from Art Angel on her new project The Hobby Cave. 

Book of the week saw Caroline Biggs choose The Spinning House - about the unique laws at Cambridge University the 19th Century which meant women could be locked up for being unchaperoned.

Lastly we heard from explorer Lucy Shepherd, recorded at the Braemar Summit, journalist Jane Chambers in Santiago, Chile and finished on a celebration about unsung musical heroines. 

The Times

Columnist Helen Rumbelow wrote on whether IWD’s purpose had been hijacked by big corporations and looked at their records around female empowerment the rest of the year. 

Internal

Our Women in News event, hosted on Level 17 of TNB, included a panel discussion with Lianne Sanderson (talkSPORT), Liz Perkins (Commercial Director, Regions, Scotland and Ireland, Chair of Parents and Carers Network), Kirsteen King (SVP, Tech Business Operations and Programmes, and on Women in Tech Steer Co) and Krissi Murison (Deputy Editor, Sunday Times). The session was hosted by our Chief People Officer, Sarah Gallo. The talented panel discussed the representation of women in sports broadcasting, the importance of inclusivity in tech, the impact of female representation in journalism and much more.  

News UK, Sky and the BBC came together again to host their annual MediaTechWomen panel event, celebrating the theme #InspireInclusivity. Following on from last year’s success, the event was tailored to women and allies who work in this unique space where tech meets big media, representing all the main tech disciplines and levels of seniority, including Business Analysis, Product Management, Software Engineering, Data and Cyber Security. Watch a recording of the event here.