International Womens Day is a vital date in the diary and something that provides an important opportunity for a range of organisations. On Friday the Womens World Day of Prayer helped to prepare those who are minded to do so for todays celebration. In effect this is more than a day and gives us a short weekend to focus on the role of Women in our male dominated society. Today in Brighton there is a great opportunity to join in the celebrations at the Dome as part of the focus by Brightons Womens Centre on raising £40,000 in their 40th year. The morning is open only to women but this afternoon the event is opened up to all. There are some fantastic organisations in Sussex that help to provide opportunities for women to express their voice. Along with BWC there is a fantastic business network known as Mumpreneurs, or the Mumpreneur Networking Club run by two great people, Sara Guill and Claire Bradford. Despite the name, Mumpreneurs is not exclusively female and whilst it is for people involved in business it is not limited to Mums. Having been to a number of business networks, I love how the members look for ways of working together and are so supportive of one another. I would certainly recommend MNC for anyone looking for a business networking group in the South East.

In a year when it appears possible that the Church of England has finally found a way of resolving its internal challenges, it would be great if by the next WWDP we knew the name of the first female Church of England Bishop. The next year will see a change in the men and women elected to serve us all in the European Parliament. At present we have 23 female MEPs out of 73 across the UK. Whatever the outcome of the Scottish Referendum, it would be fantastic if by this time next year we could have more than 32% of female MEPs. The outcome of the referendum is of course all to play for. However last night whilst on Street Pastor duty in Brighton we met a couple of Glaswegians down South for a Hen weekend. Sadly (from my point of view) they were very clear that they feel they should vote to separate from their English neigbours, as much because they believe we only want the Union to retain the Oil revenues as for any other reason they were prepared to articulate.