MP Dehenna Davison, was invited to Number 10 along with a County Durham businesswoman in celebration of International Women's Day.

 The Bishop Auckland MP and Learning Curve Group chief executive, Brenda McLeish, descended on Downing Street to represent the region and honour inspirational women.

Ms Davison, said: “I was thrilled to be able to represent Bishop Auckland at Number 10 today for International Women’s Day. I was asked to bring an inspirational local woman and Brenda was certainly my first choice of companion.

"The work she has done on a local level for Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland, on a county level for Durham, and a regional level for the North-East is astounding. She is a true inspiration for young women.”

The Northern Echo:

Ms McLeish spoke about the importance of education and skills in both the UK and internationally and the barriers she has seen those who are the furthest from education overcome.

She said: “I was honoured to accompany Dehenna to Number 10 Downing Street today. The women of the North-East are some of the most inspirational I’ve had the pleasure of working with and I’m so proud to be able to represent them alongside Dehenna.”

The Prime Minister welcomed the leading figures alonside inspirational women from business, science, and sport, among other sectors, to the special reception.

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He spoke about the women who inspired him and the Government’s commitment to action on the gender pay gap and girls' education.

During the reception, the Prime Minister also announced the appointment of Baroness Liz Sugg as the special envoy for girls’ education, a new role which he hopes will help accelerate progress towards getting more girls in the world’s poorest countries into schools and benefitting from quality learning. 

The new role will also place her at the head of delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition for what will be achieved internationally on girls’ education over the next five years.

As part of the event, the Prime Minister took part in a panel discussion with founder of STEMettes Anne-Marie Imafidon, Grazia editor Hattie Brett, and Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, where they discussed career aspirations and the challenges facing women in the workplace today.

The event was attended by fifty girls in Year 9 who are due to make their GCSE choices. 

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The panel spoke about a range of issues including the importance of inspiring the next generation of women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) fields as well as the gender pay gap.

Mr Johnson also reiterated that the Government had made it obligatory for companies to show the discrepancies in pay so there was absolute transparency and said there should be equal pay for equal work irrespective of gender.