International Woman's day

International Woman's day is a significant and focal celebratory day that encourages and promotes the movement for women's rights. It is an international day, therefore, everyone around the world can get involved. It aims to erase discrimination and misogyny against women, helping gain equal partipication in global development, such as work pay. It brings attention to policymakers for gender equality and gender parity.

The first International Women's day took place on the 19th March in 1911, as it commemorated the day the Prussian King introduced votes for women in 1848, a huge success for countries such as Germany and Switzerland. Founded by women, the date was then moved to the 8th March in 1913 as it convened with the first conference on women in Mexico City in 1913.

The International Women's Day logo is famously purple and white, and features the symbol of Venus. The ancient Italian goddess, Venus, is associated with love and femininity. Hence the book, Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus, written by John Gray.

Here at Madia & Matilda we will be raising a glass for inspirational women across the globe, spread love to your neighbours, family, friends this March. Recognise the fight that women have bravely been choosing for so many years, giving us the right to vote, for equality, for the opportunity that we once did not have. We stand together as the incredible women we all are!

Images from: https://pixabay.com/images/search/venus/

Sincerely Madia & Matilda 

Celebrate Womanhood - International Women's Day

In celebration for international womens day we've hand picked 

a selection of books and partnered with an inspirational charity The Back up Trust, find out more below

Emma Britch of @Sittingdowninstyle - Panda Skirt

International Women’s Day is for diversity, inclusivity, we've been celebrating the achievements of women worldwide since 2013. 

This year we are working with the The Back Up Trust; who not only supports women, diversity and inclusivity and also equality. A truly inspiring charity, worth knowing, making a difference.

Books to love

• Enough - Angela Cox
• Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez. 
• My Wild and Sleepless Nights - By Clover Stroud. 
• Women Artist and the Surrealist  Movement -  Whitney Chadwick
• Difficult Women - Helen Lewis. 
• Our House is on Fire - Malena and Beata Ernman, Svante and Greta Thunberg. 
• Taking up Space - Chelsea Kwakye, Ore Ogunbiyi. 
• The Unexpected Joy of Being Single
• Locating Happily-Single Serenity - Catherine Gray
• Skint Estate - Cash Carraway. 
• The Five - Hallie Rubenhold.

Help us celebrate International Women's Day, who inspires you? DM us your thoughts and pictures on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. This year we're celebrating all week long and giving you, 20% off with the code:WOMENSDAY

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Sincerely Madia & Matilda

International Women's Day 2019 - Women We Love

For International Women's Day, this year we have compiled a list of influential women that we love. 

Emma Watson 

British actor Emma Watson was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014. Watson dedicates her efforts towards the empowerment of young women and girls, and will serve as an advocate for the UN Women’s "HeForShe" campaign in promoting gender equality.



Stacey Dooley

Since 2009, Dooley has made social-issue-themed television documentaries for BBC Three concerning child labour and women in developing countries. Dooley has produce many documentaries and TV shows highlighting the impacts of ‘fast fashion’ and investigating the working conditions people endure in foreign countries to produce garments for companies such as H&M.


Clara Amfo

Clara is a regular presenter on the Radio 1 weekday schedule, she has interviewed the biggest names in the music industry, and presented from some of the most prestigious music festivals and awards ceremonies. Amfo aims to help women have the confidence to break through into the media industry as she was influenced by Lauryn Hill from a young age, a rare example at the time of a dark-skinned black woman whose talent was able to reach a large audience.

Lucy Siegle

Ethical living journalist, Lucy Siegle currently writes for the Guardian covering a range of topics from fashion and the environment to finance and food. Siegle has also recently published a book titled ‘Turning the tide on plastic’, that hopes to end the plastic pandemic and provide tips for long-lasting action.


Helen Clarkson

CEO of The Climate Group, Helen Clarkson, works internationally with leading businesses, states and regions to deliver a world of net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Experienced in the marketing and business industry, she ensures that sustainability is at the forefront of business strategies worldwide.


Kate Brandt

Kate Brandt is the current Google Sustainability Officer, leading Google’s worldwide operations, products and supply chain. Sustainability and cyclical economy are key to Brandt’s work, with her efforts being recognised by Obama in 2014 when he appointed her to serve as the Federal Environmental Executive. 

Susan McPherson

Founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, Susan consults and invests in businesses and start-ups that have social good at their core. With 25+ years of experience in marketing, PR and sustainability communications industry, McPherson ensures that corporations and growing non-profits on how best to partner, build advocacy and drive visibility for their causes and initiatives.


