WOMEN are being encouraged to have a bigger say in the North-East's future.

The North-East Women's Forum is holding events around the region in the run-up to the vote on an elected regional assembly on November 4, explaining what an assembly will do and how women could benefit from devolution.

One seminar is being held at the St Mary's Centre, in Corporation Street, Middlesbrough, from 5pm to 7pm today, when all women are welcome.

Organisers of the meeting said devolved governments in Scotland and Wales have seen a massive increase in female decision-makers.

Teesside-born opera singer Suzannah Clarke, who supports the group, said: "I am extremely concerned with issues surrounding equality, as I believe that there is still a lot of work to do.

"After years of promising action, women are still at a great disadvantage in our society and something must be done.

"With the possibility of a regional assembly, we have a new and exciting opportunity in the North-East.

"Fifty-one per cent of our population are women, and academic achievement of women is higher than that of men, so why should a regional assembly not be 50 per cent of women?

"In the North-East, we have many women to be proud of -we have sports stars, musicians, actresses, businesswomen, politicians etc, but there are still too few.

"We have even more talent that we should tap into. We must give greater encouragement to those women we already have who are leading the way forward, and we must create more opportunities for future generations of women."