We celebrate women who brought happiness, hope, and empowerment to our lives in the last 12 months, from the new bright tennis star that lit up Wimbledon and the world to the medical pioneers, fearless campaigners and charity pioneers.
2021’s Golden Girl Emma: Raducanu
Emma Raducanu, the first British woman to win Grand Slams in 44 years is Emma Raducanu
It’s been a phenomenal year for new tennis superstar Emma. The 19-year old British number one won the US Open after making her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon. This match was watched by 9.2 million people in the UK.
Emma, a teenager from England won the title and did not drop a set. She also became the first British woman ever to win a Grand Slam for the second time in 44 years. After her triumph, she was personally congratulated by the Queen, rubbed shoulders with the A-List at New York’s Met Gala, and sponsorship deals with Tiffany and Dior followed.
The most important thing is that a new generation was inspired by a mentor. ‘It’s been an amazing year for women’s sport and I hope many young girls are inspired to participate more,’ says Emma.
As an ambassador for LTA Youth – an initiative to encourage children to get involved with tennis – she’s an inspiration for future champions: ‘It’s giving children great opportunities to get playing,’ she says. ‘It’s a really positive time for the sport.’ Thanks to the Raducanu effect, the government has announced a £22 million funding package to repair and improve public tennis courts in parks across the country.
Now ranked world number 19, and tipped to be the next Serena Williams, Emma will compete in next month’s Australian Open – with the entire nation behind her.
Voice for the unnamed heroes of pandemic Kate Garraway
Derek Garraway, Kate’s husband has suffered the devastating effects of Covid ever since he contracted the virus in March 2020.
The honesty and courage that Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway has shown as her husband Derek continues to battle the devastating effects of Covid has moved many of us and has given a voice to the thousands of families coping with the long-term impact of the virus on a loved one’s health.
Kate courageously documented the emotions of her family in her moving documentary Finding Derek, and in her bestseller The Power of Hope. She chronicled Derek’s year-long stay in hospital, which included several months of induced coma. ‘Covid continues to be isolating for a lot of people and
I would love to think that sharing my experiences helps someone out there,’ says Kate. Derek now lives at home, but he still requires 24-hour care. His road to recovery is long. Throughout their ordeal, Kate has remained a rock for her and Derek’s children, Darcey, 15, and Billy, 12. ‘My kids have been so strong; I’m immensely proud of them. They’re a driving force that keeps me going.’
Kate’s resilience has been an inspiration to the thousands who watch her every day, and she says the messages of support have been a comfort. ‘I’m so lucky to have the job that I do and it feels as though I know viewers as friends,’ she says.
Kate is optimistic about the future. ‘My hope is that Derek can start to live his life more fully. We’re lucky to have him with us and have hope for the future.’
Britain’s literal shot The arm:Catherine Johnstone
The Royal Voluntary Service, under the direction of Catherine Johnstone recruited 750,000 volunteers for over 2 million people in need.
More than 12.4 million people have volunteered in some capacity since the pandemic began – and we have Catherine Johnstone, the chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) to thank for it.
She was the leader of the RVS’s NHS Volunteer Responders initiative. 750,000 volunteers stepped forward to help with more than 2 million calls from people in need. In the past 12 months, working in partnership with St John Ambulance, the RVS recruited 98,000 volunteers – aka Jabs Army – to assist in the rollout of the Covid vaccine. ‘Volunteers are an integral part of the vaccination programme,’ says Catherine. ‘With the existing NHS capacity there was no way we were going to vaccinate at the pace that scientists said we needed.’
Additionally, the RVS created the Virtual Village Hall. This provides online activities to 44,000 residents who have been isolated. Volunteers and staff were deployed by the RVS to respond quickly and efficiently to hundreds of thousands in welfare calls. They also distributed emergency food packets and assisted the NHS with transport. The organisation’s response to the pandemic has been its largest since it was founded in 1938.
