These are the most inspiring women from around the UK, as voted for by Britain
One hundred years ago, British women were given a voice. For the first time, many mothers, daughters and sisters could have a say in how their country was run.
Back then, suffragettes up and down the country would stop at almost nothing to get their voices heard in parliament. The struggle to win the vote was long and arduous, but in 1918 these brave women won.
Since then, women around the world have channelled the suffragette spirit to campaign for progress. They have stood up to racism, sexism, homophobia, corruption and much more. But you don't need to travel thousands of miles to meet women fighting for justice and equality. In fact, there's probably a female human rights defender living on your doorstep.
Amnesty trawled the country to find ordinary women from all walks of life - from students to shopkeepers, office workers to OAPs - who are doing extraordinary things.
Every time these women have spoken up, they've helped make life better for others - to ensure that you and I, as well future generations, enjoy a fairer, more equal world. Here are some of our favourites...
Tanya Compas
Tanya delivers weekly sessions to various groups of young women and girls from marginalised backgrounds. These empower and support women, helping them realise that they are not defined by other people's perceptions of them or the labels that services, institutions or the school system may give them. Tanya says: "We live in a society that is constantly trying to define who we are, who we should be and who we can be, which leads young people to believe that they are powerless. This is where I come in. I believe representation is incredibly important. I am an unapologetic, queer, mixed race woman. I'm 26 years old, but it took me up until the age of 24 to find out that my identity, my existence and my experiences were not only valid, but they mattered, I mattered. I create safe spaces for young people to discuss their identity, to talk about their experiences, to laugh, to build community, to celebrate their differences and most importantly, to just be themselves. I love my work because every day, I get to tell a young person, that they matter."
Kalbir Bains
Kalbir Bains, 37, is an emerging voice in the BME community regarding issues of abortion, dowry abuse and violence against women. Her book Not our daughter: The story of a daughter-in-law is an autobiographical journey through the trials she faced in an arranged marriage. She has become a role model within the in the South Asian community, encouraging others to speak up about taboo subjects which affect both men and women.
Kalbir works with a number of organisations to raise awareness of the issues covered in her book, but her focus is with 'The Sharan Project', which helps women from the South Asian community who are forced to leave their home because of domestic violence, rape and cultural conflict. She visits schools, colleges and universities to educate young people about the problems she has faced - and to encourage them not to suffer in silence.
Anna Whitehouse
A journalist, editor, mother and founder of Mother Pukka, an online community designed 'for people who people happen to be parents', Anna, 35, has been running Flex Appeal - a campaign to push for businesses to sign the government's Working Forward pledge to end maternity discrimination - for two years. From flashmobbing Trafalgar Square with 1,500 supporters to going into businesses and tackling the issue head-on, Anna campaigns for flexible working rights for one and all in the hope that the current figure of 54,000 pregnant women being made redundant every year is reduced.
Eleni Antoniadou
Eleni Antoniadou, 30, is a scientist in Regenerative Medicine, an advocate for organ donation and an activist against illegal organ trafficking. Her work includes volunteering missions in Latin America, public awareness campaigns and health policy recommendations to assist the rehabilitation of victims as well as promoting the donor organ registries. As a scientist, Eleni focuses on the development of stem cell therapies that could one day create new treatments for patients that cannot receive donor transplants. Her motivation stems from her volunteering missions in Latin America where the trade in human organs-mostly kidneys-has been the subject of growing concern for the international transplant community in recent years. Antoniadou has studied the harmful consequences of organ trafficking and has called for the curbing of commercially-driven transplantations and encouraging altruistic organ donations.
Gabby Edlin
Gabby Edlin, 31, is an activist campaigning for an end to period poverty. She started Bloody Good Period back in 2016 when she was volunteering at the New London Synagogue asylum-seekers' drop-in centre, and discovered that sanitary towels were only provided for 'in emergencies'. A whip around for donations of towels or tampons on Facebook turned into a full-blown operation to collect and distribute toiletries and period supplies for asylum seekers all around the UK. Bloody Good Period now has a squad of 60 volunteers who provide more than 2000 sanitary products a month to women living in 'period poverty' across the UK. Gabby has a Masters in Applied Imagination from Central St Martins.
