Saturday 8th March is International Women's Day - a time not only to celebrate and support girls and women everywhere, but also to tackle gender inequality and systemic barriers to equitable opportunities.

I am a proud mum to an autistic daughter who spent years with unrecognised and unsupported needs. Neurodivergent women and girls are far more likely to go undiagnosed and unsupported due to inherent biases towards males in research and diagnostic tools. This can have profound and lifelong effects on individuals.

Are you ready to step up for girls rights? Would you like to join Health Sciences Athena Swan Implementation Team (ASIT) in a challenge event that will raise critical funds for girls everywhere and the women they will one day become?

To celebrate International Women's Day 2025, I am walking/jumping/running/jogging 10,000 steps a day for two weeks. As a part of a team at work I'm raising critical funds to help tackle gender inequality.

The Athena Swan Implementation Team will be stepping out for their first walk on Wednesday 26th February and their final walk on Tuesday 11th March.

Team up with your colleagues, arrange meetings that you can join while you walk, either in person or dialling in on your phone. This challenge event will encourage us all to take time away from our desks/students to take care of ourselves and improve our wellbeing, while raising funds for a community determined to support girls and tackle gender inequality.

Whether you walk alone or with others, you may choose to consider how gender inequality could be challenged, or simply to think about the inspirational women (and girls) in your life.

By donating to Plan International UK, you will be helping to create a just and equal world for girls - including here in the UK. You'll stand with brave girls everywhere as they take on the issues that matter to them, from street harassment to child marriage and access to education.

Just look at what a difference your donations can make:

£9 is enough to send a girl to school in Nicaragua for a month.

£12 could provide a dignity kit to a girl in Mozambique so they can manage their periods the way they choose. The kit contains items such as reusable period pads, pairs of underwear, soaps for washing clothes and bathing, a bag, and nail clippers.

£55 is enough to support a Positive Parents group in Tanzania for a year, building up parents as allies against FGM and child marriage.

Please email Vickie Williams (v.williams@surrey.ac.uk) who is co-ordinating the ASIT team and would love to welcome anyone else in the University of Surrey who would like to join.

Thanks for your support.