March is Women's History Month, and 8 March is International Women's Day 2025, so there are plenty of events celebrating women and girls, non-binary and female-identifying people this month. These are our picks of events and things to do in London:
HighlightHer International Women's Day Exhibition
Illustrations by London artist Hanna Benihoud are on display in the HighlightHer free outdoor exhibition in King's Cross, celebrating ‘extraordinary ordinary’ women. Artworks depict scenes including the woman who expertly applies a full face of makeup on the Tube during rush hour, and the woman who juggles three loads of laundry, prepares packed lunches and schedules a doctor’s appointment
HighlightHer at Granary Square in King's Cross, 4-30 March 2025. FREE.
She Grrrowls at the National Poetry Library
Feminist arts night She Grrrowls celebrates its first decade with a special International Women's Day event at Southbank Centre. See a preview from a current project-in-progress, featuring stand-up poet Leilah King, writer Annie Hayter, author Phoebe Wagner and poet and artist Antonia King — though exact details are being kept under wraps.
She Grrrowls at the National Poetry Library, 5 March 2025. Southbank Centre also hosts an International Womens's Day artists' scratch showcase on 8 March, with six artists sharing their current works in progress.
Feminist Folk Club Festival at Cecil Sharp House
On International Women's Day itself, the English Folk Dance and Song Society hosts the first ever Feminist Folk Club Festival at Cecil Sharp House. Enjoy folk music from both established and emerging young musicians, including Daisy Beau, Jasmine Kennedy and Lucy and Hazel, a well as a collaboration between mother and daughter Sandra and Nancy Kerr, featuring new and old songs.
Feminist Folk Club Festival, 8 March 2025.
EVE Wrestling:Women Behaving Badly at Big Penny Social
EVE: Riot Grrrls of Wrestling was founded to completely destroy misconceptions that wrestling is a male-dominated industry. It's described as a "punk-rock, women's wrestling and cabaret night out", and comes to Big Penny Social in Walthamstow for an International Women's Day event.
Eve Wrestling at Big Penny Social, 7 March 2025.
WOW At 15 at the Royal Albert Hall
Celebrate 15 years of Women of the World — or WOW — Festival, with a special evening at the Royal Albert Hall.
WOW founder Jude Kelly hosts, accompanied by activist Angela Davis. Full line up is to be announced at time of writing, but the event will include music and discussion celebrating the achievements of women, girls, and non-binary people across the globe.
WOW At 15 at the Royal Albert Hall, 8 March 2025
International Women's Day Market
Head to the Vagina Museum in Bethnal Green for the International Women's Day Market, organised by Pearly Makers Market, who specialise in promoting queer emerging artists as well as those selling at a market for the first time.
International Women's Day Market, 8 March 2025.
Emma Barnett: Maternity Service
Journalist and author Emma Barnett is at Southbank Centre to discuss her book, Maternity Service, with journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Young. Barnett delves into the reality of maternity leave beyond the rose-tinted memories often shared, and talks about how descriptions of the time as a 'special experience' do a disservice to women by not preparing them for the difficulties of new motherhood.
Emma Barnett: Maternity Service, 8 March 2025. See also: Stacey Dooley: Stories from Remarkable Mothers, delving into what it means to be a mother today. at Union Chapel, 27 March 2025.
Reclaim the Frame at BFI Southbank
Reclaim The Frame is a platform for female filmmakers, originally launched as Birds’ Eye View Film Festival. It celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special event at BFI Southbank on International Women's Day, consisting of a special curated selection of shorts, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers.
Reclaim the Frame at BFI Southbank, 8 March 2025
Bad Gal Film Club presents Witches
ArtHouse Crouch End hosts Bad Gal Film Club's Women’s History Month special — a screening of director Elizabeth Sankey’s documentary, Witches. Delve into the social stigmas that women have endured across centuries, through interviews and film clips, exploring the connections between postpartum mental health and the portrayal of witches in Western society and popular culture. The screening is followed by a Q&A with Sankey.
Bad Gal Film Club, 19 March 2025.
Still The Hours at Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace hosts the world premiere of a genre-defying promenade experience. Wander through the palace after dark, accompanied by audio telling the story of women who lived or worked there. Suffragettes, royal mistresses, queens and maids all feature, their stories told by actors including Kathryn Hunter and Miranda Richardson, and backed up by historical research.
Still The Hours, 19-30 March 2025.
International Women's Day 2025 walking tours
WOMEN OF LONDON: A history tour company focusing on women's history, Women of London offers female-centric tours all year round, including one focusing on women in the British Museum, and another telling the stories of working women on the East End. Keep an eye on the website for Women's History Month/International Women's Day specials.