Mobilizing volunteer armies can be a difficult logistical task. ‘You have to work calmly, logically and with purpose,’ says Catherine. Her job now is to keep volunteers motivated – ‘I’m in it for the long haul’ – but she continues to bE amazed by the response of the British public. ‘It truly is a volunteer revolution.’
The food-waste revolutionaries: Tessa Clarke ahttp://nd. Saasha Celestial-One
Tessa (right), and Saasha, (left) helped to share 34,000,000 portions of food through their app Olio
If things go as planned for business partners Tessa (right) and Saasha, household food waste will soon become consigned to the past.
‘Every year a landmass larger than China is used to grow food that is never eaten,’ says Tessa, who co-founded food-sharing app Olio with Saasha in 2015. ‘The global food industry accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions – and yet we throw away a third of all the food we produce.’
Today Olio – which connects people on a hyper-local level to share their unwanted food, instead of throwing it straight in the bin – has grown to five million users in 60 countries, and so far 34 million portions of food have been shared.
‘You might think, “Who wants two lemons, or a bunch of bananas?” But half of all the food listed on Olio is requested by someone nearby within 21 minutes,’ says Tessa.
What’s more, during the pandemic, sharing on Olio increased fivefold. ‘Olio’s beating heart is the community – that doorstep connection. Over 40 per cent of our users say they have made friends through using the app.’
This year Tessa and Saasha raised just over £31 million in funding to accelerate the app’s growth, launched their first TV advertising campaign, and added a new section to the app for users to lend and borrow everyday household items.
‘We want to try and encourage people to stop wasting any of the world’s precious resources, whether it be food or non-food,’ says Tessa. ‘We have an unashamedly bold ambition: one billion Olio-ers by 2030.’
Clean-air crusader Rosamund Kissi-Debrah
Rosamund Kishi-Debrah started a campaign to improve the air quality after Ella lost her battle with asthma in 2013.
For years, Rosamund – co-founder of the Ella Roberta Foundation – fought to keep her daughter Ella alive as she suffered extreme asthma attacks. ‘She could be playing football one day, then on another, could collapse on the street,’ says Rosamund, from Lewisham, South London. Ella was hospitalised 27 times in her last two years of life – Rosamund resuscitated her on countless occasions – and died in 2013, aged just nine. Rosamund says, ‘I could have cried for ever but I forced myself to stop.’
She was determined to uncover what had caused Ella’s death – and prevent more like it. Learning that Ella’s final fatal attack had coincided with a big spike in Lewisham’s air pollution, Rosamund began tracking Ella’s past episodes with data from local pollution-monitoring stations. Last December, after years of campaigning by Rosamund, an inquest ruled that air pollution had contributed to Ella’s death. Although it’s believed to be behind 40,000 deaths a year in the UK alone, Ella became the first person to have this cause recognised on her death certificate. In April the coroner from Ella’s inquest issued a report urging the government to reduce air pollution limits in line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Rosamund, a WHO BreatheLife ambassador was elected to the COP26 summit. Her 14-year-old twins looked on as she received a standing ovation, a ‘massive moment’, she says. ‘But my goal now is to get “clean air” listed as a children’s right.’
Paralympian record: Dame Sarah STorey
Dame Sarah Storey: ‘ I’m hoping to add to the medals at Paris 2024’
When Paralympic cyclist Dame Sarah Storey powered past the finish line of the C4-5 road race at the Tokyo Paralympics in September, the history-making moment hadn’t quite hit home.
‘It took some time for the enormity to sink in. This was the fabled medal – the crucial one that’s the jewel in the crown!’
That medal – her 17th Paralympic gold – made her the most successful Paralympian in British history, having competed in eight consecutive Paralympics, winning a total of 28 medals. Sarah went to Tokyo to defend three titles – the Individual Pursuit, Time Trial and Road Race – and won them all.
‘My medals are all kept in a secret location to get out only on special occasions,’ she says. In a career that spans 30 years and two different sports (Sarah started out as a Paralympic swimmer, winning six medals at the 1992 Barcelona Games), her achievements are nothing short of legendary, with 40 World Championship titles and 77 – yes, 77 – world records to her name.
