Leading the charge to Accelerate Action: International Women’s Day 2025

By Carol Chandler-Thompson, Head

It has never been a more exciting time to be a girl or young woman. Globally, the UN reports that since 1995, the proportion of women in parliaments has more than doubled, child marriage rates have fallen, and more women now have access to maternity leave, child support grants, unemployment benefits, and pension schemes — essential measures that reduce poverty and boost economic security. 

Education has seen the biggest gains for women and girls since 1995 with more girls in school than ever before. Legal protections have also expanded: before the Beijing Platform for Action, only 19 countries had laws protecting women from violence, today, that number has risen to 152. 

In Scotland, it is great to see how we are setting a great example for our young women. In 2021 a record number of women were elected to the Scottish Parliament, with 58 female MSPs winning seats in the Holyrood election. Women now represent 45% of Scotland's 129 MSPs. The 2024 UK general election returned the highest number and proportion of female MPs ever recorded: 263 (40%) of 650 MPs are women, up from 220 in 2019 (+3).

In sport, in August 2023, nearly 16 million people watched the Women’s FIFA World Cup Final making it the second most watched TV event of the year. This might suggest that women’s sport is finally reaching equal prominence and success. Powerful male role models, like our own much-loved Andy Murray, powerfully advocate for female sportswomen and call out unconscious bias where they see it. For me, as a woman who grew up through the 80s and 90s when these advances seemed a long way away, this is incredibly exciting to see.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Accelerate Action’ and this resonates exactly with our sense of purpose at St George’s: Edinburgh’s only 3-18 girls’ school where we are leading the charge for an even fairer future for young women through the unique educational and co-curricular opportunities we provide for our own girls, as well as those in our wider community. 

As a girls’ school, we are dedicated to helping address the gender gap by inspiring girls to take their first steps towards a future in industries where women are still underrepresented, such as computing, enterprise and engineering. We aim to help to break barriers and open doors to careers where they can, quite literally, shape the future. Our work around inspiring young women to consider careers in tech. is a prime example of how we are dismantling barriers with the support of partners in industry and higher education. In 2024 we hosted the Women in Computing event aimed at inspiring, empowering, and motivating girls from P6 upwards to explore career opportunities in computing and technology. This collaborative event brought together nearly 600 students from both private and state schools across Edinburgh, as well as industry leaders, educators, and successful women in tech. Students had the opportunity to meet and interact with successful women from tech companies like DressCode, Canva, Amazon, i-confidential, AND Digital, Skyscanner, and Turing Fest. These role models shared their personal journeys and encouraged students to envision themselves in similar careers. Encouraging young women to enter the field of Computing Science is more important than ever. For over a decade, the subject has consistently faced the largest gender gap among traditional STEM fields. Across Scotland, this issue is compounded by a crisis in computing education. A recent report by Reform Scotland revealed that 66 secondary schools lack a dedicated Computing Science teacher, and only one in five girls pursue Higher Computing Science. Data from dressCode, a Scottish charity working to address the gender gap in Computing Science, highlights the urgency of the situation. Over the past 15 years, there has been a 25% decline in Computing teachers.

At a girls’ school like St George’s, we are laser focused on addressing and acting to remove these barriers. Computing has been a particularly high-profile example of our actions that are opening doors for girls, but we are also working more broadly with partners across the whole curriculum. In Sport, for example, we are working with organisations like Lacrosse Scotland, Edinburgh Judo and Badminton Scotland to provide great opportunities for girls to participate and be inspired by female role models and we have exciting plans to extend into other curriculum areas too. We know the power of the mantra ‘If you can see it, you can be it’ and in a girls’ school there is a fantastic female role model wherever you look. Whether a three- or four-year-old absorbing unconscious messages about their place in the world or a fifteen-year-old making decisions about whether to continue playing team sports or not, the visibility of role models is key.

It's for all these reasons and more, that there has never been a better time for girls to be able to attend girls’ schools and there has never been a more important role for those schools to play in terms of shaping the narrative for young women and accelerating action. Happy International Women’s Day 2025!