WOMEN OF SOUTHWARK: A Southwark Cathedral guide leads an hour-long Women of Southwark tour, focusing on women whose lives were connected to the cathedral, including Victorian educator Octavia Hill and Queen Mary. 7 March
SISTERS IN THE CITY: Footprints of London guide Jenny Mill takes you through the City of London, starting near Liverpool Street, telling stories of women who shaped the area, including writers, campaigners, nuns and a notorious criminal. 1 March
LITERARY WOMEN: On International Women's Day, find out about women authors, writers and journalists with links to the Square Mile. Guide Daniella King covers well-known figures including Agatha Christie and the Brontes, as well as lesser-known female writers. 8 March
The Bring Your Baby walks team offer guided tours for parents or carers with babies under a year old, with feeding and changing breaks built in. They run a few female-centric tours this month, including:
WHITECHAPEL WOMEN 1888: In 1888, a now very famous serial killer was at large in Whitechapel, killing at least five women. But this walk doesn't focus on him, instead telling the stories of those women, Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane, and other women who lived in east London at the time. Find out where they lived, as well as how Petticoat Lane got its name, and why a local pub was forced to change its name. 7 March
SOHO HISTORY: Join co-author of Women from Hackney's History, Sue Doe, for a wander through Soho focusing on stories of notable women including popstars, property owners, academics and a purity campaigner who annoyed Winston Churchill. 20 March
Women's History Month 2025 talks, lectures and debates
WOMEN AND POLITICS: The Dulwich Society pulls together an impressive panel of speakers including Baroness Harriet Harman, Britain’s longest-serving female MP; Baroness Caroline Pidgeon; Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood; Naima Ali, Mayor of Southwark; and Resham Kotecha of Women2Win. BBC political reporter Aruna
Iynegar hosts a panel discussion about gender equailty in politics. 4 March
FEMALE AUTHORS: As part of the Alternative Book Fair programme, there's an International Women's Day panel discussion with authors Catherine Mayer, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and Kelly Frost and journalist Emily Rhodes about societal norms and expectations on being a woman, identity and choice. 6 March
WHEN COURAGE CALLS: Social historian Sarah C. Williams gives a talk about radical political activist Josephine Butler, at Southwark Cathedral. She was the first feminist activists, raising awareness of the plight of destitute women, address human trafficking and campaigning to secure equal rights for women, but her story has largely been forgotten. 6 March
ST ALFEGE: Hear stories about women connected to St Alfege Church in Greenwich, from organists to bellringers, from scientists to suffragettes, and delve into historic manuscripts from the church archives. There's also a chance to visit the bellringing chamber. 8 March
WOMEN IN WINE: Vino consultant Libby Brodie hosts a Women in Wine panel event at Humble Grape Fleet Street. Be guided through a tasting of four wines crafted by female winemakers, accompanied by cheese and charcuterie. Joining Brodie on the panel are Archie Patel (@wineawaytheday), wine sales expert Mari Juhasoo, and Humble Grape’s sommelier Sharrol. 11 March
WOMEN WHO MADE PICASSO: The British Museum assembles a panel including the founder of Rediscovering Art by Women Sacha Llewellyn; Picasso specialist Anne-Françoise Gavanon; artist Marcelle Hanselaar; and art critic and writer Ruth Millington. They discuss the women in artist Pablo Picasso's life, celebrating their creativity and reframing Picasso's work through a feminist lens. 21 March
OPEN ARCHIVES: The LSE Library has a special display of women's history materials, available for anyone to browse through, as well as a talk by Shelia Rowbotham about her latest book Reasons to Rebel: My Memories of the 1980. FREE, 27 March. Elsewhere at LSE on the same day, Tiziana Leone, Professor in Health and International Development, give a lecture about the study of women’s health through the lens of reproductive histories. FREE, 27 March
WOMEN IN OBSERVATORIES: Pioneering women who worked at observatories in the UK, US and Australia in the late 1800s are the subject of a discussion and screening at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Find out about why they were employed, what jobs they did, and what conditions were like, and then watch Hidden Figures, about the gender and race discrimination as experienced by female scientists in the Apollo space programme. 28 March
Read about more great London women
Plenty of Londonist articles to get stuck into:
- Noor Inayat Khan: A Very Important Statue You Probably Never Noticed
- 10 Black Women Who Changed London For The Better
- It's 320 Years Since Britain's First Newspaper Was Founded by A Female Editor
- In Pictures: The Women Shaping London's Grime Scene
- The Docklands Gym Where Muslim Women Are Toughening Up And Feeling Empowered
- In Pictures: The Women Who Keep London Underground Going
- In Pictures: The Pioneering Women Of London Transport
- A Tube Map Of Well-Known (And Should-Be-Well-Known) Women
- Muslim Girls Fence - The Movement That's Slicing Up Stereotypes
- Inside London's First All-Female Mechanics' Garage: Spanners With Manners
- Women's London by Rachel Kolsky - one of the best guides to exploring London we've ever seen.
