Today is International Women’s Day!
On the 8th March 2025 it’s International Women’s Day (IWD) – an annual event that for over 100 years has celebrated women and called for collective action for gender equality; raising awareness and tackling the issues that continue to face women. This year’s campaign theme is Accelerate Action, which focuses on increased momentum and urgency in addressing barriers and biases that women face, in order to speed up progress toward gender parity worldwide. 1
Our IWD resource
In recognition of IWD, NetSupport (developer of classroom.cloud) wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the incredible impact women are making in education in so many ways. There are so many women in the industry who are doing incredible work and we wanted to shine a spotlight on this.
With that in mind, we have put together a resource celebrating 12 women with different specialist areas. It’s important to note that this is just a tiny fraction of the many incredible women out there making an impact and a small selection of specialisms within education too. Think of this resource as a ‘starter for ten’ if you will.
Women featured:
Emma Darcy – Director of Technology for Learning at Denbigh High School
Specialism: Sustainability
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-darcy-9b770828/
Melissa McBride- CEO at Sophia School
Specialism: Accessibility
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-mcbride-ceo-sophia/
Confidence Osein – Founder at Internet Safe Kids Africa
Specialism: Safeguarding
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/confidence-osein-272a3b21/
Amanda Bickerstaff- CEO AI for Education
Specialism: Ai in Education
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-bickerstaff-edu/
Rowenna Fielding – Founder at Miss I G Geek
Specialism: Cyber Security
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/missiggeek/
Nathalie Richards – CEO at SEO London
Specialism: DEI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalierichards/
Becky Keene – Director of Operations at i2e
Specialism: STEM and Computing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckykeene/
Dr Sabba Quidwai – CEO at Designing School
Specialism: Innovation
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabba-quidwai/
Angela Duckworth – Professor at UPenn
Specialism: Wellbeing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeladuckworth/
Dame Alison Peacock – Chief Executive at Chartered College of Teaching
Specialism: Teaching and Learning
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dame-alison-peacock-dl-dlitt-7b996b24/
Sarah Finnemore – Co-Founder & Director at Finnemore Consulting
Specialism: EdTech
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfinnemore/
Leisa Grace Wilsson – Editorial Director at Teach Middle East Magazine
Specialism: Leadership
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leisagrace/
Please join us in celebrating the achievements of these phenomenal women and do let us know who you would add! We’d also encourage you to connect with the women featured for inspiration and their expertise.
Also, if you would like some ideas for how to support IWD in schools, check out our suggestions in R.I.S.E. Magazine.
References