Anita Roddick

Founding member of the Women’s Environmental Network and The Body Shop, Anita Roddick has been an environmental ambassador since the early 80’s. In total The Body Shop had over 700 branches, and Roddick was awarded the 1991 World Vision Award for Development Initiative. 


Dr Shakardokht Jafari

Originating from Afghanistan, Shakar is the Founder and CTO of Trueinvivo Limited, which with support from Innovate UK has developed a radiation detection system for cancer care that aims to save lives, money and offer a better quality of life to patients. In January 2018 Shakar received a prestigious Women’s award from the Afghanistan government and a recent meeting with a director could lead to a film biopic.

Sincerely Madia & Matilda

Three Cheers for Mummy!

Mother's Day 2018

With Mother's Day just around the corner on the 11th March, we have some 

last-minute gift ideas if you haven't quite got it sorted yet.  

If you're hoping to give your mum the opportunity to kick back and indulge in some serious relaxation, you couldn't do better than a gorgeous gift from Lola's Apothecary. Their Queen of Roses bath milk has won awards for its amazing scent and super calming properties, and if your mum likes to chill out in the bath this could be the one for her! 

Remember when you and your mum used to do everything together, like bake, or going to the park together? This Hettie bag, made from British tweed is a great gift to surprise your mum; whilst  you bring back those memories with a slightly lower-stress baking project, and enjoy the results with a lovely fragrant cuppa from Hoogly Tea. They do a fab Apple Strudel flavour that was basically made for those lazy baking afternoons and it comes in the sweetest little box! 

If you're looking for a beautiful, hand-crafted card to write something lovely and soppy in, think about getting a card from Coco Loves. They do a Super Mum card made from Scrabble tiles— a brilliant upcycled gift.

Shout out to all the badass mums out there — you rock!

Sincerely Madia & Matilda

International Women's Day 2018

Who Run the World? (Girls and Boys Working in Harmony to Overcome the Toxic Agenda of a Capitalist Patriarchy)

Beyoncé is in the house, yo. Thursday 8th March is International Women's Day (IWD), so we're all about celebrating women. Just like any other day, really! 

Image courtesy of International Women's Day website

It's 100 years since women in Britain were given the vote by King George V on February 6th 1918. This right was afforded to women over the age of 30 who met certain property qualifications, and these conditions were slowly lifted over time until here we are in 2018, skipping merrily to the polling station to cast our hard-earned vote.

No IWD post would be complete without mention of the formidable Suffragettes who fought with incredible bravery to secure their places as valuable and contributing members of British society. Shout out to you, Wonder Women! We tread your path with joy and pride.


Women have made huge progress in the last 100 years. Here are some highlights:

• 1922— Law of Property Act states that husband and wife will inherit property equally
• 1928— All women have voting rights equal to men's
• 1958— Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time
• 1967— Abortion Act evolves, allowing doctors to perform the operation if the pregnancy was in any way dangerous. This ruling became increasingly flexible 
• 1974— the Pill becomes widely available through the NHS
• 1976— Race Relations Act makes it illegal to discriminate on grounds of race in employment and education
• 1985— Equal Pay (Amendment) Act entitles women to be paid the same as men who are doing work of equal value
• 1994— After years of serious campaigning by women's organisations, rape in marriage is recognised as a crime
• 2004— Gender Recognition Act allows transgender people to live fully and permanently in their acquired gender to gain legal recognition in that gender

Wow!

So now for a small selection of ladies who are not taking sh*t from anyone. ANYONE. 

Munroe Bergdorf

We'd be surprised if you haven't heard of this amazing woman. She's been making a lot of headlines recently, expressing her views on sexuality and gender, feminism and individuality. She's had a lot of backlash as a result, but has that shut her up? Nah. We love this article, where she talks about the L’Oréal racism scandal. 

Image courtesy of Twitter

Meghan Markle

Meghan's already incurred a lot of buzz. She's passionate about women's welfare and has been an ambassador for UN Women. She holds an extremely influential position, which could be used to do an enormous amount of good for progress in resolving women's issues. We know that so much of this progress is pushed by women everywhere, of all classes, but having someone like Meghan to represent it can be a huge asset to the effort. 

Image courtesy of Royal Central

Lucy Siegle

Lovely Lucy is championing ecological solutions to everyday, problems via her column in The Guardian (we heard she's just left, but you can still read the articles!). She's a big advocate for going plastic free and looking for more ecological sanitary and cleaning products. Lucy is pushing for conscious shopping  (just like we are) and cautious consumerism. Hear hear!

Image courtesy of The True Cost

Sincerely Madia & Matilda