Alfie Joey on the North East women who inspire him

This time last year, I was delighted when someone I really admired, Kylie Dixon, from Seaham, was named in the King’s Birthday Honours list for supporting women-led businesses through The Northern Lass Lounge.

This is a brilliant online community Kylie founded in 2020 and developed into a huge lifeline for so many during Covid.

As their YouTube page states, they are a ‘a canny community of business lasses working together to support other women in the North East of England to start or grow their businesses using social media through training, support and community.’

Look them up, they are super impressive! I’m not a huge fan of honours except when it is for people like Kylie who make a significant difference to other people’s lives, and do it in a very humble, down-to-earth way.

I know plenty of women from The Northern Lass Lounge who have been given great support and, in some cases, escaped unhappy jobs where they felt stuck.

Why do I mention Kylie and her great gang today? Well, January 10 is a date of real significance. On this day in 1918, war was still battering parts of a muddied and bloodied Europe.

But closer to home, there was a significant victory. As a bitter winter wind swept through London, the House of Lords cast a historic vote that echoed way beyond its lofty chamber.

The Representation of the People Bill finally granted millions of (but not all) women over 30 the right to vote. The victory was a thunderous acknowledgement that women’s voices, long dismissed, must at last be heard in the nation’s democracy.

Lords and peers, (largely posh old blokes as there wouldn’t be a female in the House of Lords until the late 50s) – long accustomed to the opinions of an exclusively male electorate – could not ignore how women had been indispensable to the war effort, running munitions factories, driving ambulances, nursing the wounded, and keeping the essential cogs of the nation moving while millions of men fought overseas.

And remember, this was just a few years after Emily Wilding Davison, one of the most fearless campaigners for women’s suffrage, died after being struck by the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby.

She is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Morpeth, where her grave has the famous slogan: “Deeds Not Words.”

This date also has me thinking of the strong women in my life . How much they do. How much they overcome.

I am not exaggerating when I say they are the pillars of our family, the true legends. My mam, 79, going strong, still working, keeping busy, helping others endlessly.

My sister, the rock of the family, the one we visit, the one who is most generous, feeds everyone, hosts everyone, another selfless, tireless grafter.

My niece, runs her own business, co-founded her own award winning charity (The North East Nipple Project) while being an awesome mam.

My wife sets standards I always fail to live up to but has certainly made me a better person (slightly) and my daughter, in the same mould, positive, energetic, inspirational and a brave communicator. And I bet you are able to make a similar list from your families and friends.

A lot has changed in the last 100 years, but a lot hasn’t. Despite the result on January 10, 1918, despite Emily Davidson’s sacrificial campaigning, despite the odd glass ceiling being smashed, despite advances in making women’s sport more visible (Howay the Lionesses!!), there is still a long way to go.

Women still carry the majority of unpaid domestic work and care responsibilities. Pregnancy and maternity discrimination – though illegal – remains widespread. Women still earn less on average than men, especially after age 30… and on that list goes.

One way to make change happen is to change perspective, and the people I have mentioned have certainly opened my eyes to change and progress.

And the transformative changes made to people’s lives by the likes of Kylie Dixon MBE, I find particularly inspiring! As Kylie said, “the MBE doesn’t belong to me alone. It belongs to every woman who’s ever walked into the Lounge feeling unsure and left feeling more capable.”

Here’s to the change makers and to those open to change.

FACTS & FOOTNOTES

• Women make up only about a third of MPs and far fewer council leaders.

• Women are still under-represented in top roles: FTSE-100 companies still have far fewer female CEOs.

• The statue of Emily Wilding Davison by Ray Lonsdale was unveiled in Carlisle Park, Morpeth on September 11, 2018.