If I had a penny for every time someone at work has asked me to check with my boss I’d be rich. People do not assume that a woman in her twenties could be her own boss. I might not have thought this would be possible either had I not bumped into an old friend as she embarked upon the daunting prospect of launching a business venture by herself. Eager to help I quickly became her partner and together we learnt how to set up and run the business as we went.

This hesitance to speak out is widespread among women and consequently we have found it challenging to secure female speakers for events. When we began organising TEDX Southwark back in 2013 we invited a mix of people from different genders and ethnic backgrounds to speak. Only white men came back to us. We went back to the drawing board and then only approached women and people of colour and again received a very low number of positive responses. In order for us to be hearing a diverse range of voices we have to push hard, as when people have been marginalised and silenced all their lives, it takes some encouragement to feel confidence enough to speak up.