Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on March 8 every year.

The theme of IWD 2019 is Balance for Better, promoting better gender balance over all areas of life including work, politics, sports and media and to celebrate this our presenter Carmel Jane hosted a panel show live on air with local borough councillor Cat Tierney, life coach Tabitha Pascoe, and Kat Clifton, who owns local girls’ football academy She Can Play.

The panel discussed issues such as “Can women break the glass ceiling?”, what advice they would give to their younger self, and other subjects including feminism, the patriarchy and the menopause.

Carmel Jane’s show was a particularly busy one as the second half of her show featured Brentwood Borough Council leader Louise McKinlay who has announced that she will be stepping down in May after 10 years. Louise spoke at length about her career in politics, juggling motherhood with being Leader of the Council, her role at Essex County Council, why she stood down as leader and whether or not she would be seeking to become an MP in the future.

You can hear Carmel Jane talks business every Wednesday from 1pm and all interviews are posted online at phoenixfm.com for readers to listen again.