Jess Mills

Singer/Songerwriter/Lifelong Londoner

Before I became a full-time singer and songwriter, I worked for a women's charity in Camden Town called 'Women + Health' as a Holistic Massage Therapist. Unforgivably, the UK government has recently cut funding for these projects which means that these outreach projects are no longer available.

Wendy Wason

Writer, comedian and world class procrastinator

The new baby is now six months and I have a confession to make. I find it a little boring. I love him and he's cute and I am happy to get up at 3am and rub Bonjela on his gums but my life is on hold at the moment.

Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Freelance journalist, DPhil candidate in Middle Eastern studies at Oxford and writer

On the 101st International Women's Day - like many women, I'm faced with a mixed bag of emotions. I want to celebrate our achievements, our gains, our pioneers - but I've also just returned from a trip to Bangladesh which was a timely reminder of why we ought to be marking, rather than celebrating, international women's day.

Baroness Mary Goudie

Global advocate for the rights of women and children

International Women's Day is an important celebration of the great strides women around the world are making to ensure they are recognised and working towards equality.

Amisha Ghadiali

Ethical Fashion Campaigner, Social Entrepreneur, Designer

Welcome to the 101st International Women's Day, it's strange that we still need a day just for women, but you don't have to look far to find out why.

Ashley Fryer

Writer, editor of Peach Trees and Bumblebees and founder of AWOT.

No one IRL sends me pictures of ferrets in tuxedos, no one else writes the thought-provoking posts that stay with you all day, no one else can champion the hashtag #cheesecoma with such joyful abandon. So this International Women's Day, I raise a gin and tonic to the wonderful women of Twitter. It is OUR day.

Pippa Gardner

Girlguiding UK member and Masters student at the University of East Anglia

For gender equality to become a reality there needs to be respect for diversity - we need to acknowledge everybody as individuals with equal rights, and abandon stereotypes of what it means to be a 'real man' or 'real woman'.

Rachael Barber

Director, Global Community Investment, Barclays

We have a lot to learn from the women in Ghana about the importance of saving and the difference it can make between living on the edge and being able to improve ones circumstances.

Nik Done

Co-Founder of Unity

Yes I am a 'businesswoman', and I care passionately about what we do and the difference we make; not only to brands and businesses, but - through our cause-related work - to people and causes who are often overlooked.

Tony Blair

Former Prime Minister of Britain

The women who have inspired me most recently are the Catholic Sisters who are dealing with sexual trafficking. They work together, across continents, in networks, and most often at the grassroots, where it is demanding and sometimes dangerous.

Sophie Turner Laing

Managing Director, Entertainment and News, Sky

The schoolgirls I am speaking to today will enjoy greater opportunities than those ten, 20 or 30 years ago, and my advice to them today will be to go out and grab those opportunities with both hands.

David Cameron

Prime Minister of Great Britain

Violence against women is an iceberg under the surface of society. Every day millions around the world live in fear.

Karen Gill

Co-founder of everywoman, the UK's largest membership organisation for women in business

What is clear is that, for now, women must strike a balance, choosing when to play the rules or make up their own. But what will affect change in the long term is fostering and bolstering the female talent pipeline so that at every level within business we can get a more even distribution of the sexes.

Julie Tomlin

Journalist

Amid all the complaining and bragging about who was ranked higher than who when it was published last week, some women on Twitter pointed out that "only one woman made it into the top 20 at all."

Gloria Moss

Reader in management and marketing at Buckinghamshire New University

Statistics show roughly equal proportions of men and women in the sector below Professor level (47% women and 53% men) but at Professor level, for every eight male professors, just two are female. On International Women's day, it is fitting to consider the waste of female talent and the impact on the system.

Cherie Blair

Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women

As well as recognising the achievements of women, let's use International Women's Day to encourage more men across the world to join the fight for true equality. After all, the result if we succeed is not just a better world for women but a better world for everyone.