International Women’s Day falls on Monday 8th March. The day is about celebrating women and their achievements, whilst challenging stereotypes, bias, discrimination and perceptions. A challenged world is an alert world and from one challenge comes change. So let’s all choose to challenge. How will you forge a gender-equal world?

To mark International Women’s Day, we have several resources and activities for you to use on Purple Mash to explore and write about inspirational women from across the globe. From humanitarians and nurses to sportswomen and scientists, we have them all.

Why not start with writing about Anne Frank and her diary? We have several activities that you can use to write about her life and her diary. Your students can even put themselves in the shoes of Anne Frank and write a diary entry as if they are her, or, click on the icons to select the activity you wish to use with your class.

Caroline Chisholm was a humanitarian worker who looked after the welfare of women who emigrated to Australia in the 19th century. We have a fact file template you can use to discover about her life and what she achieved.

Evonne Goolagong-Cawley was one of the world's leading tennis players in the 1970s and early 1980s and was the highest-ranked female Australian player and was named 'Australian of the Year' in 1971. To practice your writing skills, use our writing template to write all about her and her achievements.

Florence Nightingale was a nurse during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers. Our 2Email simulation allows your pupils the chance to speak to Florence Nightingale with helping her persuade the British government to improve the conditions for injured soldiers. For your younger pupils, you can use our Florence Nightingale Mashcam and write a thought-bubble about what she is thinking.  For the older pupils, use our Interview template to create a magazine article about her life, or alternatively read about her life with our Florence Nightingale slideshow.

There are MashCams, where, following their research into the life of a famous female scientist, biologist or astronaut, children could put themselves into their lives and consider the difference those women made.

We also have activities to use celebrating Grace Darling, an English Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, who participated in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838. For students in Year 4-6, they can write a newspaper article about the shipwreck and Grace Darling, or alternatively, create a magazine-style article about the rescue whilst testing their interview skills.

Share how you’re celebrating International Women’s Day with us over on Twitter or Facebook using the #ChooseToChallenge and #IWD2021.