International Women’s Day 2023: Eight of the most inspiring Yorkshire women from past to present and what they’ve done to break gender stereotypes
From the first British person in space to Yorkshire’s first female MP - here are the region’s most inspiring women and what they’ve done to break the bias ahead of International Women’s Day.
Whether they are women like Labour Party politician, Alice Bacon, who became the first female MP in Yorkshire, or young ballerina, Tala Lee-Turton, who made history as the third British female to graduate from Bolshoi Ballet Academy, there are plenty of women who have made Yorkshire proud.
For International Women’s Day, we have compiled a list of the most inspiring women either from Yorkshire or with links to Yorkshire.
5. Barbara Hepworth
She used to study at Wakefield Girls’ High School and was one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. Barbara is the inspiration behind Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. She was awarded a West Riding travel scholarship following her degree in 1924, when she visited Italy and grew a passion for carving from a master-carver in Rome, where she met her husband and fellow artist, John Skeaping. Photo: Fox Photos / Getty Images
Jane Tomlinson was born in Wakefield and was the sixth of ten children. When she was 11 years old, her family emigrated to Australia but returned after three years. She planned to study maths at the University of Leeds, however, just before she started, she found a lump in her breast and had a lumpectomy. She decided to enrol at Leeds General Infirmary to train as a radiographer. After graduating in 1993, Jane studied paediatric radiography at PhD level and three years after her lumpectomy surgery, the cancer returned and she had a mastectomy, two rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In the year 2000 she was told that the cancer had spread and she was given a 12-month prognosis. Jane became famous for completing a series of challenging tasks including marathons and a 4,200-mile cycle ride across the width of the US, even though she had terminal cancer at the time. As a result, she raised £1.85 million for charities dedicated to helping children and those fighting cancer, before she passed away in 2007. Photo: Graeme Robertson / Getty Images
Alice Bacon delivered her first political speech at the young age of 16, when she joined the Labour Party. In 1935, she became Labour’s League of Youth delegate at the Socialist Youth International Conference. She was active in the National Union of Teachers and became president of its West Yorkshire division in 1944. A miner’s daughter, Alice became Yorkshire’s first female MP in 1945 and her experiences as a teacher helped her on her mission to transform education in Britain. She represented Leeds North East and was transferred to Leeds South East constituency in the 1955 general election, where she remained until her retirement in 1970. She was a strong believer that education could dramatically improve lives in working-class communities. Photo: Evening Standard / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Janet was born in Hatfield, South Yorkshire, where her father was an engineer as well as a chorister. She is one of Britain’s leading opera singers closely linked with early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. Her performances were admired for their dramatic intensity. She trained with Meriel St. Clair and Helene Isepp. Janet came second place in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition at the Wigmore Hall, which won her national attention. Janet made her stage debut as Miss Roza in Smetana’s The Secret at Oxford University’s Opera Club in 1956. 10 years later, she performed as Hermia in Benjamin Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Photo: Erich Auerbach / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
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