Here come the great girls!
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, we look at Yorkshire female role models who have changed the world of politics, science, sport, art, literature and popular culture.
Diana Anderson
After years spent working in laboratories and universities Professor Anderson, chairwoman of biomedical sciences at the University of Bradford, set up her first company in 2011 at the age of 69. It is developing a unique type of blood test for cancer that predicts an individual’s genetic predisposition to the disease.
Alice Bacon
Born a miner’s daughter, Alice Bacon became Yorkshire’s first MP in 1945. Her experiences as a teacher at an interwar secondary modern put her on a mission to transform education in Britain. She was passionate about how education could radically improve lives in working-class communities and was a tireless champion of this worthy cause.
Janet Baker
She is one of Britain’s leading opera singers closely associated with early Italian opera and the works
of Benjamin Britten. The Doncaster-born singer’s performances were admired for their dramatic intensity and in the world of opera she has few rivals.
Betty Boothroyd
In 1992, the House of Commons elected a woman to the post of Speaker for the first time in its 700-year history. The woman in question was the formidable Betty Boothroyd. She served eight years before retiring in 2000. She displayed wit and warmth and became renowned for her forthright style when bringing MPs to order. She astonished the Commons the first time she presided over PMQs, when she closed the session by
saying, “Right ... time’s up!” It became one of her catchphrases.
Judi Dench
Dame Judi is one of Britain’s most successful actresses and frequently tops polls of the nation’s favourite stage and screen stars. Her credits include everything from Shakespeare to sitcom including Time Goes By and A Fine Romance in which she starred with her late husband Michael Williams.
Jessica Ennis-Hill
She was the poster girl of the 2012 Olympics and her victory in the heptathlon at the London Games was part of the legendary Super Saturday when she, along with Greg Rutherford and
Mo Farah, all won gold in the space of just 44 minutes. She retired after the Rio Games as one of Britain’s greatest ever athletes.
Barbara Hepworth
A former pupil of Wakefield Girls’ High School, Hepworth was one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century and the inspiration behind Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth Wakefield. She blazed a trail for others to follow.
Barbara Taylor Bradford
The writer grew up in Leeds and once worked as a typist at Yorkshire Evening Post. Her debut novel A Woman of Substance has sold 30 million copies and is one of the biggest-selling books of all time, helping her become a literary phenomenon.
Jane Tomlinson
Her name has become a byword for courage and tenacity. She made headlines across the world by competing in a series of epic challenges including marathons and a 4,200 mile cycle ride across the width of the US, despite suffering from terminal cancer. She raised £1.85m for children’s and cancer charities before her death in 2007.
Kay Mellor
The Leeds-born English actress, scriptwriter and
director best known for her work on several successful television drama series. They include Band of Gold and Fat Friends. Her daughter Gaynor Faye is one of the country’s favourite leading ladies on stage and small screen.
Kate Atkinson York-born Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her four bestselling novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie became the BBC television series Case Histories, starring Jason Isaacs. Her 2013 novel Life After Life won the South Bank Sky Arts Literature Prize, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize, and voted Book of the Year for the independent booksellers associations on both sides of the Atlantic. It also won the Costa Novel Award.
BerylBurton
The Leeds cyclist dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. She set a women’s record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men’s record for two years.
MelB
Melanie Janine Brown is an English singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Scary Spice. With more 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time.
Mention could also be made of Anita Lonsbrough, Adeeba Malik, Stevie Smith, Amanda Staveley, Sally Wainwright, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Nicola Adams and Brontë sisters, all from God’s Own County.