According to her, the reason she is so successful in life comes down to how much she loves what they do. ‘Some athletes talk about the sacrifices they’ve had to make. I haven’t had to sacrifice anything.’
Her retirement plans are not in jeopardy. As well as mentoring young female riders with her husband, cyclist Barney Storey, she is busy training for her next event, the Track and Road World Championships – and hopefully the Paris 2024 Paralympics. ‘There is one other athlete who could possibly break the 17 gold medals record at Paris,’ she says. ‘But I hope to be on the start line to add to the record myself.’
The conductor isTo climb the ladder For women who are interested in music: Alice Farnham
Alice Farnham: “I don’t believe it should be a woman on the podium.”
World-renowned conductor Alice Farnham is on a mission: to empower more women to join her in a conducting career. ‘This idea that it has to be a man on the podium has been so ingrained that women just couldn’t see themselves in that position. I thought: let’s change that,’ she says.
Alice is the artistic director for the Women Conductors program at the Royal Philharmonic Society. She has had the opportunity to work with more than 500 women musicians and give them the chance of conducting.
‘My main focus is to give them the confidence to stand in front of people and be a bigger version of themselves,’ says Alice, who has worked with the Royal Opera House, English National Ballet and the BBC Concert Orchestra. ‘The programme has had a big effect – many of them have become conductors, or are training to become one.’
Alice’s work has been so successful that, this year, the Royal Philharmonic Society launched the next chapter of the Women Conductors programme: a groundbreaking new mentoring project dedicated to nurturing female conductors at the start of their career.
‘There is a huge amount of pressure on new conductors. We’re giving them a platform to work with a professional orchestra, in a space where they can try new things and not feel judged,’ says Alice.
Her ultimate goal is to have as many orchestra conductors who are women as there are men. ‘I think we’ve got a way to go. Until then, I will be championing these women and making sure their careers blossom.’
Anti-plastic pioneer: Celia Pool
Celia Pool founded Dame, a brand that produces plastic-free period items. Since it’s launch in 2019, Dame has saved 130 million pieces of single-use plastic from going to waste.
We all know the importance of reducing our plastic usage – but Celia Pool is already hard at work tackling the problem.
Celia discovered the enormous environmental impacts of plastic period products. Every year, 1.3 million tampon applicators go to landfill or end up in our oceans. Celia then created Dame, a period-care company that offers reusable and recyclable period products.
Since its launch in 2019, Dame has saved 130 million pieces of single-use plastic from going to waste, and its award-winning ranges are now stocked at Boots, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. This year, online retail giant Asos started stocking Dame products – a natural fit for Asos’s eco-conscious Generation Z customer base – and Celia won a government Women in Innovation Award, receiving a £50,000 grant to launch Damechanges, a project to mentor the female innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
‘It’s really exciting that we’re actually changing an industry,’ says Celia. ‘We’re going up against some of the biggest brands that have been on the shelves for 30 years. We’re thrilled that we are taking market share from them.’
What’s more, for 2022, Dame has another gamechanging product in the pipeline – period-proof pants that are 3D-knitted to reduce fabric waste.
Bring equality The menopause Nimco Ali & Mika Simmons
Nimco Ali (right) and Mika Simmons (left) want to address the gender health gap through revolutionising British women’s healthcare
British women will live longer if Nimco Ali (right), and Mika Simmons are successful. In March, they launched the Ginsburg Women’s Health Board (GWHB), which aims to revolutionise British women’s healthcare. ‘Women’s health issues are often sidelined,’ says Mika. ‘We want all women to be taken seriously.’ Female life expectancy is higher than men in the UK, but women are more likely to wait longer for a health diagnosis, and research into conditions that only affect women are typically underfunded. This inequality – known as the gender health gap – is what the GWHB is fighting to eliminate. ‘Behind the health gap is the idea that women’s bodies can withstand more pain. That is wrong and needs to change,’ says Nimco.
