Today is International Women’s Day. This year’s focus is on a gender-balanced world, celebrating women’s achievements and taking action against inequality.

The strength of the movement has been most marked in developed countries. In developing countries, the campaign for women’s rights, and against pervasive inequalities, has taken on different forms. As Amanda Gouws explains, the fact that African women haven’t been prominent in the global movement shouldn’t obscure the fact that they’ve been engaged in powerful campaigns on the continent.

Elsewhere, gender scholars have argued that English is a language made by men for men with the sole purpose of representing and perpetuating their point of view. Ella Tenant writes that the words we use have the power to marginalise women, but our words can also be used in inclusive ways to promote equality and social justice.