International Women’s Day: Sheffield children set to be inspired by free Women in Steel resources

2nd March 2020

An educational resource website used by teachers and parents across the world has released a range of free materials about Women in Steel to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Created by Twinkl, the ‘Women in Steel’ resources commemorate the women who took over the city’s steelworks and kept the industry thriving during both World Wars.

The resources give an insight into the role that the women of Sheffield played in making ammunition to support those on the front line and how their efforts were recognised with the famous statue in Sheffield City Centre.

The Sheffield-based company has also released a collection of other resources to mark International Women’s Day, which include discussion cards, activity sheets and information packs.

The resources aim to inspire and educate children about the impact of inspirational women throughout history and encourage discussion on gender stereotypes and equality. They also highlight women’s achievements in a range of fields, including the work of the lady of the lamp, Florence Nightingale, the famous fossil hunter Mary Anning and tennis legend Serena Williams.

Three resource packs are available, ‘International Women’s Day’, ‘Women in History’, and ‘The Women of Steel’, which are free to download for two weeks from today (Monday 2nd March).

International Women’s Day acknowledges the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women on 8th March each year.

Twinkl’s tailored ‘International Women’s Day’ resource pack encourages children to reflect and discuss inspirational famous women, but also those in their own lives. It also includes materials that aim to challenge gender stereotypes by asking children to discuss statements about the roles of men and women.

Helen Fulson, Twinkl’s Chief Product Officer, said: “International Women’s Day is such an important occasion as it recognises the importance of women to both individual communities and collectively to the world. As a Sheffield company, we wanted to champion the city’s Women of Steel and educate children about the efforts of these brave females during both the World Wars.

“Twinkl recognises the need to educate children and young people about gender equality and the empowerment of women, and these resources will support any activities and conversations about these subjects.”

All of the resources are available on Strong Women 2020, a female empowerment platform launched by the Twinkl Parents team, who create resources and tools for parents.

Throughout March the team will also be sharing inspiring content, stories, and artwork.

Twinkl, which provides an online catalogue of over 625,000 resources and services for schools and educators, is proud of the diversity within its own workforce.

From a team of over 550 employees, Twinkl is proud that 69% identify as female and 70% of the company’s Manager and Team Leader roles are held by women.

Stories of inspiring female employees from across the business are also being shared in the week running up to International Women’s Day. These will be shared on the Team Twinkl Twitter account and Instagram page to highlight the invaluable work women do at Twinkl each and every day.

Twinkl Educational Publishing offers over 625,000 digital resources, with content added daily, which is now used by over 5.5 million people in over 200 countries and dependencies. The company has over 550 team members worldwide and offices in Sheffield and Australia.