Both women are already passionate campaigners for women’s health: Mika is the founder of the Lady Garden Foundation, the charity she set up following the death of her mother from ovarian cancer, while Nimco is the CEO of The Five Foundation, which works to end female genital mutilation. ‘As an activist I’ve learnt that it’s better to work with the government,’ says Nimco. ‘I don’t complain, I campaign to change things.’
It is working. In September GWHB launched the #FreeHRT campaign, supporting MP Carolyn Harris’s bill to axe unfair hormone replacement therapy prescription costs. In November, it was announced that the women who need the prescription would not have to cover the cost once per year.
Mika and Nimco have outlined three policy areas that the GWHB would like to address next, including fast-tracking gynaecological referrals and ending IVF Postcode Lottery. ‘We believe these are achievable,’ says Mika.
The warrior curing Alzheimer’s: PZoe Kourtzi, rofessor
Professor Kourtzi: “Diseases which cause dementia begin in the brain year prior to symptoms; research indicates that 40 percent of these cases can be prevented or delayed with lifestyle changes.”
Currently a dementia diagnosis can take years – but the work of Professor Kourtzi and her team aims to slash that to a day. As scientific director of the EDoN initiative, Prof Kourtzi is leading an ambitious project spearheaded by Alzheimer’s Research UK. This summer, they announced the development of an artificial-intelligence system that can diagnose dementia from a single brain scan. An algorithm combines the scans from thousands of patients with dementia to create a powerful comparison. It can identify patterns in the scan and match them with patient outcomes. This will indicate whether or not a patient is stable, gradually deteriorating, or needs immediate treatment.
‘When I realised the potential of our work, I knew we had a responsibility to use these tools to transform healthcare,’ she says. The team is now working with doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital memory clinic in Cambridge, testing the AI approach in a real-world setting.
This is crucial as an estimated one million UK citizens will suffer from dementia by 2025. Prof Kourtzi’s ambition is that eventually AI technology will be able to predict dementia earlier, using data collected by wearable devices. ‘Diseases that cause dementia start in the brain years before symptoms start; research suggests 40 per cent of cases could be avoided or delayed by lifestyle changes.
So if we can detect it before people even start experiencing symptoms, that will be an incredible breakthrough.’
One-woman woman financial genius: Anne Boden
Anne Boden, the UK’s only female bank founder is Anne Boden. This is the first ever digital bank to be profitable
Anne Boden was the first woman to establish a UK bank. Few believed she would succeed when she set out to launch Starling, a new digital bank, in 2014 – despite her decades of experience in the industry.
‘When it comes to financial tech, the 30-year-old guy with the beard gets the funding, not a middle-aged Welsh woman,’ says Anne, 61.
Starling proved that the critics wrong by getting the funding. In 2021 Starling became the first profitable digital bank. It has 2.5 million personal customers (a new account is opened every 38 seconds), and while other digital banks have struggled due to the pandemic, Starling’s revenue rose by nearly 600 per cent – it now holds £8 billion of the nation’s deposits.
Starling’s smart responses to unprecedented challenges – providing £2 billion in loans to help small and medium businesses survive, issuing debit cards capped for security for people isolating at home who needed others to buy their essentials – helps explain why it won Best British Bank for the fourth year running (one of 11 industry accolades it has scooped this year). Anne has plans to expand.
Starling into Europe. ‘It is so difficult for women entrepreneurs to get past the first stage, to win the funding, to find the backing, that when we do, we’re so well tested and so well prepared, we go so fast. Our businesses fly.’
This is the original sustainable Fashion trailblazer Anya Hindmarch
The Universal Shopper by Designer Anya Hindmarch is intended to solve a daily problem
Ever since creating her iconic ‘I’m Not a Plastic Bag’ bag in 2007, designer Anya has been at the forefront of sustainable fashion. And this year, she’s taken things to another level with her Return to Nature project, a groundbreaking collection of bags made from an innovative leather that is fully compostable and biodegradable. ‘There’s no waste in nature. The soil is nourished by an apple that falls from the tree. I thought, could I make a bag like that?’
