This week, our Women's Officer Alys Cooke, Warwick Anti-Sexism Society, Warwick Women's Forum and countless other individuals, have come together to organise some incredible talks, debates and events as part of International Women's Week.

Events have included: a presentation on female genital mutilation, a talk on the No More Page 3 Campaign, Women's Self Defence, Women's Career Advice, talks on systemic gender imbalance in the workplace, and The Vagina Monologues, as well as much more.

There are loads of events still happening today and tomorrow - which you can check out full details here.

I would personally like to give a huge plug to Warwick Anti-Sexism Society's final performance of the aforementioned Vagina Monologues. There are still tickets available to see their Saturday performance in Leamington. It is a very good night - very funny and highly informative - a must watch! You can get tickets here.

So - today is actually International Women's Day itself - and there are so many reasons why it is important - but here are five particularly which I really feel we should remember. Sometimes we can forget just how much an imbalance really does exist:

1) 1 in 3 women (that’s over 1 billion worldwide) will at some point be the victim of violence

2) Women are underrepresented in politics - with just 20% of parliamentary seats worldwide - despite being 52% of the world population.

3) Women are disproportionately affected by conflict - over 80% of refugees are women and children. Further, women are often raped as part of the warfare - meaning constant fear and degradation looms for women, on top of the already existent conflict.

4) Women are more likely to suffer from poverty and lack of education - they are less likely to have opportunity for education in the poorest areas - meaning that 2/3 of illiterate adults are women

5) Even in modern developed economies - women are paid less than men for doing the same jobs.
 

You can check out the official website here for more details and resources, but as I said above, please do support the final couple of days events here at Warwick
 

Finally, I would also like to take the chance to commend CMD (Classical Modern Dance) for all their work with 'Pink Week' this week. They have been out in the Piazza and Leamington all week collecting money, in addition to running dance classes and nights - all to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, which affects nearly 50,000 women (and some men too). CMD have already raised over £1500 and are in the Piazza once again today - so please do go down and support them, you can donate here.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read, it has been an amazing week, with so many women giving up time and effort to making a difference - a huge well done to everyone.

Ben :)