Anya tackled another, more pressing issue. Last year saw nearly half a trillion single-use bags sold in spite of the plastic bag ban. Anya’s solution? The Universal shopper, a ‘next-generation’ bag for life, which is more practical – and stylish – than the usual paper or plastic alternatives. Made from recycled plastic, the oversized tote launched in Sainsbury’s this month and will be available in Waitrose in January. Each £10 bag is guaranteed for ten years and there’s even a built-in returns pouch so at the end of its life you can pop it in the post and it will be recycled locally.
‘Working with supermarkets, I knew we could have a bigger impact,’ says Anya, who is in talks to roll out the shopper globally. ‘We have made a product that solves an everyday problem. It’s all about small wins. Collectively they can be gamechanging.’
It’s the key to success for women who work: Anna Whitehouse
Anna Whitehouse campaigns for more flexible hours
Anna Whitehouse could revolutionize the way that we work. After her request for flexible working hours was rejected in 2015, Anna – aka Mother Pukka, the parenting blogger, author and presenter – launched Flex Appeal, the campaign to improve flexible working opportunities for everyone. ‘It’s not a maternal campaign,’ says Anna. ‘We need to break free of it being seen as “Mummy wanting to see more of her Weetabix-spattered child”.’ As such, she teamed up with other organisations including the Trades Union Congress and Sir Robert McAlpine, the UK’s leading construction company, to form the Flex For All coalition.
The Flexible Working Bill introduced in June this year, giving workers the option to choose flexible work hours. This was the first major victory of the coalition. ‘The coalition had a huge hand in that,’ says Anna. ‘It’s progress. Now we want to introduce a default right to flexible working, not just the right to request it, in next year’s Employment Bill.’
Flex Appeal and Sir Robert McAlpine conducted a groundbreaking study into flexible work that was presented in November to convince employers. It found that a 50 per cent increase in flexible working could unlock £55 billion in benefits to the UK economy. ‘To put a number on it is important, there has to be a fiscal argument for flexible working, too,’ says Anna, who has formulated a 30-year plan to transform the working landscape. ‘I’m not stopping until things change.’
A campaigner fighting the taboo against miscarriage Myleene Klass
Myleene Klass campaigned for better miscarriage and maternal care
In her powerful documentary Miscarriage and Me, the musician and presenter bravely opened up about her experience of suffering four devastating miscarriages – first revealed in a YOU cover story – in the hope that it might help other women affected by miscarriage.
When the documentary aired in October it was ‘like opening the floodgates’, she says. There was a flood of women who shared their stories on social media. ‘So many women – and people in the public eye – have come forward to say, “It’s happened to me, too”. It feels like there is a movement,’ says Myleene. ‘One in four women will experience miscarriage; it’s not something we should feel we have to keep secret any more.’
As well as busting this taboo, Myleene’s documentary shone a light on the urgent need for better miscarriage care. ‘Women shouldn’t have to suffer three miscarriages before receiving medical help. That’s barbaric,’ says Myleene, who has worked closely with MP Olivia Blake and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to ask the government to implement new guidelines to better support women.
‘We’re not there yet but the fact we are being heard in parliament – and changes to legislation could be passed early next year – is incredible,’ she says. ‘Change is happening and our voices are being heard. Filming the documentary was very difficult for me, because it’s so painful. But now I feel like I’ve turned that pain into power.’
One small idea that gave dignity to millions: Sali Hughes & Jo Jones
Sali Hughes (left), and Jo Jones (right), founded Beauty Banks to give people who cannot afford essential hygiene products access.
Powered by the belief that being clean is a human right, beauty journalist Sali Hughes (left) and beauty PR Jo Jones had the idea to leverage their contacts in the industry in order to provide essential hygiene products to people who can’t afford them.
The charity they launched in 2018, Beauty Banks, now supplies hundreds of food banks, women’s refuges and homeless shelters with the kind of personal care and hygiene products that most of us take for granted: toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo. ‘It’s not just about soap. It’s providing people with dignity, self-respect and confidence. When Covid hit, it became a matter of safety, too,’ says Jo. ‘Our focus this year has been on servicing the demand, which has increased fourfold.’
The charity now delivers roughly 300 boxes of hygiene essentials each week, made up from corporate donations, and items people buy via Beauty Banks’ online wish list or add to ‘Beauty Spot’ donation bins in Superdrug stores. What’s donated locally, stays local. ‘We want to build a community of people who feel as passionate about this project as we do.’
Breaking down the boys’ club door: Alex Scott
Alex Scott “I thrive in pressure and live television are what I love the most about my work.”
Tipped to be the next Gary Lineker, sports presenter Alex Scott has made her mark this year, co-presenting the BBC’s Olympic coverage and joining Football Focus as its first female host in the show’s 47-year history.
‘I have absolutely loved putting my stamp on the iconic programme this year,’ says Alex, a former professional footballer who played for Arsenal. Last month she won Pundit of the Year at the Football Supporters’ Association awards. ‘It means so much to me because it was voted for by the fans, and I was the first woman in history to win this category.’
Broadcasting live to millions during the Tokyo Olympics, Alex more than held her own next to veteran Clare Balding, with viewers loving the duo’s banter during the daily highlights show. ‘I thrive under pressure, and live TV is what I love most about my job,’ she says. ‘I think to be in the nation’s living rooms every single evening for such a long period of time was really special; I loved coming off-air and seeing so many messages from the public enjoying the show’.
This evening (Sunday 19 December) she’s back on our screens, co-presenting Sports Personality of the Year on BBC1, another ‘pinch-me’ moment to add to her career-changing year. ‘I remember watching the awards as a little girl, so to be on stage presenting is just mind-blowing.’
Theatre’s savior: Shriti Vadera
Shriti Vadera: ‘We have a claim on the greatest playwright and the best-known plays in the history of world literature. While the RSC has its headquarters in Stratford-upon-Avon (the brand, however, is globally recognizable).
Baroness Shriti Varadera, the first female chair in Royal Shakespeare Company history, joined this year to help the RSC survive the crisis and prosper.
‘In these challenging circumstances we continue to produce brilliant creative work, deliver our education programmes to improve literacy in schools and keep training the next generation of theatre makers,’ she says.
She believes innovation is the key to her RSC vision. ‘Our recently launched 37 Plays is a nationwide invitation to create a new collected works inspired by Shakespeare, representing all the communities we serve,’ she says. ‘While rooted in our history, we also strive to be a living, dynamic organisation that is innovative and unafraid to experiment.’
If anyone can steer the RSC through its next chapter, it’s her. With decades of experience leading institutes to success, Shriti’s career has seen her smash through one glass ceiling after another, holding senior positions in the government and UK banking industry (she is currently chair of Prudential). Her formidable talent is now her weapon of choice to support British arts.
‘We have a claim on the greatest playwright and the best-known plays in the history of world literature. The RSC is based in Stratford-upon-Avon but the brand is global,’ she says. ‘We want to touch, inspire and transform as many lives as we can through our work.’
The art innovator: Maria Balshaw
Maria Balshaw: “Art and culture are vital parts of our lives. Many people have long longed for the irreplaceable experience of meeting a master piece of art in person.”
This year, director of the Tate Maria Balshaw led a triumphant return for the institution and its four world-renowned art galleries.
One of the UK’s most important cultural establishments, welcoming millions of visitors every year, it has been a critical 12 months for the Tate. Against the odds, Maria has overseen a powerful programme of exhibitions in 2021, including the sellout Yayoi Kusama show at London’s Tate Modern and retrospectives of Paula Rego and Hogarth’s genre-defining work.
‘Art and culture play vital roles in our lives, and many of us have been craving that irreplaceable feeling of being face-to-face with a great work of art,’ she says.
Maria was the Tate’s first woman director in 2017. She is determined to make a career as an artist more affordable. She unveiled in July a new, innovative scheme to support young people. The Tate will offer 50 apprenticeships over the next three-years. With an incredible line-up for 2022 announced – including the much anticipated Cézanne exhibition – the Tate’s future under Maria’s expert leadership is looking bright.